The UK Space Design Competition is organised and funded by the Space Science and Engineering Foundation (Registered Charity Number 1142329) with generous support from other sponsors. If you have any questions, would like to make a donation or volunteer your time, you can reach the people behind the competition on via our contact us page.
Randall Perry, Founder and Chair
Dr. Perry is a Senior Research Investigator and a past Royal Society USA/Canada Research Fellow based at Imperial College London. He has a B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Washington, has held the US and Canada National Science Foundation Fellowship at Oxford University and has a NASA certification in Astrobiology. In addition to this, he has published widely in his areas of interest of geology, geochemistry, microbiology and education.
Besides scientific talks he enjoys giving talks to a wide variety of public venues for example recently being invited to give the Public Lecture at the Durham Institute for Advanced Studies on a Definition of Life and as a painter and member of the Chelsea Art Club an invited talk on Science and Art. In his spare time he enjoys trekking, scuba diving and flying helicopters and aircraft.
He was the president of a company before finishing a Ph.D. later in life and has since visited many of the Earths extreme habitats including diving in ‘Alvin’ the deep submersible.
Personal Website: http://www.rsperry.com
Fiona Larner, Organising Chair
Elizabeth Luthman, Space Chair
Elizabeth Sinclair-House, Education Chair
Ms. Sinclair-House is an Educational Psychologist and has been a Pilot Officer in the WRAF. She was a student of Sussex and London Universities. She has been involved in education as teacher, lecturer and headmistress from nursery to university level. She has authored educational books and started a school. She is now a magistrate and an educational consultant.
Daniel Went, Science Chair
Dr. Daniel Went is a physics teacher at the High School of Glasgow, a major science outreach enthusiast and a former member of the Cassini-Huygens magnetometer science team at Imperial College London. He has presented material at a range of educational venues including the National Science Learning Centre and the Royal Society’s Summer Science Exhibition and enjoys wild camping and long-distance hiking in his (rapidly diminishing) free time. He has been working with the competition since spring 2010 and served as the organising chair for the 2012 UK competition.
Harold Soh, Engineering Chair
Harold first participated in the UKSDC competition in 2010 as a technical expert in automation engineering. A former Regents Scholar at the University of California at Davis, Harold graduated with a double-major in Computer Science and Economics back in 2004. He is currently playing with robots (and working towards his Ph.D in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics) at the BioART Laboratory at Imperial College London. When he is not at the lab, he enjoys teaching science and engineering with the Next Generation Project.
Rebecca Hihinashvili, Managerial Chair
Back in the days when Rikki was at school, all the grown-ups used to say that she and her mates were the future. She didn’t get the idea back then but later on she realized that today’s young generation really is the future. That’s why she decided to help organize the UKSDC 2010 (apart from being bribed by Dr. Randall Perry). Rikki graduated from the Technion – the Israel Institute of Technology – with a BA in Physics and later completed an MSc in Quantum Chaos. Currently, she is a PhD student in the Department of Earth Science and Engineering at Imperial College, where she does numerical-theoretical work on porous materials for fuel cell technology.
Laura Davies, Administrative Director
Laura joined the team in 2012, managing the administrative side of the competition. She currently works in the Earth Science and Engineering department at Imperial College coordinating the Undergraduate degree programmes. Laura was inspired by the dedication and insight shown by all of the participants involved in the competition and was truly impressed by the professionalism of their presentations.
Marit Mohn, Financial and Legal Chair
Marit joined the team in 2010. She is an alumni of Imperial College (MSc Chemical Engineering) and supports many Imperial initiatives. She worked in the engineering industry in Canada, USA and the UK and is a company director. She studied law as a mature student and became a solicitor specialising in litigation. She is currently trustee and supporter of a number of charities involving young people and the Space Competition is one of the highlights of her year. In her spare time she enjoys running and swimming, travelling and the financial world.
Joseph Dudley, Media and Communications Director
Joseph was first involved in UKSDC in 2010 as a competitor, and was a member of the UK’s winning team at the 2010 international finals. After that he decided that space was the thing for him, and has never looked back. He is passionate about sharing his love of space with young people, and works with UKSEDS, the UK’s student space society, to get more students involved in space projects and science in general. He is currently studying Aeronautical Engineering at Imperial College London, and when not obsessing over space he enjoys coming up with bad puns and eating vast quantities of peanut butter.
