Campus Stars: Neil Saunders and Jennifer Hankin

July 2nd, 2020

The Campus Stars campaign has been launched to showcase the colleagues still working on campus during the lockdown and highlight the crucial work they do.

Neil Saunders is a Technical Specialist and Jennifer Hankin is a Research Technician within the Dairy Nutrition Research Team based on Sutton Bonington campus. Neil has been working at the University for 17 years and Jennifer for 8 years.

Neil and Jennifer run nutrition, environmental and fertility studies in farm animal species such as cows, sheep, pigs and poultry. They look at everything from environmental emissions to emerging feed products from commercial companies. Neil and Jennifer ​program the mixing of diets for the cows using the GEA automated feeding system, collect samples and complete a significant quantity of proximate analysis in house through the wet chemistry and analytical labs.

During the pandemic, they are assisting the commercial farm staff with essential routine cleaning and maintenance of the Hoko Roughage Intake Control system that is used to monitor the feed intake for the dairy cows. Although there are currently no studies running, there is still a requirement to keep the area free from old feed so as not to attract vermin. This also ensures that the area can still be used to offer cows fresh feed as per the farm accreditation scheme.

During lockdown, Neil has enjoyed spending quality time with his family, including a Star Wars marathon! He has also spent time working on projects around the house in addition to making modifications to his VW campervan in the hope that he will be able to take it on a family holiday soon! Neil has found home schooling a challenge and has a huge respect for teachers!

Jennifer has spent a lot of time reading books during lockdown and has particularly enjoyed re-reading the Harry Potter series. She has also enjoyed film marathons, binging TV series and listening to Doctor Who audios with her husband. Jennifer has made use of new delivery services offered by businesses, and her favourite was The Cheesecake Factory’s chocolate mud cake ordered for her husband’s birthday!

Neil’s favourite thing about working at the University is how varied his role is. One day he will be feeding cows and the next he will be working in a lab. Jennifer’s favourite thing about her job is working with animals, especially the cows at the dairy. She enjoys working at Sutton Bonington as it has a great community feel!

Neil’s message to the University community is that although these are difficult times for everyone, try looking at it as an opportunity to spend time with family and loved ones. Jennifer’s message is to try and do something that you enjoy every day, such as spending time virtually with your friends and family. It may be difficult to stay positive every day, but just remember that everyone is going through the same thing and we will get through this eventually!

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Campus Stars: Aaron Swinscoe

July 2nd, 2020

The Campus Stars campaign has been launched to showcase the colleagues still working on campus during the lockdown and highlight the crucial work they do.

Aaron is a Building Attendant on Jubilee Campus and has worked at the University for two years.

Aaron usually works during the evenings, and his main duties include preparing classrooms for teaching, locking buildings and securing campus at the end of the day.

Aaron offered to work flexibly during lockdown and has been carrying out essential building maintenance such as water flushing, testing fire alarms and ensuring refuge systems are in working order. He misses the students and the friendly interactions he had with them, particularly the societies making use of campus during his evening shifts.

Aaron has enjoyed watching the campus bloom and has particularly enjoyed seeing families feeding the baby ducks. He has appreciated seeing more people visit the campus for their outdoor exercise and is hopeful that things are getting better.

Outside of work, Aaron has been busy going to the supermarket for his parents, walking the dog and spending quality time with his family.

He and his daughter have planted potatoes, peas, sweetcorn, strawberries, gooseberries, garlic, pak choi, tomatoes, chillies and peppers.

Together they built a tortoise playground for his daughter’s pets and the dog has enjoyed having their full attention! Aaron has also enjoyed catching up on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Walking Dead and The Big Bang Theory during his days off.

Aaron’s message to the University community is that he hopes everyone is well and that staff and students have been missed.

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Campus Stars: Mark Pycroft

July 2nd, 2020

The Campus Stars campaign has been launched to showcase the colleagues still working on campus during the lockdown and highlight the crucial work they do.

Mark is a Senior Security Officer based on University Park campus and has worked at the University for 13 years.

Mark’s role has continued as normal during the pandemic as some students remain on campus and so the usual security service is still provided. Mark also provides access to outside contractors and colleagues within the Estates team who are using this time to carry out essential maintenance and outstanding jobs. On occasion, this has led to between 30 and 40 access jobs per day followed by the securing of buildings once jobs have been completed. The Security team have also been faced with members of the public enjoying the beautiful campuses and improperly disposing of disposable barbecues resulting in bin fires.

Security has supported the NHS who are utilising the Medical School by providing vital card access to relevant buildings and free parking.

During his spare time, Mark has been watching documentaries and recently enjoyed O.J.: Made in America. Mark is missing sport at the moment as he would usually be attending Derby County football games and playing golf.

Mark’s favourite thing about working at the University of Nottingham is the beautiful campuses.

Mark’s message to the University community is to stay strong, stay safe and keep smiling!

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Campus Stars: Georgia Smith

July 2nd, 2020

The Campus Stars campaign has been launched to showcase the colleagues still working on campus during the lockdown and highlight the crucial work they do.

Georgia is the Second Chef at Sherwood Hall on University Park and has been working at the University for one year.

As the Second Chef, Georgia provides food to students living on campus. During the pandemic, Georgia’s role has not changed and she continues to support the students who were unable to return home due to travel restrictions in addition to staff that remain on campus. Georgia forms part of a team of staff from various parts of catering and retail who continue to work through the pandemic.

During her free time, Georgia has been baking and leaving baked treats with friends and family. She has also enjoyed watching the latest season of After Life on Netflix, even if it is a bit emotional! Georgia also enjoys listening to music, and even sings a long at work to lift spirits.

Georgia’s favourite thing about working at the University of Nottingham is her colleagues, as they make the job so much more enjoyable.

Georgia’s message to the rest of the University community is to stay safe. She also wants to encourage everyone continuing to work, both from home and on campus, to keep up the great work!

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Campus Stars: Jodie Chatfield

July 2nd, 2020

The Campus Stars campaign has been launched to showcase the colleagues still working on campus during the lockdown and highlight the crucial work they do.

Jodie is the Central Support Team Technical Manager for the School of Life Sciences and has worked at the University for 24 years.

Jodie’s responsibilities involve managing a team of central support technicians and their day-to-day activities. They provide essential support to all of the research groups that work within the School of Life Sciences.

Jodie is usually based in the Medical School within the Queen’s Medical Centre but since lockdown is working within a team to support Life Sciences equipment in the Biodiversity Institute on campus.

Since lockdown, Jodie has been heavily involved with assembling technical teams that could provide support in the coming months. To ensure equipment was moved safely and correctly, Jodie coordinated a technical team and together with other senior colleagues they worked to move the essential equipment. Jodie planned rotas for staff to ensure that social distancing was observed whilst checking and maintaining the equipment. Jodie currently works with a team of 14 and ensures to communicate weekly to ensure that all are fit to work and complete the required tasks.

Jodie supports her team with regular updates from the School of Life Sciences and the University. This is usually by email, but for those who do not have access to email the updates are communicated by phone or text.

Jodie has enjoyed spending time outside of work in her garden, and particularly enjoys the birdsong and fresh air. She has also enjoyed spending quality time with her children and going on walks or bike rides.

Jodie’s favourite thing about working for the University of Nottingham is the friendships she has made with current and past colleagues.

Jodie’s message for the University community is to keep listening to the advice, stick to government guidelines and together we will all get through this!

Tags: Campus Stars, coronavirus, COVID-19, key workers
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Campus Stars: Kate Beaumont

July 2nd, 2020

The Campus Stars campaign has been launched to showcase the colleagues still working on campus during the lockdown and highlight the crucial work they do.

Kate is a Support Technician at the Biodiscovery Institute (BDI) on University Park and has been working at the University for 6 years.

Kate during week 1 of lockdown fumigating a microbiological safety cabinet so that it could be transferred to a Covid research facility.

Kate’s role usually involves overseeing a small team of technicians who carry out day-to-day support of the research groups working in BDI. Kate’s team supports the researchers working in BDI by maintaining the building’s systems through safety testing, arrangement of equipment servicing and repairs, and making sure all relevant paperwork is dealt with.

During the pandemic, research groups are no longer working in the building and many members of the team fall into the vulnerable group that are not allowed into work. Therefore, the small number able to travel to campus are taking care of any waste from the small amounts of research continuing, in addition to carrying out general checks of the laboratories to identify any issues and safety testing equipment. Kate has created a rota for this skeleton crew to ensure that nobody is working alone, whilst also maintaining social distancing. Kate also assists those working from home with any questions or issues they may have with their remote working.

During the first week of lockdown, Kate and her supervisor were called upon to sterilise equipment for transfer to the Covid research facility in Milton Keynes. That week was spent in BDI fumigating safety cabinets, ready for the armed forces to collect.

Kate has enjoyed spending time during lockdown with her recently adopted rescue cat. Initially he was terrified of everyone, but with a lot of patience and the strategic placement of treats, Kate has managed to gain his trust and build his confidence!

Kate has enjoyed watching the beautiful and calming Studio Ghibli films on Netflix, a particular favourite is Howl’s Moving Castle. Kate has also spent time during lockdown learning calligraphy and writing a short comic. She’s written 19 pages already!

Kate favourite thing about working for the University of Nottingham is her colleagues. She credits them all for the support they provide to each other and it provides great comfort that everyone wants to help each other out during these strange times. With the current restrictions, they are all managing to stay in touch with the wider team through online meetings on Teams.

Kate’s message to the University community is to hang in there! This is the strangest event in recent times so don’t feel bad about being scared or confused. Check in on friends and family – they probably feel the same and you can act as support for each other. It’s okay to not be okay, and try to reach out if you need to.

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Campus Stars: Andrew Armstrong

July 2nd, 2020

The Campus Stars campaign has been launched to showcase the colleagues still working on campus during the lockdown and highlight the crucial work they do.

Andrew is a Virtualisation Systems Engineer for Information Services and has worked at the University for 11 years.

Andrew works with colleagues to maintain servers, storage and networking. He also monitors and responds to failed hardware alerts and downed systems.

During the pandemic, Andrew is on a rota for on-site work which not only involves hardware maintenance but also any access for Estates, such as fire system maintenance, air conditioning maintenance and door maintenance. This means working to minimise contact whilst also trying to minimise contact with engineers.

Andrew provides support to staff and student systems hosted on servers and is currently working on the installation of new Moodle MySQL servers. He also carries out maintenance on other services used across the University whilst also building new virtual servers, and assisting with other maintenance work on physical servers.

During lockdown, Andrew has spent his free time playing video games such as Mount and Blade: Bannderlord and watching the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit extended editions.

Andrew’s favourite thing about working at the University of Nottingham is knowing that his contributions through effective IT services help to further research and teaching.

Andrew’s message to the University community is to stay positive and to try and arrange regular Teams calls with colleagues, even if this is for socialising rather than to discuss work. Andrew appreciates everyone working remotely and enabling the University to continue operations during this difficult time.

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Campus Stars: David Smith

July 2nd, 2020

The Campus Stars campaign has been launched to showcase the colleagues still working on campus during the lockdown and highlight the crucial work they do.

David is a Hall Porter at Sherwood Hall on University Park and has been working at the University for eight years.

As a Hall Porter, David usually works from 4pm to midnight and acts as a point of contact for students and conference guests. He also deals with rubbish and recycling, maintenance, compliance checks and various other tasks.

During the pandemic, David’s now works day shifts and focuses more on compliance checks across all on-campus accommodation in addition to maintenance. This involves checking emergency lighting and fire equipment, ensuring legionella regulations are met and carrying out water flushing in areas that are not being used. David also tests fire alarms and monitors the building to flag any breaches or maintenance requirements.

When he is not at work, David has been passing the time with woodturning and making pens as a way to relax.

David’s favourite thing about working at the University of Nottingham is University Park campus and the other members of the University community.

David’s message to the University community is that it’s okay if you’re feeling the effects of lockdown and to always ask for help.

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