Profile

When my children started going to martial arts classes I thought it looked so much fun that I decided to give it a go myself. I am moving up the belts and love having a go at lots of different styles and techniques. I am not very good but I don’t mind, it is still fun.

I work in the space sector so it might not be a surprise to know I love watching sci-fi. Star Trek is my favourite but I like watching anything that is different from normal life. I’ve just finished watching ‘Wednesday’ and loved it.

When I was growing up I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I was older – I still don’t and I am in my 40s. I’ve never had a clear vision of what I might do, just followed jobs that I found interesting and now I work with some amazing people and see ground breaking technology.

The European Union has a massive research and innovation programme called Horizon Europe. I help people in the UK work in teams made up of different European countries. to work on space and environment projects. Projects on space could be on a new rocket launch system, or a new satellite application using earth observation data, even a new robot that will repair satellites whilst in space orbit. The environment projects are also really interesting. Projects that are identifying all biodiversity on Earth, methods to protect our oceans better and how to prevent pollution damaging the environment.

I have a lot of colleagues across Europe, which means I get to visit lots of countries. The highlight was the European Astronaut Training Centre in Germany. When I visited, the French astronaut, Thomas Pesquet, was there. He had just come back from the International Space Station and was doing his rehabilitation at the centre. I didn’t get to meet him but I did learn all about the work they do including the bed rest studies. Normal people are paid to stay in bed, lying down for weeks, all to learn about how the body reacts to long term weightlessness.

When people are applying for funding they usually have lots of questions so part of my day is spent answering emails or talking to people on video calls. I get to hear about their research and what they need funding for, and we will talk about what they need to do next.

I also promote the funding people can apply to as widely as possible, so I take part in online presentations, to explain the different types of projects. Some of my day might be getting the information together for the slides or delivering the presentation which can be online or at an event. I love meeting people and talking about the exciting things they are working on.

I don’t always understand all of the technology or research people talk to me about, but that is OK. I don’t need to know everything to support them, just be willing to listen. I also don’t always know the answers to their questions, but I will find out by researching on the internet or talking to other people who might know the answer.