Our Team
- 15 January 202117 May 2024
- by Dr. Randall Perry
David Dangoor CBE
Honorary President
Dangoor Education provides opportunities across the learning spectrum with sponsorship of Westminster Academy, Open University Massive Open Online Courses, STEM university scholarships, the Dangoor Centre for Medical Education at the Royal Society of Medicine and the Dangoor Centre for Personalised Medicine at Bar Ilan University. Dangoor Education’s sponsorship of the UK, EU Space Design Competition and Galactic Challenges builds on the fantastic legacy of Sir Naim Dangoor, who supported the Competition for a number of years.
Marcus du Sautoy FRS, OBE
Patron
Is the Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford. Formerly a Fellow of All Souls College, and Wadham College, he is now a Fellow of New College. He was previously President of the Mathematical Association, an EPSRC Senior Media Fellow and a Royal Society University Research Fellow. His academic work concerns mainly group theory and number theory. In October 2008, he was appointed to the Simonyi Professorship for the Public Understanding of Science, succeeding the inaugural holder Richard Dawkins.
Dr Randall Perry
Founder of SSE²F
Dr Perry is the founder of the the Space, Science, Environmental, Engineering Foundation (SSE2F) and its Honorary Chair. The SSEF is a registered UK charity. It supports the 15-18 year old students UK, EU Middle East and Africa Space Design Competitions and the 9-14 year old students Galactic Challenge, and the 15-18 year old students Environmental Design Challenge. He is a director of the Global Space Design Challenge , which sole purpose is to support the SSEF. He has held the US and Canada National Science Foundation Fellowship at University of Oxford and as a past Royal Society Fellow at Imperial College London. He has a B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Washington, and is a certified NASA astrobiologist. His current focus is on education. In addition, he has published widely in his areas of interest of Earth and planetary sciences, geochemistry, microbiology and education. He is the author of six novels under RS Perry. As a script writer he is a member of the Writers Guild of America West. In his spare time he enjoys trekking, scuba diving and flying helicopters and aircraft. He has since visited many of the Earth’s extreme habitats including diving in ‘Alvin’ the deep submersible. He has sailed across the Atlantic in a small sailboat.
Jenny Lyons
CEO of SSEF
Jenny Lyons has been with SSEF for more than a decade, evolving from a volunteer organiser into Director of Education and, latterly, CEO with a team of staff. Jenny is an expert in the delivery of secondary school science education, having worked as part of a ‘flying squad’, sent to science departments to assist in raising standards. It was whilst working as a science teacher that Jenny brought a team of students to an SSEF event: the impact was so immediate, obvious and powerful that she became a Volunteer, assisting at competitions.
As a Volunteer, Jenny became known for her skill in liaising with the trustees, the SSEF’s founder, the other volunteers, the sponsors, the UK Space Agency, diverse schools and regional universities. Enthused by the SSEF mission, she utilised her expertise, managing the educational and organisational change which has been fundamental to the expansion of SSEF’s work around the UK, EU and Africa, and in building a staff team whilst maintaining the ethos of a volunteer-strong charity. After a decade of events for school students, Jenny still takes a teacher’s delight in interacting with the students and in seeing the transformational impact of SSEF activities upon those young people.
Initially recognised and recruited by SSEF Founder, Randall Perry, Jenny maintains and promotes the founder’s original vision of a high impact, widely accessible industry simulation which provides an experience beyond any typical ‘school project’. With the staff team,volunteers, trustees and founder, Jenny has helped SSEF expand its efforts around the UK, into the EU and, recently, into Africa, whilst expanding across age groups, across disciplines and whilst handling the need to find income to fund the expansions.
Beyond this, and because of this, Jenny is a champion for the power of SSEF as a volunteer-rich organisation, and finds joy in working with the large, diverse pool of talented volunteers and competition veterans who are so much a part of the SSEF’s world.
Adam Braithwaite
Trustee Representative
Adam completed his Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering at Imperial College in the summer of 2015, and is now a quantitative strategist at Goldman Sachs focused on pricing and modelling of derivative products across the securities business. In his scarce free time, he enjoys flying, scuba diving, and stealing unattended pizza at the competition finals.
Adam was the UKSDC organising chair for 2013/14.
Alina Vizireanu
Romanian EUSDC Coordinator
Board Member
Mónica Juárez Jiménez
Spanish Board Representative
Mónica Juárez Jiménez is a head of department for physics and chemistry and a teacher of Physics, Chemistry, and Industrial Technology with experience in the development of Java2EE applications. She holds the Google 2 certificate and has obtained the First Certificate in English. Although she has a beginner level in French, her ability to communicate in multiple languages allows her to have a multicultural perspective in the classroom. Since 2019, she has participated in the EUSDC competitions, and in 2022, she participated in the ISSDC, indicating her interest in participating in academic events related to science and technology.
Mónica is recognized for her teamwork skills and her great ability to motivate her students to achieve their academic and personal goals. She always challenges her students to exceed their expectations and think big, make it possible. These skills and her focus on student development make her a highly effective and appreciated teacher.
Trisha Saxena
Alumni and Trustee Representative
Trisha holds a Master of Science degree in Physics from Imperial College London. While studying, she was recognised as the Female Undergraduate of the Year in 2017. She currently works as an Investment Associate at the NATO Innovation Fund, a European venture capital fund investing in promising defence, security and space startups. Trisha has been on the Organising Board and a judge at the UK Space Design Competition since 2016, prior to which she competed in the competition herself and was elected to the team representing the UK at the International Space Settlement Design Competition in 2015. She is also the outgoing Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Space Science and Engineering Foundation.