Exeter College alumna receives Royal Astronomical Society Keith Runcorn Thesis Prize

Exeter College alumna Dr Hannah Sanderson (2021, Environmental Research – Earth Sciences) has been awarded the Royal Astronomical Society’s Keith Runcorn Thesis Prize 2025. 

The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) announced the winners of its annual thesis prizes, which recognise outstanding doctoral research across astronomy, astrophysics, geophysics, planetary science, and instrumentation science. Dr Sanderson received the prize for her thesis, Unlocking planetesimal histories using refined thermal evolution and dynamo generation models. 

Dr Sanderson completed her DPhil in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford, where her research focused on planetesimal dynamo generation. Her work developed new models to better understand the thermal and magnetic evolution of planetesimals – the small bodies that formed in the early Solar System – helping to shed light on the histories of planetary building blocks. 

Commenting on the award, Dr Sanderson said: “I’m honoured to have won this prize. I’m very grateful to my supervisors for supporting and challenging me to produce an excellent thesis and making my PhD so enjoyable.” 

During her studies at Oxford, Dr Sanderson was supported in part by an Exeter College Graduate Scholarship. She is now a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Planetary Habitability at the University of Oslo, where she researches the dynamics of metal-silicate separation in magma oceans and the implications for mantle redox evolution. 

Founded in 1820, the Royal Astronomical Society is one of the world’s leading learned societies for astronomy, solar-system science, geophysics, and closely related branches of science. Through its prizes, publications, meetings, and outreach activities, the Society promotes excellence in scientific research and public understanding of these fields. 

Exeter College warmly congratulates Hannah on this outstanding achievement.