Trainer

I believe that ongoing training and development is crucial for an effective and positive workplace. Therefore I regularly attend training and deliver training sessions. It is very important to me that I am an effective and empathetic leader. Therefore, I regularly look out for related training. Examples including: Leading Researchers (10 workshops over 11 months); Active Bystander (3 sessions over 6 months); Inclusive leadership (5 sessions over 8 months); Diversifying leadership (2 sessions over 2 months); 360 Feedback exercises. Below is some more information about the training that I have developed and delivered myself.

Training for Early Career Researchers

I aim to support early career researchers by contributing to training and development. Since 2020 I have been running a variety of workshops at Newcastle University. These cover topics such as: "Coaching Conversations"; "Open Data"; and "Creativity in Research". I'm particularly keen to ensure that we find joy in our work, so I developed a workshop called "Keeping the Joy in Research" which I have run for multiple research groups in the UK and internationally.

Before my time at Newcastle, as ESO Fellow Representative (joint with Anita Zanella), I took the initiative to create a training and development programme for the PhD students and postdoctoral researchers (including myself!). This contains both online material and workshops delivered by specialists. The topics include: ``Courtesy and Respect in the Work Place"; ``Conflict Management"; ``Effective Communication and Presentation Skills"; ``Unconscious Bias" and ``Effective Supervising and Mentoring". This became a standard, ongoing part of the ESO studentship and fellowship programmes.

I was also invited to be a panellist for an "Inclusive Leadership" training session (for early career researchers across five North England Universities). Furthermore, I was interviewed about my EDI activities/experience for a grant-writing training video by the Research Development Team at Newcastle University. In 2025 I was an Invited Expert Panelist for 64 Million Artists on the topic of "Creative Approaches to Impact".

Training for Communicators

I have trained PhD students, postdoctoral researchers and staff in science communication. This includes creating and presenting planetarium shows at the ESO Supernova. As part of my public engagement work, I regularly train early career academics on how to effectively deliver educational workshops.

Previously I trained high school students in effective communication and delivery of science activities (for younger students) under the Ogden Schools scheme at Durham University.

Me with the ESO Science Ambassadors team, plus some local volunteers, during our visit to a school Ethiopia. I trained the team to deliver interactive workshops on telescope designs and multi-wavelength astronomy.

Me showing high school volunteers how to use a laser light ray gun to demonstrate how light travels around a telescope. They would go on to deliver interactive workshops to younger children and families.

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