Who's who

The Principal Investigator of the SPICE project is Dr Matthew Watson (Bristol University). The Work Package Leaders are Dr Matthew Watson (Bristol University), Dr Lesley Gray (Oxford University) & Dr Hugh Hunt (Cambridge University). The project involves specialists in many fields including Volcanology, Climate Science, Atmospheric Physics and Engineering to name but a few. Those involved in this research at Bristol Earth Sciences are Dr Matthew Watson (PI), Dr Pru Foster and Tanya Gray (Project Coordinator).

» Download organisation chart [PDF]


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Matt Causier

Work Package 2

Matt Causier is a PhD student working with Chris Burgoyne looking at the physical properties of candidate materials for a 20 km tether. He is particularly interested in the visco-elastic properties of aramid fibres.


Richard Shaw

Work Package 2

Richard Shaw is an MPhil student working with Hugh Hunt on using novel image processing techniques to track the location of kite tethers. He also works closely with Hilary Costello and Kirsty Kuo on work package 2.


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Andy Elson

Work Package 2

Andy Elson is a balloon expert. He has flown to 40,000 feet by balloon more than any other person on Earth, and in 1991 was the first balloonist to fly over Mount Everest. He advises the SPICE project on design, launching and handling balloons and is involved in the design and manufacture of aerodynamic tethers.


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Dr Lesley Gray

Work Package 3 Leader

Lesley Gray is co-Investigator of the SPICE project and leader of work package 3. She is also co-leader of the Stratosphere and Climate Group, based within the Department of Physics, University of Oxford.She studies processes and dynamics important to the climate and variability of the stratosphere, and their possible link with changes in the troposphere due to future climate change.


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Dr Scott Osprey

Work Package 3

A research scientist based within the Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics sub-department of the Department of Physics, University of Oxford. He is also directly affiliated with the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS), which is a NERC research centre for atmospheric science, with major programmes in climate, weather, atmospheric chemistry, observations and atmospheric technology.