What’s your job title and how long have you been at Loughborough?

I am currently working in Human Resources as a Project Manager. I have worked at Loughborough for just over three years, starting as a Graduate Management Trainee before starting my current role.

Tell us what a typical day in your job looks like?

Oh wow, a typical day is really hard to describe but I’ll give it a go.

Picture this, it’s a Monday morning and my day starts with diving into emails and responding to any questions or updates from colleagues on my projects. Within HR, I manage three programmes of work: HR Digital, Reward & Benefits and Employee Experience with several projects in these. Outside of HR, I also support the Sport Capital PMB.

I’ll then usually head off on a day of meeting after meeting. These are a great opportunity to collaborate, brainstorm, problem-solve and implement upcoming projects and initiatives with colleagues. Occasionally that might be process mapping (I do love a good process change project) and scoping new projects. And then it’s back to my desk to analyse any data, write any papers or have a bit of a chit-chat with someone next to me in the office (I like to call these project wellbeing updates).

What’s your favourite project you’ve worked on?

When I moved into HR last year, I started working on the Staff Experience Survey. This involved working with Schools and Professional Services to track progress on the local actions from the 2022 survey and later involved working with People Insight to coordinate the delivery of our 2023 Staff Experience Survey. This work has definitely been one of my favourite projects.

Personally, I have really enjoyed overseeing the mechanism for colleagues to have their voices heard and to ensure accountability that actions will be delivered on the back of this. So, it has been a really rewarding project to manage.

P.S. If I may, a very close second, would be supporting Nina Kitcher and colleagues in Loughborough Sport and VCO to run an event in Budapest for the World Athletics Championships but I’ll save that for another day.

What is your proudest moment at Loughborough?

As a former Sport & Exercise Science student, graduating in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic was definitely a proud moment but let me use this to pivot and share a couple highlights as a staff member.

The first was supporting the University’s response to the pandemic by assisting the Covid Gold Group, Logistics group, Team Dates Group and Study Spaces Group (there really were a lot of Covid groups). It was also rewarding to support the Covid Logistics Hub to ensure isolating students received food and everything they needed whilst taking calls from concerned parents and guardians.

My second proudest moment has to be supporting our graduation ceremonies. As a staff member, I am now aware of just how much work goes into making these ceremonies happen and making them special for graduates and their loved ones. Colleagues in the Events team, Registry, E&FM, Schools and VCO do an amazing job pulling these together and being a small part of aiding this effort is always a joy. As a women’s football fan, getting to see Mary Earps in the Winter 2023 ceremonies is also a real highlight.

Tell us something you do outside of work that we might not know about?

Outside of work, my time is generally split between a mix of church, sports, literature and music. I am involved in my local church, Open Heaven Church, where I serve on our leadership team and love doing a Sunday talk or catching up with people during the week.

You’ll also find me on the football pitch as vice-captain and centre forward (the one that tries to score the goals) for a local football team, Loughborough Foxes.

And then, if I’m not chasing a ball around in the cold, I’ll either be somewhere warm with a fiction book or DJing at a wedding or party. And for anyone wondering or wanting some recommendations, my top three favourite books (at the moment) are My Dark Vanessa, Homegoing and Open Water and my top three music artists (also at the moment) are Cleo Sol, Hulvey and the Hamilton/Encanto soundtracks.

What is your favourite quote?

I’m not very good at remembering quotes but one of my favourite bible verses is ‘And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love’ (1 Corinthians 13:13).

If you would like to feature in ‘5 Minutes With’, or you work with someone who you think would be great to include, please email Soph Dinnie at S.Dinnie@lboro.ac.uk.