Nigel's work in this area was a contributing factor in his joining the Open University in 2002/3, where he interacted with the internationally acclaimed Planetary Science group led by the late Colin Pillinger. He was involved in the founding of the OU Astrochemistry group while continuing electron and surface studies (with a focus on nanolithography) in the Atomic, Molecular and Plasma Physics group. A new field of research developed in the study of irradiation of biomolecular systems including DNA, with initial applications to astrobiology and, more recently, in the development of next-generation radiotherapy using ion beams and nanoparticles as radiosensitisers. His research has led Nigel to leadership roles in many national and international research programmes and he is currently President of the Europlanet Society, Europe’s largest forum for planetary sciences and Coordinator of Europlanet 2024 Research Infrastructure providing access to data services, facilities and telescope networks to study planets, moons, comets and asteroids in our Solar System and beyond. Outside Europe, he has close links with the emerging space community in India and electron physics communities around the world; he chairs the ‘Dissociative Electron Attachment – DEA club’. He also chairs The Sir John Mason Academic Trust, a small family trust established in honour of his father, a distinguished scientist and pioneer of the study of cloud physics.