I joined the Science Oxford team in February of this year and am responsible for the Saturday Science and Maker Clubs. I get to plan all sorts of exciting activities, test them out and then run the clubs for families on weekends.

I’m excited about sharing my own creative interests with young people in our Maker Club and Maker Club Juniors. I have always been interested in arts and crafts and have tried most things at least once! Crafting has had a huge impact on my wellbeing over the years, and I’d like to help young people reap similar rewards!

I’m constantly amazed by the kinds of things young people are capable of achieving. They are full of ideas and I believe it’s really important to nurture creativity when kids are young, otherwise there’s a risk it is sacrificed to other qualities as they get older. Working with families is also very rewarding; it’s lovely to see families spending time and learning together. Our clubs aim to teach everyone something new, not just the children!

After I graduated from university, I trained to teach. I taught English for four years in different schools in England and Wales. I then worked in research, on a large randomised controlled trial which investigated wellbeing in schools.

I am a member of Hobbycraft’s papercraft design team (see my blog here), and when I’m not getting creative at work, I’m normally getting creative at home! In my spare time, I work on a range of papercraft projects, which I then photograph and create tutorials for. Over the past couple of years, I took my crafting up a notch and started making cards to sell for charity. I felt I needed a tangible goal so in 2018, I set myself a New Year’s resolution to make, on average, one card a day across the whole year. To date, it is the first New Year’s resolution I’ve kept! I made over 365 cards in 2018, along with other projects too.