The National Space Academy is very sorry to say goodbye to Dr Sarah Hill as National Project Manager after nearly 5 years of dedicated employment. Sarah is leaving her Academy role to become a Regional Director with STEMNET, continuing her excellent career in STEM support. The role of National Manager will now be taken on by Dr Kierann Shah, formerly Regional Project Manager for the National Space Academy.
Sarah has been a part of the National Space Academy from its very beginning as a pilot project working with the East Midlands Development Agency. Along with Project Director Anu Ojha and Education Officer Sophie Allan, Sarah has shaped the Academy's profile from the start, developing key collaborations with the East Midlands Science Learning Centre, the University of Leicester and Loughborough College. She was responsible for developing much of the Academy's working practises and maintaining connections with the UK space industry, and as such has become an important part of the regional and national STEM support landscape and a well-known personality in space education and the space sector.
Sarah will be missed not only by her colleagues at the National Space Academy and the National Space Centre, but also by teachers, scientists and others she has worked with. Nisha Kholia, a teacher from Rushey Mead School, said "Sarah will be amazing at STEMNET – but definitely a loss to the National Space Centre! I wish her all the best with her new job and would personally like to thank her for all her support and opportunities she has provided our staff and students."
When asked her reasons for leaving, Sarah has said that she is looking for new challenges and the opportunity to work with scientists and engineers from a wide variety of backgrounds as well as coordinating work with schools. She also says that she feels the National Space Academy will be in good hands with her successor, stating "I have such a strong attachment to the project that I wouldn't have been able to leave without knowing that there was a strong team in place to continue without me. I am sure that they will continue onwards and upwards with the project".
Incoming National Project Manager Kierann Shah believes that maintaining the National Space Academy's level of professionalism and quality, as set by Sarah, will be the key to its continuation: "Sarah has steered the project masterfully from its regional origins to national status, and I look forward to continuing her work and hopefully seeing the National Space Academy on to new successes."
The National Space Academy team and supporters would like to wish Sarah every success in her new role.