Speaker Bio

Carole Tucker – Professor, School of Physics & Astronomy

I am a member of Cardiff University’s Astronomy Instrumentation Group, but actually started my training as a Medical Physicist.  I manage a technical programme which involves working on a large number of projects with space telescopes, metereological satellites as well as ground based telescopes, so my work is very international. I have worked in London Universities as well as Cardiff, becoming a Professor at Cardiff in 2014. My career has involved teaching and administrative work as well as research and these days I do a lot of consultancy work with industry.  This year I will become the CEO of a new tech company.

Celina Lavis – Project Officer, Physics Mentoring project

My passion for communicating science to future generations came from my grandfather. He fueled my interests, from the stars, to how does the human body function. I assumed everyone had a “mad scientist” grandpa. I quickly learnt this wasn’t the case. I wanted to inspire and light a spark in young people. After graduating I completed a master’s degree in journalism and had a wide range of work experience. From there I went into teaching. My career involved opening a new school and a STEM exchange to Europe. I recently joined the Physics Mentoring Project to help inspire future generations.

Ana Ros Camacho – Lecturer, School of Mathematics

I am currently a lecturer at the School of Mathematics in Cardiff University, and I am an specialist in algebraic aspects of mathematical physics. But – surprise surprise!- originally I did my undergrad in Physics, at the Universitat de Barcelona (Barcelona, Spain). From there, I jumped to Universitaet Hamburg (Hamburg, Germany) where I stayed 5 years, completing a Master in Mathematical Physics and a PhD in Mathematics. My journey continued research-wise with several postdoctoral stages in very prestigious institutions in Bonn (Germany), Paris (France), and Utrecht (The Netherlands), and finally – here, Cardiff.

Annabel Cartwright – Reader, School of Physics and Astronomy

I read Maths and Electrical Sciences at Cambridge and then went to work for the NHS as a physicist. I then took at job with Oxford Instruments where I worked on the very first 3D motion capture from video cameras. Our small group was shut down by the company , who saw no future in the technology, so four of us bought the rights to our IP, and we started the company which is now Oxford Metrics plc, one of the leading companies in motion capture for special effects and computer games, as well as scientific research. I left to move to science policy in Westminster, but then took a career break and moved to Wales. I decided to sign up for a Phd in Astronomy in 2004, which went very well, and I then won a Fellowship to continue at Cardiff. I never expected to continue beyond my PhD/Fellowship, but here I still am!

Video recording