Anupam Ojha (born 1968) is one of the Directors of the National Space Centre. He serves on the Council of the

STFC The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) is a United Kingdom government agency that carries out research in science and engineering, and funds UK research in areas including particle physics, nuclear physics, space science and astro ...

and as a member of the

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Human Spaceflight and Exploration Science Advisory Committee (HESAC

Career

Ojha taught physics, mathematics and sciences at a range of UK all-ability secondary schools culminating in becoming Assistant Headteacher at

Great Barr School Fortis Academy is a Mixed-sex education, co-educational secondary school and sixth form located in the Great Barr, Birmingham, Great Barr area of Birmingham, England. History The school was officially opened by D. Rogers on 24 September 1957 a ...

. In 2003 he was awarded Advanced Skills Teacher status by the Secretary of State for Education. He was made a National Lead Practitioner for physics by the UK Specialist Schools and Academies Trust in 2010, and continues to teach physics at Loughborough College. Ojha started working on teacher training programmes for BNSC (the forerunner organisation to the UK Space Agency) and

in 2007. In this capacity he leads teacher and student (school and undergraduate level) training programmes. His work helped demonstrate that space related education has a profound impact on student achievement, resulting in better than predicted grades at

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

and

A-level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...

. He has led the National Space Academy since it launched in 2008. He was awarded the 2010

Sir Arthur Clarke Award The Sir Arthur Clarke Award is a British award given annually since 2005 in recognition of notable contributions to space exploration, particularly British achievements. Nominations for the awards are made by members of the public, with shortl ...

for Inspiration. Since 2016 he has been the lead for Skills/Education/Human spaceflight and robotic exploration in the UK Government's programmes of strategic collaboration in Space Science and Technology with China In 2014 Ojha was appointed OBE for services to science education in the Queen's Birthday Honours. He led the ''Astro Academy'' Principia Education Programme involving experiments conducted by

astronaut Tim Peake during his time on the International Space Station. He served as a consultant for the ESA SOHO orbiting solar observatory. In 2016 Ojha was appointed as an Honorary Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Leicester. He is co-investigator for the planetary sampling tool ''SPLIT'', which is being developed for future Mars exploration missions. He has served as the President of the Astronautics Records Commission of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale. Ojha was appointed to the STFC Council in 2018, and the Global Space Congress Advisory Board of the UAE Space Agency. He has a long-standing interest in why people believe conspiracy theories and misinformation and the societal ramifications of this.

Personal life

Ojha is a skydiver who has completed nearly 1,500 jumps. He acted as an independent analyst for the

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Stratos stratospheric jump of Felix Baumgartner and has made many technical and general presentations on stratospheric skydiving and human survival in extreme environments including as a keynote presentation at the 2019 Skydive Expo of the British Parachute Association. He is supporting the neutral buoyancy facility the ''Blue Abyss project.''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ojha, Anu Space scientists Officers of the Order of the British Empire 1968 births Living people