We are delighted to announce that Thomas Scone has joined Cerberus Nuclear!

Thomas has joined us after working as a Teaching Fellow for the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Birmingham, for the last 2 and a half years. Thomas was the Mechanical Engineering Lab Lead for the School of Engineering, managing the design and delivery of various module labs for students. In addition, he developed materials for delivering teaching on ethics in engineering, Finite Element Analysis (FEA), and design practises across various modules. His PhD research covered the statistical analysis of large gait data sets and the modelling of magnetic fluids for soft robotic gait rehabilitation.

Thomas will be putting his experience to good use supporting our Nuclear Characterisation team and Innovation Projects, as well as training in Radiation Shielding and Criticality Safety. Welcome to the team Thomas!

Cerberus Nuclear are thrilled to share news that two of the team - Sam and Toby, recently completed an incredible cycling fundraiser in support of the Jacob Billington Trust (JBT). 

The JBT is a north west-based charity founded in 2022 for the benefit of young people in the Sefton area. Its objective is to assist young people in accessing music and the creative arts via a number of initiatives, such as: part-funded music lessons, song writing and storytelling sessions, funding for rehearsal spaces and courses, and live events showcasing amazing local talent. One of our employees, John, is also currently a Trustee of the charity. 

Over the course of three days, Sam and Toby pedalled over 200 miles from Southport to Hornsea to complete the famous coast-to-coast Trans Pennine Trail. Their journey was filled with incredible views, endless camaraderie, and miraculously, not a single puncture! Daily updates on their progress were shared on their JustGiving page which kept us all on the edge of our seats, rooting for them every mile of the way. 

With very tired legs, but high spirits, Sam and Toby raised an astounding £1400, completely surpassing their original target of £1000 which is testament to their dedication and hard work. We are incredibly proud of them both for taking on the challenge in support of a great cause. 

At Cerberus Nuclear, we encourage our employees to challenge themselves and to give back to the local community. We are incredibly proud of what Sam and Toby have achieved, and because of this, we have contributed a further £1000 to the JBT.

"Corporate donations play a pivotal role in the nonprofit sector, and we are incredibly grateful to Sam, Toby, and Cerberus Nuclear for their outstanding support. Their combined efforts not only raise crucial funds to support the young people of Sefton, but also spread awareness of our goals as a charity. A huge thank you to you all."

- Sam D'Auvin, Chair of Trustees of JBT

If you’d like to learn more about the JBT and their work, check out the link here. 

We’re happy to share that one of our criticality consultants, Haleema, recently attended the Universities’ Nuclear Technology Forum 2024, hosted by the University of Leeds.

The forum brought together industry and academia, exploring current research and advancements. Particular presentation standouts were Ewan Woodbridge (University of  Bristol) “The Utilization of Legacy Mine Sites as Training Environments for Radiological Emergency Response Preparedness”, and Dr Mariia Zimina (University of Bristol) “ Neutron irradiated materials studies: challenges and prospects”. It was interesting to reflect on the current work at Cerberus Nuclear and the potential applications of research into industry.

As part of the event Haleema was able to tour the MULTIForm laboratory facilities, which specialise in experimental investigation into the study of multiphase flows in water/acidic systems and high temperature molten salt systems. Lastly Haleema really enjoyed seeing the famous University of Leeds rabbits that were enjoying the summer weather in St. Georges field.

Thank you to the event organisers for putting on an excellent event in the historic University of Leeds campus. 

Last week, three members of the Cerberus Nuclear team, Katrina Christaki, Hannah Evans, and Dan Rutland, attended the Inclusion and Diversity in Nuclear (IDN) Conference 2024 in Manchester. The theme of this years conference was "Retain, Sustain, and Thrive: Harnessing Inclusion to Power Growth in the UK Nuclear Sector", which focused on how to retain people within the sector by creating environments where everyone feels welcomed and enabled to thrive.

The morning featured a panel from industry leaders on how they implement cultural change and a engaging keynote speech from Prof. Jason Arday on Intersectionality and Belonging in the Workplace. The afternoon saw the team split up to cover a wide range of available workshops covering topics on retaining neurodivergent colleagues, embracing privilege, confronting microaggressions in the workplace, and how to achieve EDI accreditation.

We look forward to sharing and embracing the lessons learned from the event amongst the team, and using that knowledge to help continually improve making the company and nuclear industry a welcoming and supportive place to be. We will be using our learnings from the event to develop an EDI Strategy for the company, which we look forward to sharing in the future!

At Cerberus Nuclear we are committed to the wellbeing of our employees. Over the last year we have trained mental health first aiders, supported two of our employees at the CALM Design School and focussed on social and wellbeing activities such as knitting, climbing, roller disco and sunflower growing. The next step in this process was a Resilience Training Day, given by the amazing Bernie from St John Ambulance.

Eleven members of the team attended the training day, where Bernie took us through the 5 pillars of resilience. The training room was a safe space for people to share their feelings and opinions. We would like to thank everyone who attended for their openness on the day, which helped drive conversation, group learning and understanding.

The group worked together to come up with ideas that individuals could then include in their personal action plans. Actions included tasks like meal planning for healthier eating, no phones in bed, thinking about what went well each day, and exercising more, either alone or with friends and family.

Thanks to St John Ambulance, we all have additional tools at our disposal to help foster a resilient workplace culture and improve the wellbeing of the team.

Note: The featured image is from The Wellbeing Project.