This is what Sheffield student has in store on International Space University course

Fifty years have passed since the giant leap for mankind that saw Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first two people to land on the moon.

Space exploration and our understanding of the universe has advanced dramatically in the decades that have followed and since its founding in 1987, the International Space University (ISU) has been at the core of the global space community.

Yesterday, Sheffield Hallam University student Jodie Howlett was one of just six people across the UK who joined the centre’s renowned Space Studies Program.

Brian Cox’s new show The Planets offers universal lessonsThe Yorkshire Shepherdess is going on tour and this is when you can see her liveOver the next nine weeks, she and 120 people from 36 different countries around the world will delve into all aspects of space, from engineering and sciences to policy and law.

“I have always been interested in space,” the 23-year-old says. “But I wasn’t aware of the opportunities that were available so from quite a young age, I dismissed it to focus on my other passion which is aerospace and aircraft.”

Jodie, from Burton-on-Trent, is at the end of a five-year degree in mechanical engineering, a course that has seen her spend time on placement in industry, working on jet engines with Rolls-Royce.

Whilst attending a space conference in Surrey last March, she met representatives of the ISU and was inspired to apply for this year’s summer programme, held in Strasbourg France.

Jodie will be attending lectures and workshops delivered by experts from academia and space agencies and will get involved in team projects and industry visits.

Two areas in particular have sparked her interest - human performance in space, looking at how the environment affects the body and how that can be managed through science and medicine; and the business and commercial side of space, as she has thoughts of starting a company at some point in the future.

“There’s been a lot of investment in small start up companies, getting them off the ground, particularly in the UK, to help companies who create almost an ecosystem of technological development.

“That brings about new advancements in technology and that’s what Governments and space agencies are looking for. There’s a lot of opportunity and support at the moment.”

In order to attend the course, Jodie, who in 2017 was named as one of the top 50 women under-35 in engineering in the country in a list produced by the Daily Telegraph to celebrate International Women in Engineering Day, had to apply for a highly-competitive scholarship.

She managed to secure funding worth €17,500 from the UK Space Agency, with an additional €1,000 coming from the Royal Academy of Engineering.

“This should be a fantastic experience and an opportunity to study a fascinating area of engineering, alongside students from different backgrounds and experiences,” she says.

“I’ll be applying my learning through team projects and workshops, working with other students - I really can’t wait to get started.”

After completing the Space Studies Program, whose network of more than 4,000 alumni, faculty members and visiting lecturers, has been successful in advancing projects areas including disaster warning and mitigation systems and human health enhancement using space technologies, Jodie has a graduate job lined up with the European Space Agency. She will be based in Germany as a process performance analyst

“From a young age, I have been fascinated by space but I thought you had to go and work at NASA to get involved. It’s been very exciting to realise what you can actually do. I like the whole concept of exploration.”