Dr Tess Morris-Paterson

Dr Tess Morris-Paterson is a chartered scientist who worked as a Head of Performance in elite and professional sport, before transitioning her expertise to human spaceflight. She gained experience at NASA Ames Research Center as a visiting scientist and attended International Space University, before starting her own business that specialises in the selection and training of astronauts.

During her time working in sport, for five years she was one of three women working in the Premier League. She also worked for the Football Association and Women’s Super League. She went on to apply her expertise in multiple other sports, including Formula One with McLaren and world number 1 ranked athletes in tennis and golf.

During this time, she pioneered new techniques, such as a novel method to measure muscle mass by taking a pill, and created bespoke solutions for athlete nutrition, seeking the marginal gains that could mean the difference between winning and losing. She finished her career in sport as an Olympic and Paralympic Head of Performance, managing a team of experts responsible for the mental and physical health, well-being, and optimization of athletes.

In human spaceflight, Tess is an expert in how the body responds to microgravity. This included her work at NASA where she was in GeneLab, a team that investigates spaceflight-related molecular level changes. Her research has resulted in awards from the International Astronautical Federation, the Aerospace Medical Association, and NASA Human Research Program.

In 2019, she was voted by global experts as an Emerging Space Leader and received a scholarship from the UK Space Agency and European Space Agency. This experience, plus her own diligent approach toward Astronaut Selection, was ideal preparation for starting her own business where she provides support to international space agencies looking to develop their own astronaut selection and training.

In her spare time, Tess is a British Army Reserve Officer in the Royal Engineers, a corps that has ~5% women, and has been responsible for a unit of up to 100 soldiers. She enjoys flying light aircraft, where she received the Faith Bennett Navigation Cup from the British Women Pilots’ Association for a World Record Attempt to fly around the USA. She is a keen ski instructor and master scuba diver.