Dr Frances Butcher
School of Geography and Planning
Leverhulme Early Career Fellow
+44 114 222 7972
Full contact details
School of Geography and Planning
Room C5
Geography and Planning Building
Winter Street
91Ö±²¥
S3 7ND
- Profile
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I am a Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow in the Department of Geography at 91Ö±²¥. I am a planetary scientist and glacial geomorphologist researching the history of glaciation on Mars and Earth.
I obtained a BA in Geography from the University of Cambridge in 2015 before moving to The Open University to undertake a PhD entitled 'Wet-Based Glaciation on Mars', which I completed in 2019. I then moved to the University of 91Ö±²¥ as a Postdoctoral Research Assistant on the ERC-funded PALGLAC project (PI: Prof Chris Clark), using glacial landforms to reconstruct the flow dynamics of the former Scandinavian Ice Sheet on Earth.
I began my current Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellowship at 91Ö±²¥ in 2022. I use data from satellites orbiting Mars to analyse the landscapes generated by past and present glaciers on the Red Planet. In doing so, I aim to better understand the history of environmental change on Mars, with a particular focus on the history of glacial meltwater production.
My research aims to inform future robotic and human exploration of Mars’ ice deposits. For example, I was selected by NASA and the Canadian, Japanese and Italian space agencies to serve as a member of the '' for the International Mars Ice Mapper (‘I-MIM’) Mission.
I founded and lead the 'CryoMars' network of UK researchers and international collaborators working on Mars Cryosphere and Earth Analogue topics. I am also on the Science team for the CaSSIS camera on ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, and serve on the UK Space Agency's Space Exploration Advisory Committee.
I am also an Associate Editor for the journal Earth Surface Dynamics (ESurf).
- Research interests
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My key research interests include:
- Landforms produced by glaciation and glacial meltwater on Mars, and their implications for environmental conditions in Mars' recent and ancient past.
- Current ice deposits on Mars, their implications for recent environmental change, and their potential for future sampling and in situ resource utilisation by human/robotic missions.
- Landforms produced by past ice sheets on Earth, and their implications for ice sheet dynamics.
- Using comparisons to Earth to better understand glaciation on Mars (and vice versa).
- Publications
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Books
Journal articles
- . Icarus, 115717-115717.
- .
- . Earth Surface Processes and Landforms.
- . Icarus, 391.
- . Nature Astronomy.
- . Journal of Glaciology.
- . Icarus, 386.
- . Icarus, 385.
- . Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 53(4).
- . Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 53(4).
- . Icarus, 357.
- . Icarus.
- .
- . Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 542.
- . Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.
- . Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 516, 136-147.
- . Planetary and Space Science, 165, 31-56.
- . Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 467(1), 165-186.
- . Geomorphology, 318, 26-57.
- . Planetary and Space Science, 153, 39-53.
- . Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 122(12), 2445-2468.
- . Icarus, 275, 65-84.
- . Earth Surface Processes and Landforms.
- . Annals of Glaciology, 1-6.
Chapters
- , Ices in the Solar System (pp. 101-142). Elsevier
- , Ices in the Solar System (pp. 143-192). Elsevier
- , Deciphering Earth's History: the Practice of Stratigraphy (pp. 327-342). The Geological Society of London
- , Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Planetary Science
- , Volatiles in the Martian Crust (pp. 185-246). Elsevier
- , Volatiles in the Martian Crust (pp. 185-246).
Conference proceedings papers
- . EGU General Assembly. online, 19 April 2021 - 30 April 2021.
- . EGU General Assembly. online, 19 April 2021 - 30 April 2021.
- . EGU General Assembly. online, 19 April 2021 - 30 April 2021.
- Potential for Sampling of Subglacial and Englacial Environments in Mars' Mid-Latitudes, without Deep Drilling.. Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. online, 15 March 2021 - 19 March 2021.
- Multiple Sites of Amazonian Wet-Based Glaciation Identified in West Tempe Terra, Mars. Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. online, 15 March 2021 - 19 March 2021.
- Molards - A New Landform Revealing Ice-Ejecta Interactions on Mars. Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. online, 15 March 2021 - 19 March 2021.
- Internal Structure of a Glacier on Mars Revealed by Gully Incision. 51st Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Physical Meeting Cancelled due to Covid-19. Abstract Available Online.
Theses / Dissertations
Datasets
Other
Preprints
- Grants
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- 2022: Principal Investigator, Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellowship. 'Deciphering Mars’ glacial landscapes to underpin science goals of human missions'.
- 2020: British Society of Geomorphology Conference Support Grant (£500): CryoMars meeting, University of 91Ö±²¥.
- 2019: International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA) Conference Grant (€1320).
- 2019: Lunar and Planetary Institute Career Development Award ($1500).
- 2019: GeoPlanet Research Mobility Grant (€1200): Awarded by Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géodynamique, University of Nantes.
- 2018: Royal Astronomical Society Travel Grant (£900).
- 2018: British Society for Geomorphology Postgraduate Conference Attendance Grant (£300).
- 2017: Pierazzo International Student Travel Award ($2000): Awarded to one non-US graduate student globally per year by the Planetary Science Institute.
- 2016: Europlanet Grant: Full funding to attend Europlanet RPIF 3D training workshop, Mullard Space Science Laboratory.
- 2016: 6th International Mars Polar Conference European Student Travel Grant (€666): Awarded by the International Association of Cryospheric Sciences.
- 2015: Ogden Trust Trustees' Award (£900).
- 2015: British Society for Geomorphology Postgraduate Conference Attendance Grant (£850).
- 2015: ProViDE Summer School EU Student Travel Grant (£500).
- Teaching interests
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I teach on the following modules in 91Ö±²¥:
- Polar and Alpine Change MSc(Res) Research Project
- The Planets
- Our Frozen Planet
- Critical Digital Geographies in Practice (MSc Applied GIS )
Past teaching activities include:- Guest lectures for 'Digital Terrain Analysis' module, University of Manchester MSc Geographical Information Science (2019 and 2020)
- Invited Workshop Coordinator: 'Planetary Geomorphology in Mars Landing Site Selection', South East Physics Network GRADnet Planetary Science Workshop, National Physical Laboratory, London, (2016).
- Demonstrator: Natural Environment Research Council CENTA Doctoral Training Program ArcGIS Training Course, The Open University (2016)
- Professional activities and memberships
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- 2nd prize for '3 minute thesis' competition (2018), Open University STEM faculty.
- Nature Astronomy Prize for Best Student Presentation (2017) at the 1st British Planetary Science Congress, Glasgow, UK, 4-5 Dec. 2017 (Poster).
- Paper subsequently reported in a
- John Glen Prize (2017) for the best student talk at the International Glaciological Society's British Branch Meeting, Lancaster University, UK, 5-7 Sept. 2017.
- Prize for best student talk (2017) at the Astrobiology Society of Britain: Habitability Beyond Earth conference. Open University, UK, 13-14 Sept. 2017.
- William Vaughan Lewis Prize (2015), University of Cambridge prize for undergraduate geography dissertation.
- Corpus Christi College Prize (2015), Corpus Christi College (University of Cambridge) prize for undergraduate dissertation.
- Hewitt Exhibition (2015), Corpus Christi College (University of Cambridge) prize for contributions to outreach and admissions initiatives between 2012 and 2015.