CONNECTING THE DEFENCE COMMUNITY WITH INSIGHT, INTELLIGENCE & OPPORTUNITIES

Officially Supported By: Defence Contracts International Supply2Defence

Official Media Partners for:

The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) has announced that two of its scientists and two military advisers have received awards in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list.

Dr Phillippa Spencer has been awarded the Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE), in recognition of her support to the UK’s decision makers by her application of maths to deliver consistent, assured data to prevent the loss of life through exposure to COVID-19, Novichok and Ebola.

Dr Spencer said: “I am genuinely overwhelmed by the honour. The award recognises not only me, but an incredible team of people who provide vital support to so many collective efforts. I am beyond happy to have been nominated.”

Dr Joanne Thwaite has been awarded the Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE), which recognises her service to the NHS during COVID-19, in particular her selfless dedication carrying out repeated and sustained deployments to Hospital laboratories where she supported NHS staff dealing with an unprecedented increase of workload.

Using her scientific skillset, Dr Thwaite worked within diagnostic laboratories, from the very onset of the pandemic.

On her award, she said: “I am humbled and excited to be nominated for this honour which also represents the dedication and professionalism of a team of other Dstl specialist microbiologists. I am proud to be a part of that team and that I could help NHS colleagues deliver life-saving care at this time of acute national health response.”

Dstl Military Adviser Lt Col Gareth Walker Royal Engineers (RE) also received an OBE in recognition of his performance in command of 66 Works Group with responsibility for Defence’s specialist water, fuel and materials infrastructure capabilities. During a two and a half year period he led vital military support to natural disasters in the British Caribbean and extreme flooding events in the UK, as well as myriad operations and tasks worldwide.

He said: “I am absolutely delighted to be receiving this most prestigious award, and am incredibly grateful to those that nominated me. It is a privilege and honour to work in this amazing organisation that is home to some of the most talented people I have worked with. Dstl engineers, scientists and analysts are dedicated to developing and improving capabilities that are vital to the UK’s defence and security, and it is exciting to be part of a team that is redoubling its efforts to meet the future challenges and threats that we face.”

Warrant Officer 1st Class (WO1) Ian Conolly has also been awarded the Meritorious Service Medal (MSM) in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list. Ian works as the Senior Acoustic Analyst within the Underwater Group at Dstl Portsdown West. The MSM is a very old medal, first established in the 1840s; there is a strict limit on the number of annual awards and it is now only awarded to non-commissioned officers who have provided unbroken “good, faithful and meritorious service.” The Royal Navy may recommend its award to no more than 49 recipients annually.

Dstl’s Chief Executive Gary Aitkenhead, said: “I offer my sincere congratulations to all those awarded. It gives me great pride to see our people recognised in this prestigious way. The awards are deserved recognition of dedication, professionalism and technical excellence.”

If you would like to join our community and read more articles like this then please click here

Dstl

Post written by: Matt Brown


LATEST STAKEHOLDER

Become a Stakeholder today and benefit from an exclusive marketing package which will allow you to:

  • Engage with active defence buyers and key supply chain partners
  • Create your own branded micro-site which within Defence Online which is managed by you
  • Have a dedicated Digital Account Manager to help enhance your Stakeholder page
  • Promote your news, products, press releases, eBooks and Videos as a Defence Online partner which feeds through to our homepage and social media channels
  • Have your company promoted on our partner website Defence Contracts Online (DCO)
  • All news promoted in mynewsdesk, a major hub for all of our news articles which enables news to be picked up from trade magazines, national newspapers and many other publications which offers extra exposure at no additional cost!

Contact us today or call us on 0845 557 1315 to take advantage of this exclusive marketing package


.

RELATED ARTICLES

The £16M investment will fund Centres for Doctoral Training (CDT) led from the universities of Southampton and Edinburgh, forging closer links between defence and academia.

March 21, 2024

Homeland - MoD funds new centres for Doctoral Training

Two new centres for doctoral training are to be funded by the MoD which will enable novel research and provide

Dstl and UK armed forces collaborated with Australia and the US in an AUKUS trial to accelerate the adoption and understanding of artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous systems.

February 12, 2024

Land - AUKUS trial advances AI and autonomy collaboration

Dstl and UK armed forces collaborated with Australia and the US in an AUKUS trial to accelerate the adoption and understanding of artificial