Our Team
- 15 January 202113 March 2023
- 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.
EUSDC Executive Board Members

Dr Randall Perry
SSEF & SDC Founder, SSEF Honorary Chair
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 Royal Society Fellow at Imperial College London where he remains on academic staff. 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
Space Science Engineering Foundation
Director of Education and Outreach
Chair of the UKSDC Board
A passionate believer in the benefits that practical science brings to school based learning. Jenny has taught in both the private and public sectors, and additionally worked with a variety of agencies to promote and fund the setting up of Science Clubs. She received a BSc from University of Westminster in biological sciences. She has attended University of Sussex and received an endorsement to teach chemistry after receiving her PGCE from University of Middlesex.
Having worked voluntarily for the UK SDC, she is now excited to have the opportunity to extend their project based learning methods to a wider audience, and is looking forward to the continued success of the Space Science Engineering Foundation (SSEF), the EUSDC, MEASDC and UKSDC and Galactic Challenges.
When not working with SSEF and GC, Jenny enjoys the great outdoors by taking part in Open Water Swimming challenges, as a member of the UK Wild Camping group, and as an assessor and trainer for the Duke of Edinburgh scheme.
EUSDC Board Members

Sahba El-Shawa
France EUSDC Coordinator
Board Member Middle East
and Africa
Sahba is the regional coordinator for the Europe Space Design Competition based in Strasbourg. France. Originally from Jordan, she attended the German-Jordan University for three years before getting her BASc in Mechanical Engineering at the University of British Columbia. She is currently working on a MSc at the International Space University. She has held several research positions at universities and companies including Intel Corporations. She is passionate about engineering and the Space Design Competition, having organized the first SDC at UBC. Her interests span space exploration, robotics virtual reality, manufacturing automation, and social entrepreneurship.

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.

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 has two years’ experience in the asset management industry, and currently works as a SpaceTech Investment Analyst at Seraphim Space, a space-focused venture capital fund which looks to invest in promising space startups of the future. 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 Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Space Science and Engineering Foundation.
Trisha was the UKSDC organising chair for 2016/17.

Ana Vukasovic
Alumni Representative
Ana is a Year 13 student from Montenegro. After she started Sixth Form in the UK she participated in the UKSDC and made her way through to the International Competition held at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Having valued her experience she has become very passionate about enabling other students from other countries to enrich themselves with such an amazing opportunity and to share her passion for Space and Engineering. She is currently studying A level Sciences and planning to start her study of Aeronautical Engineering at University next year.