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Professor Martin Wooster awarded MBE in 2025 Honours list

The National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO) is proud to congratulate Professor Martin Wooster, NCEO Divisional Director and Professor of Earth Observation Science at King’s College London, on being awarded an MBE in the King’s 2025 New Year’s Honours list for his outstanding contributions to landscape fire research and wildfire monitoring.

Professor Wooster’s dedication and innovative work have been transformative in the field. Among his ground-breaking achievements are:

• The definition and implementation of fire radiative power (FRP), a pivotal metric in understanding fire dynamics.
• Co-publishing seminal research identifying elemental signatures of fires.
• Advancing the understanding of biomass combustion rates from early studies to contemporary applications.
• Investigating the global impact of landscape fires on smoke exposure and population mortality.

Professor Wooster’s influence extends to the design of fire radiative power channels on cutting-edge satellite instruments, including the Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer (SLSTR) on Sentinel-3, the Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) satellites, and Canada’s under-development WildFireSAT. Notably, he serves as the lead scientist for fire on all these missions and is the sole non-Canadian member of WildFireSAT’s science team.

His work has also shaped the development of international operational services that provide crucial fire-based information. These services address both fire activity and the resulting emissions of pollutants. Three key services directly influenced by his expertise include:

1. The Advanced Fire Information System (AFIS): This web-based mapping interface delivers fire products, including FRP data, to tens of thousands of users worldwide. For instance, Africa’s largest power utility, Eskom, has leveraged geostationary FRP data developed by Professor Wooster’s team in collaboration with EUMETSAT’s LandSAF program in Portugal, enabling a more reliable electricity supply to millions across southern Africa.
2. The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS): Operated by ECMWF as part of the Copernicus system, CAMS provides daily real-time monitoring and five-day global forecasts of atmospheric pollution. Martin and his team directly contribute to the fuel consumption and fire emissions part of the system using the techniques that they have pioneered for combustion and pollutant/greenhouse gas emissions. Through nearly 1000 users, the CAMS global and European forecasts now reach, directly or indirectly, a global audience of hundreds of millions of people.
3. The Canadian Forestry Service’s Fire Response and Monitoring Operations: His expertise has been instrumental in refining their fire response capabilities and emissions monitoring.

The far-reaching impact of Professor Wooster’s work underscores his extraordinary contributions to science and society, making his recognition in the New Year’s Honours list richly deserved.

We would also like to congratulate Professor Paul Monks of the University of Leicester and Professor Nathalie Pettorelli of the Zoological Society of London. Professor Monks becomes a Companion of the Order of the Bath. Professor Monks has inspired key initiatives in the Earth Observation community, including NCEO, and the Centre for Earth Observation Instrumentation, and is Chief Scientific Adviser, Department for Energy, Security and Net Zero. Professor Pettorelli receives an OBE for services to Conservation and to Outreach. She works internationally with the UK GEO/CEOS Office hosted by NCEO as a UK representative on the Group for Earth Observations (GEO) Programme Board and as a biodiversity and inclusion champion.

View the full list of this year’s recipients.