In this case study, hear from Lesley Neve about how an exchange helped her to build a community and conduct experiments at facilities across the region.

The Yorkshire Technician Exchange Partnership (YoTEP) connects technical professionals across Leeds, York, and Sheffield to share expertise, solve common challenges, and elevate technical careers across the White Rose University Consortium.

“This is a great opportunity to either share your skills or learn some new ones in a practical format”

I’m Lesley Neve, X-ray Technical Specialist at The University Of Leeds.

What made you want to take part in a YoTEP exchange?

There are not many people running X-ray instrumentation similar to what I manage at the University of Leeds. We are all in touch and do support each other. 

When I started working here, I tried to get in touch with other users, but it was not easy to make these connections. I saw the YoTEP visits as an opportunity to extend my network to other X-ray users in local universities. When you have met people, it is easier to reach out for help or ask questions.

What did you gain from the experience?

I have made new connections with facilities across the region. I can now signpost their instrumentation to my users if my facilities do not cover that technique.

What did your exchange involve?

From the left: Lesley Neve, Robert Moorehead, Fanny Costa & Craig Robertson in the Bragg Centre for Materials Research at the University of Leeds

Initially I got in touch with Rob Moorehead at the University of Sheffield. He had offered to host a visit on a list which had been circulated to the University of Leeds Technicians Network. From that first email, I then asked about one of the other X-ray Facility managers joining my visit. 

Rob arranged a day when he showed us around the X-ray facility. He went through an induction for some students; he was interested to see if we did a similar induction. We had lots of time to discuss how our facilities worked and the similarities between them. 

About 4 months later, the University of Leeds hosted Rob and one of his colleagues. I arranged with two other X-ray facilities here to have a tour of all the X-ray equipment housed here. This time, there were 5 of us in the group.

Was there anything that surprised you or that you didn’t expect?

When we were chatting about how we all ran our labs, I was surprised that we all ran them in a very similar way.

What would you say to a technician who is thinking about taking part but isn’t sure?

The visits were a great way to make those contacts with other facilities. If I were developing a new method in my lab, I would be very happy now to reach out to discuss this with this group and ask for another visit if one of them was already doing that technique or could put me in contact with someone they knew who could help.

I waited quite a while before sending my first email, and I should have started the process when I first saw the information.

Find out more about the partnership here.