Dr Eleonora D’Elia, Strategic Teaching Fellow – Outreach, Department of Materials

Celebrating our community during COVID-19

“Having gained access to the spookily empty campus, I have been producing face visors: more than 3,000 to date. Together with Helpful Engineering UK, we have delivered more than 24,000 visors and are currently making gowns, masks and ear savers which are going to hospitals, care homes and GPs.”

I was born and raised in a small town near Rome, and I graduated in Materials Science and Physics at the University of Rome Tor Vergata. I moved to London and joined Imperial in 2010 to complete my Masters in Biomaterials and then began my PhD in Smart Materials (such a cool subject, let me tell you!). I now work as a Teaching Fellow in the Department of Materials and am the Head of Outreach in the department. I teach undergraduate courses, deal with undergraduate labs and have been carrying out lots of public engagement activities for nearly 12 years now.

Since the lockdown, I have become part of what started as a small group of volunteers called Helpful Engineering UK which was created to tackle the lack of PPE for frontline workers. I wanted to help as we have nine 3D printers and a very powerful laser cutter in the department, and it seemed like a waste not to use them. So, having gained access to the spookily empty campus, I have been producing face visors: more than 3,000 to date.

Together with Helpful Engineering UK, we have delivered more than 24,000 visors and are currently making gowns, masks and ear savers which are going to hospitals, care homes and GPs. The group has now grown to hundreds of volunteers all over London. It is fantastic to be part of such a giving group of people volunteering their time and skills for an incredible cause. We’ve received great feedback from doctors, nurses and carers – everybody was so grateful.

I must admit, this lockdown has been quite hard for me as I have a two-year-old and my husband is a police officer, meaning I am working from home alone and juggling work, household chores, and attempting to look semi-professional when dealing with students – all with a toddler climbing up my back!. However this fantastic opportunity has made me feel like I’m contributing to society by helping the vulnerable.

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