Month: May 2020

Dr Sabine van Elsland, External Relationships & Communications Manager, School of Public Health

Celebrating our community during COVID-19

“It is humbling being part of Imperial’s COVID-19 response team. It is amazing to see the passion, talent, expertise and experience from colleagues coming together as a team delivering high profile work amidst a global crisis.”

I am an infectious disease epidemiologist and the External Relationships and Communications Manager at the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, Jameel Institute (J-IDEA). It is a privilege being in a position to witness the world coming together from this up-close. We are grateful to receive support from major funders like the MRC and Community Jameel.

I studied health sciences in Amsterdam, the Netherlands (my home country) and Bandung, Indonesia. My MSc in infectious disease at the VU Amsterdam took me to Aurangabad, India and Cape Town South Africa. For 10 years, I was proud to call Cape Town my home, where I completed my PhD. It was almost two years ago that I joined the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis and moved to London with my family. (more…)

Abigail Ackerman, Research Associate, Department of Materials

Celebrating our community during COVID-19

“The wardening teams across all halls have reacted exceptionally to the crisis. My students are particularly upset that we no longer can do Sunday breakfasts!”

I came to Imperial five and a half years ago to start my PhD in the Department of Materials, and am now a Research Associate in Corrosion. In my first year here, I also started as a subwarden in Wilkinson Hall. Since then, I have become an Assistant Warden at Parson House and Pembridge Gardens, living onsite at Parsons House. Other than the Boathouse, Parson House is the smallest of all of the Imperial halls, with only 42 residents. This means that we create an incredibly tight knit community within the hall, by weekly Sunday breakfasts and other activities such as theatre trips and pizza nights. (more…)

John Field, Fire Safety Manager, Estates Division

Celebrating our community during COVID-19

“I am currently writing and producing a Home Fire Safety video for our students and staff in order to ensure their safety as they work from home.”

Before joining the College in 2018, I worked as a firefighter for 18 years with Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service. I now work in Estates Operations where my role requires me to provide fire safety training, complete fire risk assessments and audits, as well as advise on fire safety features required for new buildings. (more…)

Adrian Mannall, Microsoft Cloud Tenancy Lead and Microsoft Supplier Relationship Manager, ICT

Celebrating #OurImperial community during COVID-19

“We were asked if there was anything we could do to help with running an online conference. Our CIO said: ‘I’ll put you in touch with Mr Office 365.’”

I joined Imperial in 2004 as one of four Faculty Support Managers in ICT. Ten years later, at the end of 2014, I was offered the opportunity to manage a project to move staff and postgraduate student mailboxes into Office 365. Following that, I took on my current role of managing Microsoft cloud services, Office 365 and Azure. These services are used widely across the College: 22,500 students and members of staff store over 430 TB of files on OneDrive for Business, while Office 365 delivers more than 18 million emails into user mailboxes each month. (more…)