About

Hi, I’m Gemma – a scientist and software engineer.

My mission is to contribute to our understanding of life in the universe – using computers to help us ask and answer big questions – and to inspire the next generation along the way.

Originally from the Shropshire countryside in England, I lived in Norway for twelve years before relocating back to the UK in 2021.

I wrote my first computer program to model the diving behaviour of fur seals as a biology undergraduate — and was immediately drawn to the power of using computers as a tool for exploring the natural world. Ever since, I’ve been passionate about writing code to learn and predict patterns in data and make discoveries we would never reach on our own.

I currently work at the SKA Observatory, where I design and build software to process the vast volumes of data that will be produced by the world’s largest radio telescopes – contributing to the SKAO’s mission to transform our understanding of the universe. There will be discoveries in these data that we haven’t even imagined yet.

I hold a PhD in computational biology from the University of York and I spent over eight years as a postdoctoral researcher in genomics at the University of Bergen, Norway before moving into AI consultancy. Working on a variety of projects – spanning engineering, biotech, finance, service and transport sectors – allowed me to hone my skills in software engineering and machine learning. I later co-founded Octofox AI where I continue to serve as a director.

In 2021, I was named one of Norway’s leading women in tech.

You can learn more about my professional experience on my projects page. You can also find me on LinkedIn.

If you have children who are curious about space and science, take a look at my outreach project, Pale Blue Marbles, where I post about science, nature and poetry with learning materials, activity ideas and printable activity packs designed to cultivate curiosity.

In my free time, I enjoy spending time with my family, mountain and woodland hikes, creative writing, learning Swedish, painting animals, gardening for wildlife, running with my energetic border collie and stargazing from my back garden.