Briefly, tell us about your background and career up to this point?
I joined King’s in August 2022, having worked in health and care research for 14 years. After completing my PhD in genetics and biochemistry at the University of Sussex in 2008, I started working in medical education and research communications for the pharma industry. In 2014/15, I went to UCL where I became the communications and public engagement lead for the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at Moorfields and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology. From 2019, before joining King’s, I was the Senior Manager for Public Engagement at the National Institute for Health and Care Research Clinical Research Network, responsible for coordinating the delivery, measurement, and continuous improvement of national public and community engagement projects, to better people’s experience of participating in clinical research.
Do you have any current projects that you’d like to tell us about?
My role at King’s is to support researchers and professional services staff to understand what research impact is and how to plan for and evidence the impact their research has outside of academia for the economy, society, culture, public policy or services, health, the environment, or quality of life. We have developed a new Health Faculties Impact Hub that contains information, templates, and resources to help researchers to start thinking about their impact. We are also developing a new series of Faculty intranet pages on research impact that will be available later this year. Over the summer, we will also be hosting a series of impact workshops called the Impact Summer Sessions, where we will be working through the resource from the Health Faculties Impact Hub, exploring how we plan for, collaborate, monitor, and evidence research impact using examples and real-life impact case studies. There will also be a chance to apply the impact learnings to your own research as well. Everyone is welcome to take part.
What advice would you give to your 18-year-old self?
Make sure you love what you do. My fondest career moments are those where I loved what I was doing. This is when I felt most motivated, fulfilled, and I learn the most. These are never the career moments you regret.
What do you do with your time outside academia/work?
Outside of work, I like to do paracord crafts, specifically bracelet making. This is essentially macrame – decorative knot tying – but using the nylon cord you see someone like Bear Grylls use for his outdoor adventuring – which feels a bit more rugged! I also really enjoy cooking and do a fair amount of experimenting and making up my own recipes. I currently have about 150 different herbs, spices, and spice mixes in my kitchen cupboards.
What is your proudest accomplishment?
My proudest accomplishment to date is helping to co-found Stargardt’s Connected. We are a small patient-led, volunteer-run charity for people living at all stages of life with Stargardt Macular Degeneration, a rare genetic sight loss condition. The charity was a direct result of a patient engagement event I ran in 2017, which I co-designed with the mother of a child with Stargardt disease and a patient panel, who went on to become the charity CEO and Trustees, respectively. We have been a registered charity since 2019 and have over 400 members around the world. We deliver a range of virtual and in-person awareness-raising and peer-support events as well as partner with people all over the world to support Stargardts research, including by launching the first dedicated patient register for the condition. We were also just featured at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show.
QUICK-FIRE:
Favourite book: Arthur C Clarke’s Childhood’s End
Netflix recommendation: Glamorous or The Witcher
Coffee order: Almond Milk Latte
Most-used emoji: 👍 (thumbs up emoji)