Meet the EY Space Tech Lab team

Emily Carpenter, Manager

I have a Bachelor of Arts (International Development) and Commerce (Sustainability) from Monash University.

What’s your earliest memory of being aware of Space?

I discovered my love for space after going camping with my family, looking up at the stars and learning about different constellations.

The aspect of Space Tech that really excites me is how it can solve critical problems on Earth. So far it’s been an underutilised data source with such immense potential, which is super exciting – so many possibilities!

I have always been drawn to environmental and sustainability studies. I want to work on finding innovative solutions to reduce our carbon footprint, reduce waste, and protect scarce and vulnerable resources, as well as making sure these solutions are financially sustainable.

When did you join the EY Space Tech Lab?

I joined in March 2022 to drive the development of our Environmental Social Governance (ESG) and Consulting strategies.

What do you do in the Space Tech team?

I manage Space Tech engagements, supporting our data science team to meet client needs. I also manage the sales and pursuit process for new opportunities, including joint pursuits with satellite imagery providers.

What does a typical day look like for you in the team?

A typical day will involve connecting with clients to understand the problems they are facing and explore the art of the possible with Space Tech, working with our internal team to scope and deliver projects, and engaging with EY teams across different service lines and countries to explore what opportunities Space Tech might provide for them and how to tap into it.

I’m amazed at how creative the work is end to end. Defining problems, designing dashboards, and comprehending the nuances in the data that allow us to unlock a solution that connects client needs with business viability with current and future Space Tech capability is really satisfying. I’ve really enjoyed learning from the endless knowledge in our data science, product and platform teams.

What’s your personal favourite area of Space to explore?

I’m excited about what is ‘beyond’ Earth – but I’ll leave that to the astrophysicists. For me, it’s learning about new potential applications to harness the power of space to improve life on Earth.

What’s the potential of Earth Observation to build a better working world?

Earth Observation has the potential to empower people and places with limited resources to better understand their environment and activities, driving their own sustainability agendas. Our role is in unlocking Earth Observation data for our clients and making those insights accessible and actionable.

Dr Rick Evertz, Principal Data Scientist - R&D Lead, Space Tech

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-evertz/

PhD in neurophysics/computational neuroscience – Bachelor of Science (Physics Major – First class Honours) from Swinburne University of Technology. I have worked in academia and industry across a range of interesting research projects, most recently in a neurotech startup, developing an objective measure of brain function in diseased and healthy brains.

What’s your earliest memory of being aware of Space?

When I was about 6, I remember looking out my window at night at the clear night sky and having my first existential crisis after learning the sheer scale/incomprehensibility of the Cosmos. We get to exist for an infinitesimally small amount compared to the age of the universe, so I want to fill as much of that time exploring life’s big questions.

When did you join the EY Space Tech Lab?

My good friend Dr Jack White mentioned they were working on an interesting problem around water anomaly detection that needed some extra hands. I was fortunate enough to participate in an eight-week consulting proof of concept project with EY and officially joined the EY Space Tech Lab a couple of months later. Now I am a data scientist working on developing the Space Tech science and technology capabilities that enable us to make novel offerings to our clients.

What does a typical day look like for you in the team?

Many meetings with a range of teams and stakeholders, followed by a lot of research/scoping and subsequent development of the specific data science offerings (water anomaly detection for example).

I am inspired by how new the field is, from both an industry and science perspective.

What’s your personal favourite area of Space to explore?

The Orion nebula is incredible through a large telescope at a dark sky site.

What’s the potential of Earth Observation to build a better working world?

High fidelity and accurate water anomaly detection that incorporates multi-channel data (multispectral and SAR) that can be applied across a range of areas for a diverse number of use cases. Water security and scarcity is a significant issue for the world. Remote observation and smart data analytics have great potential to provide insight into how these issues can be better managed.

Emma James, Head of Product, Space Tech

https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmajames2039/

Having worked for many years in the Qantas digital and CX team, I joined EY to build new and innovative solutions across a broad client, technology and industry base. I just completed my MBA at RMIT, focusing on tech innovation and digital entrepreneurship and now lead EY’s Space Tech product development program.

What’s your earliest memory of being aware of Space?

I remember going to visit family in Broken Hill, outback NSW, and I was amazed at how many stars I could see in the sky out there – even shooting stars, which you don’t get to see much growing up in Sydney.

I’ve always found Space fascinating but never had an opportunity to work in the field.

When did you join the EY Space Tech Lab?

In October 2020, I thought Space Tech sounded cool. I was convinced it could be something which could be productised. I pestered Anthony Jones until he let me join the team. I now lead the wonderfully talented EY Space Tech Lab product team.

What does a typical day look like for you in the team?

We have daily standups to manage the product build, meetings with clients to understand their problems, meetings with EY partners getting to think of the “art of the possible” for our product, meetings with our designers and technology teams to create a product which is easy to use for our clients, most of whom are not PhD data scientists.

What’s your personal favourite area of Space to explore?

I love how fast Space technology is evolving. We went from Sputnik to Space Shuttles to now reusable and autonomous Starships by SpaceX. We have rovers on Mars, Space tourism is becoming a “thing”, we’re starting to manufacture products in Space, and we’ll soon have broadband from Space! 

Earth Observation isn’t just what we already get through satellite view on Google Maps. Satellites can see beyond the human eye. My mind is blown time and again by the technology, InSAR can “see” displacement of the Earth’s surface down to 1mm – from Space! This is especially important where we can use Space Tech to monitor and measure deformation on land allowing our clients to better manage the stability of critical infrastructure stability such as roads, railways and even specific assets like tailings dams.

What’s the potential of Earth Observation to build a better working world?

There are so many. I love the idea of taking something which people think is only for NASA and Musk/Bezos/Branson, then building a Space Tech tool to put into the hands of real people in real jobs, allowing them to make informed decisions about their assets, or boost their ability to make a difference across their biodiversity and decarbonisation programs.

If EY Space for Earth can help to inform where to plant trees for decarbonisation, or help people see their remote assets without having to physically attend through dangerous terrain, help prevent bushfires if we see there’s dry vegetation encroaching a rail line or power line, or help insurance companies respond quickly after a natural disaster, then I think we’ve done a pretty good job in helping to build a better working world.

Katie Moon, Product Experience Designer

I have a Bachelor of Design from Griffith University and a Master of Multimedia Design from Swinburne University of Technology.

What’s your earliest memory of being aware of Space?

There are awesome people who are pursuing the latest technology and working on something I would like to join one day.

When did you join the EY Space Tech Lab?

In 2021, the Space Tech team was organising the Data Science Challenge bushfire project and looking for a designer to help with brochures, imagery and infographic work. That was our first time working together. A year later, I was approached for another project aimed at identifying water anomalies using Earth Observation imagery – I was thrilled to work together again. A month later, Emma asked me to join the Space Tech team officially and I said yes without hesitation.

I work on design, including low-fidelity wireframe, high-fidelity prototyping and styling the platform.

What does a typical day look like for you in the team?

This is the first time I’ve worked on a project involving machine learning and data science applied to Earth Observation. It is fascinating to find out what we can achieve with satellite imagery. To me, it is just a two-dimensional image, but data scientists are able to extract the data and analyse it and reveal so much more. My job is using this data to deliver the insights to the people. We are from very different fields, but working together to create positive impact is thrilling.

What’s your personal favourite area of Space to explore?

Definitely machine learning and automation and labelling the subclasses on satellite images – it makes me calm!

What’s the potential of Earth Observation to build a better working world?

For places on Earth that are difficult for humans to reach to check out physically, our Earth Observation product can help by monitoring land cover remotely on a regular basis, for example. It saves time and reduces cost, and will improve outcomes for our clients.