2020s Alumni profiles

What is your current or most recent job title?   

UK Divisional Security Lead.

Please tell us a brief summary of your career to date since graduation

• Security Manager, 2021
• Regional Operations Manager, 2022
• Operations Manager UK North, 2023
• UK Divisional Security Lead, 2023

I was a finalist for 6 awards in the security industry, winning the President's Award for Outstanding Young Professional at the Security Institute Gala awards 2023. 

What were the biggest challenges you have faced within your education and career history? What advice would you give to anyone in a similar position?

If you are looking to become a manager learn about HR, ER and employment law. Be patient when learning.

What were your motivations for enrolling on a course at the University of Leicester?  

To prove my knowledge and enhance my knowledge of field.

What would you tell your younger self if they were just starting out at the University of Leicester?

Be patient and put everything into each task.

What is your current or most recent job title?

STEM Foundation Year Teaching Fellow.

Please tell us a brief summary of your career to date since graduation. You may wish to include job titles and how you obtained the roles

After graduating from my MPhys degree in 2017 I started my PhD in Physics at Leicester. Once my doctorate studies concluded, I became employed as a STEM Foundation Year Teaching Fellow at University of Leicester. I have also held part-time roles at the National Space Centre in Leicester and the Royal Observatory Greenwich in London. I am very keen on working in research, education, and outreach and my roles to date have reflected this. In future, I would love to find a way to combine teaching, outreach, and research!

What were the biggest challenges you have faced within your education and career history? What advice would you give to anyone in a similar position?

My time at sixth-form was very rough. I did really well at secondary school and managed to bag really high grades; that made me something akin to a big fish in a small pond. However, once I got to college I became a small fish in a big pond and struggled with workload and keeping on top of things from day one. I didn't help myself by picking five subjects in the first year: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Maths, and Further Maths. By the time second year came around, I dropped Biology and Chemistry and completed full A-Levels in Physics (B), Maths (A), and Further Maths (C). I thought I had scuppered my chance of getting into my first-choice course at Leicester which had an AAB entry requirement. Despite my grades, I was still able to get onto the MPhys Physics with Astrophysics degree programme and was very relieved when I learned this. It was like an enormous weight was lifted off my shoulders after two gruelling and draining years at college.

What were your motivations for enrolling on a course at the University of Leicester?

I became very interested in astronomy while at college and was shopping around looking for universities where I could study this subject. I was most interested in galaxies and cosmology. Leicester was well-regarded for its research profile in astrophysics and it was also the university in my hometown so it made a lot of sense to hang around and study there.

How did your course and your experience in Leicester aid your personal and professional development?

My MPhys experience was excellent. After struggling through college, I really embraced the fresh sense of freedom and appreciated studying just one single subject as opposed to four on the go. My self-confidence, problem-solving ability, and interpersonal skills improved beyond recognition over the course of four years as I made friends, engaged with my degree programme, and set down markers for my doctorate degree.

What would you tell your younger self if they were just starting out at the University of Leicester?

I would encourage my younger self to join in with more student societies, perhaps even build up the courage to create one tailored to my own interests.