A new academic year and a new(ish) adventure
Autumn is always my favourite time of the year. As a self-confessed family of ‘leaf-peepers’, with a couple autumnal trips to New England under our belt, it is lovely time to get outside and enjoy the nature is at its best. But also, having spent most of my life within education, either as a pupil, student or staff member, it has always a felt like a time for starting afresh with optimism abound – and a time when university campuses come alive after a dormant summer. And this year, change is certainly in the air.
In fact, the beginning of September marked the end of an era after having moved on from City, University of London after almost 10 years in London. During that time, I successfully navigated the bridge from PhD student to Postdoc, to Lecturer and eventually to Senior Lecturer. With the close support of my supervisor, who became a colleague and friend, we enjoyed many successes, and I had the opportunity to get involved in many exciting research projects, alongside supervising PhD students, and above all working with great colleagues and friends. And of course, I hope collaborations with colleagues from City will continue in the future.
Moving on from City, I have now taken up a role as a Senior Lecturer within the Engineering Department at the University of Sussex. And funnily enough I have returned to where my research journey began. Back in April 2012 I started my PhD at University of Sussex and had never even contemplated studying or working in London. However, fast forward eight months (to the point in the PhD that you are at least starting to get an idea of what the hell you are supposed to be doing), and I found myself transferring up to London alongside my supervisor as he decided to move on. From there, one thing led to another and before long, 10 happy and successful years had passed.
But now, I am going back to where it started, and back to the same research centre, the Thermo-Fluid Mechanics Research Centre (or TFMRC for short). And it is nice to be back. Nice to see a few familiar faces alongside some new. And nice to have a new challenge in front of me to tackle.
The first month or so has of course been a time of adjustment and getting settled. But now is the time to get stuck in, do some exciting research - and hopefully have a little fun along the way. And who knows, maybe this website might even get a bit more love and care than it has in past 12 months (there’s 10-month old reason for that, but maybe that’s a story for another post…)
So, watch this space for future updates! But for now, maybe I’ll grab a coffee and take a walk amongst the leaves.
