As a Senior Technician in the Queen’s Marine Lab (QML), I have been organising events to showcase the laboratory (based in Portaferry, Co. Down) for several years now, with Open Days, beach cleans, wellbeing events and school and community group events to promote studies in Marine Science.  

When I received last year’s staff award for Making an Impact, I was very overwhelmed. I was nominated in a category with people carrying out world-leading research, and honestly felt that the work I was doing in public outreach and communicating Ocean Literacy didn’t really compare to that! 

However, I have come to realise that the work that we can do has an impact on many different levels, and whatever your role within the University, you can be a driver for positive change. I feel very proud to have represented the QUB Technicians’ community at the Staff Awards. There are so many of us working behind the scenes to help deliver research excellence, as well as roles outside our job descriptions, such as event organising and public engagement. 

I was very humbled to be nominated by my colleagues for a Staff Award, and seeing what people had written in their submissions, and knowing that my contributions had been appreciated, was the best part of the whole process for me. Having that affirmation that the work I was doing was not going unnoticed was such a positive driver to make me continue to expand on my daily role at QML, and I would encourage everyone to think about nominating their colleagues for an award.