Team member quick intros

TPS Team

Updated September 2024

Aida

Other things to know about me:

• I used to work in two large corporations, in one start-up and in the Programme Management unit at Turing prior to my current role.
• I have a toddler daughter who’s currently adjusting to her nursery - sometimes you will see her on a zoom call with me if she’s managed to skive off nursery. :)

Your current role/position:

• Research Application Manager in Tools, Practices and Systems (TPS) at Turing;

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• I work across the ASG Programme to embed research outputs into real world implementations that are *used* by someone;

Alejandro

he/him/his - Honorary TPS member

Other things to know about me:

• Dad of a lovely toddler, Matilda Emilia (1 yo)
• Coffee and world music lover
• Enjoy outdoor activities, cycling & travelling
• Lived in Vietnam, Switzerland and Spain during my PhD

Your current role/position:

• Research Fellow: Environment & Sustainability - Data Science for Science and Humanities (DS4SH) Programme at Turing

Also:

• Physical Geography and Agriculture scientist by training with a MSc/PhD @ King’s College London
• Contributor to Scivision, TTW & Pangeo (Europe Chapter)
• Founder of the Environmental Data Science book
• OLS meente & topic editor of the Journal of Open Source Education (JOSE)

Anne

she/her/hers

Other things to know about me:

• Love physical and digital gardens, and generally being outside ⛰️🌿🍵💚🌱
• Always keen to have a conversation about the culture of open… let’s chat sometime! 🤗
• More info at: aleesteele.com/

Your current role/position:

• Community Manager @ �The Turing Way (Lucky to work with lots of folks in the team!)

Also:

• Working/worked with various nodes in the open ecosystem: Internet Society, Wikimedia Deutschland, Open Knowledge Foundation, OpenStreetMap
• Anthropologist/sociologist by training w/ a MA (Graduate Institute of Geneva) and BA (Columbia University)

Arielle

Other things to know about me:

• I love to walk: I've done 2 100km walks 🏃‍♀️ & I'm now working on New Hampshire's 48 4000 footer list
• I'm based in Boston USA now
• I have a lot of plants🌱, do a lot of baking, and also read a lot as well (sci-fi recommendations particularly welcome!) 🛸

Your current role/position:

• Programme Manager for Tools, Practices & Systems
• This means you can come to me for help with lots of different bits & pieces while at the Turing!
• I am a contributor to The Turing Way (on research infrastructure roles and activism) and an OLS mentor
• I'm an active member of United Tech & Allied Workers union
• I also participate in a community of practice on scientific community management (CSCCE)
• I have worked in lots of different roles prior to this: pharma, startups, publishing...

she/her/hers

Bastian

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Other things to know about me:

• Always loves doing some self-research ⌚️📊
• Misses some aspects of wet lab work and thus started doing analog photography 📷🧑‍🔬🧪
• A lot more info is at https://tzovar.as/

Your current role/position:

• Senior Researcher: Citizen Science

Also:

• Used to be a biologist
• Director of Research @ Open Humans
• Co-Founder @ openSNP
• Board member @ Open Bioinformatics Foundation

Batool Almarzouq

Other things to know about me:

• I can't survive without my daily dose of chocolate and sweets.�
• I love gardening but not very good at it

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Your current role/position:

• Research Project Manager for AIM RSF

Also:

• Core Contributor with The Turing Way team (like many of you here!)
• I have a background in bioinformatics

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• Founder of Open Science community Saudi Arabia (OSCSA)

Cass (she/her)

Other things to know about me:

• Living in Devon, UK - gifted by the freedom of hybrid working
• Mother of 2 little ones
• Gymnast in my youth, and spent far too long doing aerial circus during my PhD!
• Dyslexia and ADHD :)

Your current role/position:

• Senior Research Community Manager @ E&S and GEN Co-Chair

Also:

• Experience with handling and developing for GDPR and Ambassadors programmes
• Neuroimager in Psychiatry by training, with PhD in Informatics and Medical Biochemistry undergrad

Chris

Other things to know about me:

• Coffee snob, swimmer/climber (generally like being outdoors), and general tech enthusiast
• Very proud father of a gorgeous little girl (Lottie) 💖

Your current role/position:

• Senior Researcher in Trustworthy Systems
• Lead for the TRIC-DT Innovation and Impact Hub
• Principal Investigator for UKRI TEA-DT project (collaboration with University of York and DSIT)
• Project Co-Lead for the Turing Commons
• Philosopher of Cognitive Science and AI (mostly in a former life)

Claire

Your current role/position:

• Information Services Manager�https://mathison.turing.ac.uk/page/library

Also:

• Have always worked in libraries including the British Library
• I like making research easy to find by everyone who needs it
• Electronic Journals
• working on getting a Repository into Turing
• I do Open Access,and manage the UKRI Open Access Block Grant
• If you like printed books https://mathison.turing.ac.uk/page/BorrowABook
• your public library does free ebooks, I will tell you how

Other things to know about me:

• I like reading Lee Child, and bachata, but not at the same time
• I am a cat holder-upper and door opener
• The plant in my backdrop lived in the British Museum for 20 years.

David

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Other things to know about me:

• I enjoy hiking in the highlands and casually climbing
• Picked woodcarving as a pandemic hobby and sticked with it
• Send Scifi and fantasy down my alley please, a Locked Tomb enthusiast
• I’m actually Andalusian despite my Scottish looks

Research Project Manager:

• I hope to help researchers do their best work
• This means I coordinate people and make sure things happen

Emma

she/her/hers

Other things to know about me:

• Mum to two kiddies - Akram (14) & Tahir (12) - means I usually keep work to school hours
• Live in Portsmouth, UK so usually work from home/remote.
• Like walking, gardening and cooking.

Your current role/position:

• TPS Senior Researcher for Research Community Building and deputy lead of RCM Team
• Skills
• Co-lead of People in Data
• Skills Policy award - Professionalising diverse data science roles
• Health
• AIM RSF, supporting development of health grand challenge
• Previously worked on Turing-RSS Health Data Lab and DECOVID
• Clinical AI interest group co-organiser and on Turing’s Interest Groups Advisory group
• Turing Way Bookdash working group

Also:

• Lead of Open Phytoliths Community, PI of FAIR phytoliths project at Historic England (I’m an Archaeobotanist!).
• Hidden REF committee
• Software Sustainability Institute (SSI) Fellow
• UK-Elixir FAIR Data Fellow
• Open life Science Graduate and Mentor/Expert

Fran (He/Him)

Your current role/position:

• Research Application Manager (DCE)

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Also:

• Jack of all trades, ace of one (my PhD)
• Finishing my PhD on Digital Twins
• Advisor on solar plant DT projects in Turkey and Spain
• Worked at a few startups, where: I built a handwriting robot, tried to create an AirBnB for venues, programmed quadcopters to land on my shoulders

Other things to know about me:

• Born and raised in Spain.
• Always open to try new sporty activities!
• Fran = Racing. Please come karting with me.
• Saxophone and guitar player, and amateur producer.
• Everything in life becomes interesting if you ponder long enough about it. Always happy to have a chat about anything and everything!

Gabin

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Other things to know about me:

• Love hiking, gigantic tropical fruits platters, running in the sun, swimming (this, more like a stone atm)
• No life without my music
• Tinkering with electronic gizmos (raspberry Pi,arduino,cameras,VR, etc.),remnant of PhD time immemorial

Your current role/position:

• Senior Research Community Manager for Data-Centric Engineering

Also:

• European Open Science Cloud (EOSC)-FAIRsFAIR
• Environmental impact of ICT resources
• Digital capacity building in Global South
• Computer Scientist (Machine Vision)

Georgia

she/her/hers

Other things to know about me:

• I love reading, especially poetry
• I play saxophone
• I’m from a tiny Scottish village, but my accent is inconsistent and people think I sound American
• I’ve also lived in Paris and Beijing
• I have a twin sister! We’re psychic

Your current role/position:

• Researcher at The Turing focussed on the AutSPACEs project
• Interests in participatory science, citizen science, and open research
• Passionate about neurodiversity

Also

• SSI Fellow
• OLS graduate
• Previously worked on the UK government fast stream
• Studied English lit for my BA (Oxford) and M.Phil (Cambridge)

Giulia

she/her/hers

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Other things to know about me:

• Mom to a girl and a boy
• Used to read A LOT, but focused on picture- and first chapter books right now…
• I was taught kenjutsu (the art of the sword) by a Buddhist monk for over a year while in Japan, but was terrible at it… I still have my sword though!

Your current role/position:

• Daphne Jackson Fellow (part-time), with a focus on fairness and bias in AI for healthcare

Also:

• I graduated in Materials Engineering, but took a PhD in computational (bio)physics and went further along that route
• Previously at the Wellcome Trust (Data for Science and Health)

Jen (she/her)

Other things to know about me:

• Came to 🇬🇧 via NYC via Portland via Texas
• Former founder of a parking tech startup, but have never owned a car and prefer walking as my transpo mode of choice
• Into trying new ways to make coffee, esp. cold brew

Your current role/position:

• Acting TPS Senior Researcher, RAM
• Focus on Urban Analytics programme
• Personal research interest in open source AI

Also:

• CS M.Eng @ Cornell Tech
• EE B.S. + Policy Studies B.A. @ Rice University
• US ML Startups

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Kalle Westerling

Your current role/position:

• Research Application Manager in TRIC-DT

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Also:

• PhD in Theatre and Performance from the City University of New York
• For my research, I modelled social networks of gender nonconforming performers in 1930s US, when they were outlawed in cities, to track the development of the art form of drag performance.
• Previously worked with the Living with Machines project at the Turing and before that as a project/programme manager with a national digital skills programme in the US.

Other things to know about me:

• Love to cook to reduce my stress levels!
• Passionate about project management (and recently got certified as a scrum master)
• Lived a bit all over the world: from Sweden originally but 12 years in NYC and then almost a year in Rio de Janeiro before coming to the UK
• Lives in Reading

Kirstie

she/her/hers

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Other things to know about me:

• Highly motivated to build diverse and inclusive teams across projects
• I’m better at slack than email
• Solo mum by choice to Mackenzie Elizabeth (born May 2022)
• Doggo momma to Luna (born January 2010 in the USA 🐾)

Your current role/position:

• Director of the Tools, Practices and Systems research programme at the Turing Institute
• Co-PI: The Turing Way, AutSPACEs, AI for Multiple Long Term Conditions Research Support Facility
• Analytics Lead: DECOVID
• Co-I: Data Safe Haven, EDoN
• Chair: Turing Research Ethics Committee 🦖

Malvika

Other things to know about me:

• Lived in Germany for 11 yrs before moving to the UK in 2020
• Background in (RNA, Molecular & infection) bioinformatics
• I prefer no meetings before 10:00 & tend to catch up on my emails late.

Your current role/position:

• Senior researcher: Open Research
• Project co-lead: The Turing Way
• Lead of TPS Community Management Team

Also:

• Learn/practice community Management, inclusive research, collaboration in open science
• Co-founded a mentoring and training programme: Open Life Science
• Enjoy all discussion on research practices, training and capacity building, social science + data justice

https://malvikasharan.github.io/

Shakir

Other things to know about me:

• Really enjoy exploring - currently Great Britain which I have neglected for too long
• Going through a phase of learning DIY practical skills e.g., tiling, joinery, plastering, etc

Your current role/position:

• Research Application Manager in Tools, Practices and Systems (TPS) at the Turing
• Primarily assisting the AI Standards Hub project within the Public Policy Programme achieve its aims and objectives.

Also:

• Education in Computer Science
• Past research involved AI Safety
• Past work experience in Health IT

Sophia

Other things to know about me:

• I’m a kiwi (from New Zealand) so I come with a strong accent
• My primary field is neuro with VR/AR a close second so I’m always happy to chat about Virtual Reality and other cool tech

Your current role/position:

• Public and Patient Involvement and Engagement Community Manager with the AIM RSF (and AutSPACEs)

Also

• SSI Fellow in 2022’s Cohort
• Core Contributor with The Turing Way team (like the other cool folk here!)
• Previously worked at 2 Brain Computer Interface companies (one non invasive and one invasive) and absolutely love the intersection of medtech and product design.

Alexandra

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Other things to know about me:

• Mother of 2 kids: Sebastian (6) and Aurelia (3)
• I’ve produced over 100 theatre plays (including Mamma Mia! & Billy Elliot)
• Got a Great Taste Award for my ‘alfajores business’ in 2013
• I’m currently obsessed with the source of happiness and purpose, reading books and listening to podcast about it

Your current role/position:

• Senior Community Manager, Bridge AI

Also:

• Teacher of Finance for sustainable creative project (remotely in Peru)
• Previous experience in Research mainly about Mental Health and the Arts
• Mentor at Laboratoria+ (laboratoriaplus.la)

Sophie

Your current role/position:

• Research Application Manager in TRIC-DT

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Also:

• PhD in cognitive neuroscience (I searched for brain signals reflecting pure syntax when we read - didn’t find them!)
• For my research I have played around with recurrent neural networks & transformer models
• I’ve worked for Skin Bliss as founding employee and poured a lot of heart into improving their recommendation engine - try it!

Other things to know about me:

• I binge watch youtube videos on dog training psychology and currently into dog agility
• I love being outdoors, trying to get better at identifying trees🌳
• Grew up in germany, ½ peruvian, lived in mexico, portugal & netherlands before coming to the UK
• Drink of choice: matcha tea

Sydney (she/her)

Your current role/position:

• Programme Manager for AIM RSF

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Also:

• I’m an active member of GEN (Gender Equity Network) working in the policy working group & drafting a TTW chapter on diverse recruitment
• My background is in research funding and I've previously worked at Cancer Research UK, the Wellcome Trust and Versus Arthritis. There is a lot of joy in giving scientists money and working out fair and equitable ways of doing so!

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Other things to know about me:

• I watch a lot of TV, have recently gotten into reading again and am teaching myself to crochet.
• I've love going to shows and gigs; I’m seeing Jungle next week, Charli XCX in November & a Maddadam ballet in December
• I love (vegan) cooking and volunteer at Foodcycle where food that would otherwise be thrown away is turned into a 3 course vegetarian meal for members of the local community.

Vicky

Other things to know about me:

• I started growing vegetables during lockdown with lots of help from my grandad over facetime
• I’ve been lucky enough to travel to over 42 countries

Your current role/position:

• Research Community Manager for Turing-Roche Partnership

Also:

• Bsc in Biomedical Science from Uni of Sheffield

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• Previously worked in Open Access publishing and at Health Data Research UK

Léllé (she/her)

Other things to know about me:

• I channel my environmental anxiety �in my art practice, working with ephemeral media (video and performance)
• Dancer, cultural producer, stand-up comedian, and sailor
• Lived in Brussels, Berlin, New York, and Accra before moving to the UK
• Shortcuts to my heart: seaside, sunsets, jazz, turtles, ducks, and mangoes

Your current role/position:

• Research Project Manager for�The Turing Way

Also:

• AI & Arts Interest Group Organiser

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• MA Architecture NTUA (Athens), �MA Arts in the Public Space KHB (Berlin) �
• www.lelledi.com

André (he/him)

Your current role/position:

• Senior Research Community Manager, Arts & Humanities

Also:

MA in Theatre Directing, worked in an Arts Research Centre at QMUL managing practice-based research projects with arts orgs between the UK and Brazil. Later as Knowledge Exchange Manager for Creative Industries across the University.

Managed Living with Machines, the Turing’s former flagship Digital Humanities project. Later Strategic Programme Manager for the Office of the Executive.

AI&Arts group co-founder and Organiser

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Other things to know about me:

• Undergrad in Journalism, worked in media, film and theatre producing. Directed a few shows, performed occasionally
• Dad of two, often giving excuses because of the school run didn’t go as expected
• Random fact: Studied movement practices with some great people and learned a lot about muscle and bone anatomy
• Longtime interested in disinformation research

TEMPLATE - PLEASE COPY & ADD YOUR NAME HERE

Your current role/position:

• Your role title at the moment

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Also:

• Background, previous places of work, other responsibilities

Other things to know about me:

• "Fun facts", hobbies, interests outside of your role, working hours, whatever you feel comfortable sharing

Alumni

Achintya

Other things to know about me:

• The hair is a lie. It’s an old photo!
• I arrived in Bristol from Bombay via London and Geneva.
• I can speak, to varying degrees, up to six languages (Kannada, Marathi, Hindi, Spanish and French) and am now learning Italian.

Your current role/position:

• Community Manager,�AI for Science and Government

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Also:

• In my previous life, I worked on communicating (mostly) particle physics
• ✅ BSc in physics� St Xavier’s College, Mumbai
• ✅ MA in science journalism� City University London
• 🤞 PhD in science communication� UWE Bristol

Alden

she/her/hers

Other things to know about me:

• I moved to London from California
• I ride horses and compete in showjumping
• I love to cook and bake

Your current role/position:

• Acting Senior Researcher for Research Applications in Tools, Practices and Systems (TPS) at Turing

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Also:

• I have a background in cell biology, light microscopy, and product management

Amol

Other things to know about me:

• I play guitar and sing in a dreamy band
• I have a majestically aloof husky called Panucci
• I fancy myself to be a mean chef (but there is absolutely no method to my culinary madness)

Your current role/position:

• Technical Writer (on a 6 month secondment from the Civil Service Fast Stream) working on DECOVID and AutSPACEs and contributing to the Turing Way focussing on access and governance of sensitive health data.

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Also:

• Worked in business development at a fintech startup for a while after leaving university with:
• MSc Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, BSc Biology from Queen Mary University of London.

Arron

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Other things to know about me:

• Dad to 2 young boys
• I love cooking and publish recipes in a local lifestyle magazine (@mrgtgcooks)
• Proficient in guitar, magnificent at air guitar

Your current role/position:

• Senior Community Manager for the Early Detection of Neurodegenerative Diseases (EDoN) project

Also:

• Honorary Lecturer in Health Data Science at Swansea University

Cami (they/them)

Your current role/position:

• Research Application Officer

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Also:

• Background in Innovation Management and AI Ethics
• Past research focuses on risks and opportunities for trans communities within AI ecosystems
• Former Associate Lecturer at Creative Computing Institute @ UAL previous places of work/ Conversational Expert @ Conversation Design Institute
• 50% Ethics Team/ Public Policy Programme Team Member

Other things to know about me:

• I’m Venezuelnan, love Gardening, and am a (very very very very) amamateur DJ.

Dave

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Other things to know about me:

• Dad to 2 amazing daughters
• Protector of guinea pigs
• Studying Matayoshi Kobudo (trad. Okinawan weapons)
• Love music, growing stuff & baking bread

Your current role/position:

• Programme Manager for the AI for Multiple Long-term Conditions (AIM) Research Support Facility (RSF)

Also:

• Background mainly in cancer charities, Local Gov. & NHS
• Research Masters in Ancient History

Elizabeth

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Other things to know about me:

• Cycling, travel, gallery and museum hopping, jaaaaaaazzzz
• Hidden talent of marksmanship and seeing pretty well in low/no light

Your current role/position:

• RPM for the Turing’s AI for Multiple Long-Term Conditions RSF

Also:

• Neuroscience background
• Previously at Imperial, RIKEN, UCL and Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children

Eirini

she/her/hers

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Other things to know about me:

• LOVE books (and buying them)
• I took up knitting during the pandemic and I’m now low-key obsessed
• I wake up too early to row
• I want to see your pets 🐈🐕🐇🐓🐐🐢

Your current role/position:

• Community Manager Open Collaboration within AIM-RSF

Also:

• Carpentries instructor and maintainer ✨
• Previously worked as a trainer on research data management
• Even more previously I helped set up an Open Science Community in Nijmegen and the R Ladies Nijmegen chapter
• I have a BA in English (in Greece), an MSc in Language Science (in the UK), and a PhD in Psycholinguistics (in the Netherlands)

Hari

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Other things to know about me:

• Outdoors is the best doors
• Enjoy jamming but not very well!
• Enjoy sport but not very coordinated!
• I can recite Animaniacs’ ‘Nations of the World’ by heart

Your current role/position:

• Research Application Manager for the Data Safe Haven Project

Also:

• Philosomathtor (Maths & Philosophy)
• Ran a (still live) social justice learning platform - there’s lots of facts to learn!

Laura

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Other things to know about me:

• I have four pet budgies who sometimes appear on video calls
• I’ve lived on 3 continents: it’ll be 4 next year when I move to Philadelphia

Your current role/position:

• Completion year (writing-up) PhD student at the University of Essex Human Rights Centre, looking at gender stereotyping in public sector data use
• 2020 ATI enrichment student
• Turing Way and OLS contributor
• Part time consultant on tech/gender/human rights for various charities and INGOs

Maria

Other things to know about me:

• Interested in how we can work openly and reproducibly with sensitive data
• I’m half Finnish-Swedish (it’s a thing heh) and half Danish, but moved to London for my undergraduate (and have been here ever since)
• I like pastries

Your current role/position:

• PhD student at UCL Institute of Child Health and Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, studying brain surgery as a form of treatment for children with epilepsy
• Currently at the Turing as part of a UCL Scholarship for Cross-Disciplinary Training

Patricia

Other things to know about me:

• Vegan and heavily running on food
• Loves dance exercises, otherwise I’m a lazy and boring person though

Your current role/position:

• Resident Fellow at OLS (1 day/week)
• Consultant/Project officer for RDA/CODATA Data Schools
• Friend of the lab since working on the kick off for the Turing Way

Also:

• Software Sustainability Institute (SSI) Fellow 2019
• Hidden REF committee member
• Sometimes a bit jaded about Open Science

Sarah

Other things to know about me:

• I have a cat called Max. He is ginormous and ridiculous.
• I love infrastructure/technical stuffs
• You can successfully distract me with anything to do with GitHub Actions and/or bots

Your current role/position:

• Open Source Infrastructure Engineer at 2i2c

Also:

• Core contributor to The Turing Way
• Member of the JupyterHub team and help operate mybinder.org
• Will become the Community Strategic Lead of JupyterHub later in the year (funded by CZI)

Soledad

Other things to know about me:

• Studied theater and arts before coming to tech.
• Have a Chinese blog in documenting my story with PTSD
• Built a bamboo pavilion with friends in a rural village in China

Your current role/position:

• UX Design/ Front-End Intern for AutSPACEs
• M2 Digital Sciences Student at Center for Research and Interdisciplinarity

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