Dr Suzanna Randall is a PhD astrophysicist, science communicator, author and trained astronaut. After completing her Masters in Astronomy at University College London (2002), she obtained her PhD in Astrophysics from the Université de Montréal in Canada in 2006. Since then she has worked at the European Southern Observatory (ESO), where she first worked at the Very Large Telescope in Chile and then moved to ALMA. As part of her research, she focuses on pulsating blue sub-dwarf stars and has been hosting ESO’s YouTube format ‘Chasing Starlight’ since 2023.

Alongside her research, Dr Randall is actively involved in science communication. From 2018, she was trained as an astronaut as part of the ‘Die Astronautin’ initiative – with training under water, in the centrifuge, in caves, in aeroplanes and in the cockpit. Her media presence ranges from numerous television and radio appearances to presenting and moderating on the ZDF YouTube channel ‘Terra X Lesch & Co’.

As an author, she publishes popular science books for adults and children. Her publications include ‘Wellenreiten im Weltall’ (Gräfe und Unzer, 2022) and the two children’s books ‘Unser Weg ins Weltall’ and ‘Abenteuer Raketenstart’ (Oetinger Verlag, 2021, together with Insa Thiele-Eich).

Dr Randall is a passionate advocate for STEM education and empowerment – especially for young women. In her talks, both for adults and for children and young people, she talks about space travel, astronomy, sustainability and how to follow your dreams – whether as a scientist or a future astronaut. She speaks fluent German, English, French and Spanish.