Dr. Eleanor S. Armstrong

My research focuses on how culture shapes and is shaped by science. The primary arch of my research has an emphasis on the coproduction of space science and culture. This work sits at the intersection of feminist science and technology studies, science education, cultural geography, and museum studies. My research also explores and troubles the constructions of mineralogical and geological museums and culture, and how we might understand them beyond being collections of objective science.   

My work contributes to emerging fields of social studies of outer space and Queer STS; based on feminist STS, queer museum studies, critical geography, and feminist science education foundations. I wrote my PhD at UCL (UK, 2020) and have held research-focused postdoctoral positions at University of Delaware (USA, 2021) and Stockholm University (Sweden, 2022-4), and I am an incoming Space Research Fellow at University of Leicester (2024-7). I have also held a range of visiting positions, at University of Cambridge (Visiting Researcher, 2021), the Canada Aviation and Space Museum (Visiting Researcher, 2022), University of York (Honorary Researcher, 2023-6), NYU Gallatin (Visiting Scholar, 2024), and University of Vienna (Guest Professor, 2024). I am also a consultant on the Technisches Museum Wien's 'This is (not) Rocket Science' project (funded through the OeAD/BMBWF 2022-25).

Biography (dated 2024):

Eleanor S Armstrong is a Space Research Fellow at the University of Leicester, UK, where she leads the Constellations Lab (on Outer Space & Feminism). She was awarded her PhD at University College London, UK, in 2020; and since then has held positions at the University of Delaware and Stockholm University, and visiting positions at, among others, the University of Cambridge, Ingenium Canada’s Museums of Science and Innovation, New York University, and University of Vienna. Armstrong is Trustee of Pride in STEM.

Her research focuses on queer feminist approaches to social studies of outer space, particularly the presentation of femininities, feminisms, and femmes in public discourses about outer space, published in journals such as Queer-Feminist Science and Technology Studies Forum; Quest: History of Space Flight Quarterly, and in edited volumes including Space Feminisms, Queering Science Communication  and Routledge Handbook on Critical Social Studies of Outer Space. She has been an invited speaker at internationally prestigious institutions: London Science Museum, Swedish National Heritage Board, American Museum of Natural History, LEONARDO, NASA, European Space Agency, and has been a featured guest on the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Podcast ‘AirSpace,’ and on BBC Radio 1. 

With Divya M Persaud she built the conference Space Science in Context, a conference to connect scientists, humanities scholars, and activists working out the social situatedness of outer space. SSiC represents an exceptional commitment to broad and equitable public engagement. The conferences had significant global reach (~450 registrants in each 2020 and 2023, in 2023 representing 52 countries); and supported a high proportion of disabled participants through field-leading access measures. The conference has received media coverage in Nature, Science, in Chemistry, and CNRS and was cited as an example of innovative work in NASA’s Decadal Survey 2021.

With Akvilė Terminatė, Armstrong runs EXO-MOAN a design studio that explores sex, intimacy, care, and consent in the contexts of outer space. Their work has been included in the Venice Architecture Biennale 2021 for the Lithuanian Pavilion, and the CITY X Venice Virtual Pavilion; and featured in print media including The Future of Sex and IFL Science, and as invited guests on the ‘Astroholic’ Podcast.