Vanessa works with around ten people on the HARMONI project for the ELT – these include scientists, engineers project managers, researchers and students.

What do you do in your job?

I am part of the Project Office. I give administrative support to Professor Niranjan Thatte (Principal Investigator), the Project Manager based in Edinburgh, the HARMONI Oxford Team and the HARMONI Consortium, which has institutes in France and Spain.

How does your role fit in and support the wider team?

I interact with the HARMONI Consortium on a daily basis supporting them in multiple ways i.e.: organising workshops, meetings, finance reporting.

If you had to summarise the impact of your job on everyday life – what would you say in two sentences?

By giving administrative support, I allow the rest of the team to concentrate on the design and execution of the HARMONI Instrument.

What's the best thing about your job?

Knowing that in a small way I am contributing to an amazing project, HARMONI, and ultimately the ELT.

What did you study?

I studied a BA degree in Literature.

What inspired you into a career in science /engineering?

When I joined astrophysics initially as the graduate administrator and then administrator I was fascinated by the instrumentation side of astronomy and I was also interested in project management.  To be part of something that has an end product in administrative terms is very exciting.