King's College London

Her research, conducted between King’s College London and Honeywell Aerospace, focuses on developing physiological monitoring to contribute to the health and safety of humans in aerospace environments.

The Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Honeywell has led to a series of new collaborative research projects, strengthening ties between King’s and industry. Since October 2025, Honeywell has been co-funding a PhD studentship addressing environmental control and life support systems in fast jets, delivered in collaboration with the CDT in Digital Twins for Health.

Building on this momentum, an additional Honeywell-funded PhD focused on human physiology in space flight is anticipated to commence in late 2026, with supervision provided by King’s Centre for Human & Applied Physiological Sciences.

In addition to supporting doctoral training, the partnership has contributed to jointly developed invention disclosures and laid the groundwork for a potential REF impact case study, while also creating new opportunities for engagement with other commercial partners and international space agencies, NASA and the European Space Agency.

Noémi, your role as a KTP Associate sounds unique. Can you introduce yourself and tell us where you are based within King’s? 

I am a KTP Associate, which is a role supported by UKRI to enable industry and academia to work together.

I essentially act as a researcher at the intersection of these two worlds. On the academic side, I work within the Centre for Human and Applied Physiology (CHAPS) in the Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine at the Guy’s Campus. CHAPS explores physiology from molecular level to whole body level. Specifically, I work with a group focusing on aerospace physiology, where we use facilities to simulate aspects of extreme environments like intense heat, cold, and high altitude.

What are the potential real-world impacts of this research? 

My work focuses on developing physiological monitoring systems for integration in the highly technologized and engineered environments that humans work and operate in. while these engineering systems are designed to sustain human life, the one perhaps most crucial component, the human, tends to be overlooked. Introducing a system of wearable sensors that monitor human physiology enables us to fill in that gap while better understanding how humans respond to these environments. It is also an opportunity to recognise the variability and complexity of human physiology – and responsibly develop systems that can respond more appropriately to the diverse needs and contexts of humans. This has implications for humans in the aerospace environment, and more broadly, for the way in which humans co-exist in increasingly technologized and engineered systems.

You’re partnered with the R&D department at Honeywell Aerospace. How does that collaboration work in practice? 

The partnership bridges physiologists and engineers. In Honeywell’s R&D department, there is a lot of liberty to explore "low fidelity" ideas and research them. If our research proves successful, industry can then leverage those outcomes to turn them into a viable business or product. It’s a perfect match because academia provides the out-of-the-box thinking and ideation, while industry provides the infrastructure to turn those ideas into actions.

Your specific project involves wearable technologies for physiological monitoring. What are you hoping to achieve? 

We are questioning what we can—and should or should not—monitor in pilots and astronauts, how and why; using wearable sensors that can monitor parameters such as heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood oxygen levels.

There is a central mantra that guides my project: Not everything that matters can be measured, and not everything that is measured matters.

We need an interdisciplinary and critical perspective to decide what data actually provides value, why and for whom.

Looking back at your journey, what was the spark that led you to this niche field? 

I’ve been interested in aviation and space since high school, but when it came to university I decided to go to med school. However, I was interested in finding ways to combine it with aerospace and similar environments, which is what led me to the Master’s at King’s in human and applied physiology. This position is exactly at the intersection I always hoped to find.

How has the King’s Innovation Catalyst supported you? 

It has been a steep but rewarding learning curve. I came in not knowing much about how multinational businesses like Honeywell are run compared to academia.

Having a mentor like Yiannis Tsamis within King’s Innovation Catalyst has been vital. He acts as a support network, helping me navigate both worlds and reassuring me when the challenges of running a project between industry and academics feel overwhelming.

It provides a concrete understanding of research infrastructure and funding that most graduates don't get to see firsthand.

Finally, what excites you most about the future of human exploration in space? 

I enjoy the interdisciplinary collaboration required to imagine alternative futures off-Earth.

I also believe it’s important to understand outer space as a natural environment—one that we have a responsibility to take care of just as much as we take care of ourselves within it.