Blog posts

Gilda Trapani, Timetabling Support Assistant, Registry

I graduated in Translation and Interpreting in Italy, and worked as a translator for a few years. When I fell in love with Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), I moved to the UK and worked for Kaplan International, one of the most important language schools in London. I studied while working full time as TEFL teacher and obtained a Trinity Diploma in TESOL, which allowed me to bring my teaching skills to university. I left Kaplan to start a job as an academic English lecturer for Goldsmiths University of London. (more…)

Roy Ortiz, Team Leader, Finance Division

I joined Imperial in 1997 and after a stint in a number of varied roles, found myself in the Credit Control team. My current role as a team leader focuses on the collection and distribution of the College’s income, and I lead a team of six credit controllers. I communicate regularly with our customers, as well as across all faculties and departments within Imperial, and by continuously seeking operational excellence in all our processes and procedures. (more…)

Louise Green, Undergraduate Office Manager, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

I came to Imperial in 1987 following a stint as a manager in the hospitality industry. I knew from the first day that I liked it here. In my first two years I worked in the central admissions office and then moved to my current role in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. (more…)

Dawn Beaumont, Senior Customer Services Manager, Information and Communication Technologies

I started my career providing IT support at St Mary’s Hospital Medical School in November 1980, before it merged with Imperial. This was in the days of punched cards, paper tape and mainframe computers, which had less compute power than today’s mobile phones. Clearly both technology and the College have changed a lot in the 38 years I have been here. (more…)

Stefan Hoyle, Head of Health and Safety, Faculty of Natural Sciences

I first joined Imperial in 1999 as a Research Assistant in Professor Douglas Young’s group, working on developing luminescent reporter constructs to identify drugs effective against Tuberculosis. I was given the opportunity to get involved with lab management and completed the National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health’s National Certificate in Occupational Safety and Health. (more…)

Flavia Zago, Catering Supervisor, Campus Services

 

Before moving to London in 2012, I was studying for a degree in Portuguese and French at Universidade Estadual de Maringa in Brazil. I joined Imperial in 2015 as a Catering Assistant, and later trained as a barista. I am now a Catering Supervisor and am responsible for managing the Electrical Engineering Cafe and the Junior Common Room. (more…)

Andy Thomas, Research Computing Manager, Department of Mathematics

As the manager of the Department of Mathematics’ research IT facility in the Huxley Building, which has over 200 systems providing more than 1000 processors and 1000 terabytes of data storage, I have a busy, varied and enjoyable job.

I have been very fortunate to have spent most of my working life in research, starting in 1975 as an Electronics Technician in the Acoustics Lab of the former Chelsea College. I spent a decade creating specialist devices for projects and driving a mobile laboratory all over the UK.

An advert in the Guardian in 1999 for someone to come and sort out a motley collection of UNIX and Linux systems in Imperial’s Department of Mathematics was too much to resist. After arriving at Imperial in January 2000 (just in time to face and deal with the infamous Y2K bug), I have not looked back and have thoroughly enjoyed being here. Working at Imperial is like being part of a large family where I always feel at home, where thinking outside the box and embracing new ideas is the norm.

My present job is more like working for a small start-up. I routinely work on systems, networks, databases and programming all at once, and am responsible for every aspect of the facility. But above all, the most satisfying part of my role is providing a reliable service which gives researchers exactly what they want, when they want it and within budget.

Finally, receiving the President’s Medal for Research Support Excellence in 2018 has been the high point of my being at Imperial.