I’m a (bad) flautist, have been married for 24 years as of December 23rd, have lived in 7 countries, love reading (Jasper Fforde, Alan Bradley, Terry Fallis, …), playing board games or card games (especially with my son), and love learning.

There have been many inspirational people outside this community this year, but I am always so inspired inside the community too. It is hard to pick out one person in this community. The students here make a huge difference to me – I have had so many exciting conversations with you about your plans and hopes – and I am lucky to have colleagues who forgive my delays and challenges. For this year though, I’ll single out the DESCENT grad student team – they have been good humoured and resilient to the topsy-turvy ride getting DESCENT ready for launch next year. The hours they committed to the project, the determination to turn around setbacks and the positive outlook (even in the small hours of the morning after a hard night of testing) always makes me hopeful. I also want a shout out to Hossam Sadek from Mechanical Engineering, and Sal Paneduro from the Dean’s office, who are always ready to support and cajole me when I’m falling behind!

I have two older sisters – one flies helicopters out of Richmond, Virginia, the other used to be an Air Traffic Controller (watch commander at Heathrow) but now lives in Cornwall and does lots of voluntary work.