There have been a number of staff changes in the past few months as members of the department are appointed or promoted, leave or retire, or pass away.
Starters
Aruna Reddy – Graduate Recruitment, Education and Admissions Manager; Steve Young – Microanalysis Technician; Alex Hirons – Teaching Technician; Nicholas Foot – Traineed Research Laboratory Technician; Anna Wadolkowska – Teaching Laboratory Technician Part 1A (starts 4 March); Roberto Canales Candela – Mass Spec Technician (starts 18 March); Mariiliana Alivonta – Deputy Head of Accounts (Secondment); Matt Woolley – Mechanical Workshop Technician; Tanaka Mutsatsa – IT Technician; John Suberu – Teaching Technician; Alex Clarke – Secretary; Vikki Cantrill – Research Administrator; Maria Ciaccia – Mass Spec Technician; Nicola Duncan – Secretary; Beth Culmer – Accounts Clerk; Lillian Bixler – Reprographics Clerk.
Promotions
Gabriella Bocchetti; Echo Wu Williamson; Slawomir Czarny; Rafel Cabot Mesquida; Naomi Hobbs.
Leavers
Tom Sweet; Maria Ciaccia; Gang Xiong; Chunenam Tsang ; Ivan Williams; Daphne Monk; Amanda Tribble; Filomena Gallo.
Retirements
Three long-serving members of staff retired in the last few months.
- John Palmer, Building Services Manager, retired in September after 20 years of service. John was succeeded by Matt Bushen as Building Services Manager.
- Peter Grice, Senior Technical Officer, also retired in September after 26 years of service. Peter had formerly been technical assistant to Professor Steve Ley after his move from Imperial College in 1992, and took over the running of the NMR section in 2010. In a thankyou note after his retirement party, Peter wrote: "I’ve seen many students come and go over the years - now it's my turn. I shall, however, like the best students, come back to visit."
- Alan Dickerson retired on 31 December after many years of dedicated service to the department. His successor is Steve Young, who in February joined the microanalysis team.
We thank our former colleagues very much for their contributions to the department and wish them an enjoyable retirement.
Deaths
- Sadly, we learned last autumn of the death of Phil Matthews. Phil had joined the Department in 2005 as a cleaner and was promoted to senior cleaner in 2016. He left a wife and three sons. Our thoughts were with his family.