TechNet steering group

The Technician's Network (TechNet) steering group was formed in 2013 to facilitate the primary objectives of TechNet: to provide a forum for technicians to meet and interact, and to promote the professional status and recognition of technical staff.

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Contact details

Get involved

Member profiles

Terms of reference

Contact details

Position	Name	Job title	Department	Phone	Email
Chair	Mark Ariaans	Lead Technician	Infection, Immunity & Cardiovascular Disease	59561	m.ariaans@sheffield.ac.uk
Chair	Laura Hartshorne	Research Technician	School of Biosciences	20092	l.hartshorne@sheffield.ac.uk
Steering group member	Ben Palmer	Controlled Environment Facilities Manager	School of Biosciences	24728	b.palmer@sheffield.ac.uk
Steering group member	Katherine Whitley	Fly Facility Technical Team Manager	School of Biosciences	22770	k.whitley@sheffield.ac.uk
Steering group member	Yvette Marks	Laboratory Manager/Teaching Technician	Archaeology	22928	y.marks@sheffield.ac.uk
Steering group member	Fiona Wright	Histology Technical Specialist	Infection, Immunity & Cardiovascular Disease	59587	fiona.wright@sheffield.ac.uk
Steering group member	Robert Moorehead	Advanced Materials Experimental Officer	Materials Science and Engineering		r.moorehead@sheffield.ac.uk
Steering group member	Cari Littler	Laboratory Technician	Geography	27927	c.littler@sheffield.ac.uk

Get involved

Are you a technician, specialist or technical manager/leader interested in representing your faculty on the TechNet steering group? Please email technet@sheffield.ac.uk or come and speak with us at one of our events.

About our members

Committee chairs

Mark Ariaans

Mark is the Lead Technician in the Department of Infection, Immunity & Cardiovascular Disease (Faculty of Health).

After completing a Biomedical Sciences MSc and PhD (immunology) at Utrecht University (the Netherlands), Mark joined the University of Sheffield in 2006 as a research technician in the Cardiovascular Research Unit. Having survived several Faculty and Department restructures, he is currently line-managing the IICD core technical team and is responsible for space and resource management within the Department. Mark joined the TechNet steering group in 2018. He has co-chaired TechNet since 2019 and is actively involved with the University's Technician Commitment initiative. He is professionally registered (CSci) through the Institute of Science and Technology.

Laura Hartshorne

Laura is a Research Technician in Mirre Simon’s lab group, School of Biosciences. She is responsible for the day-to-day running of the lab and providing technical support on a range of projects in line with grant aims.

Laura graduated from the University of Newcastle in 2012 with a degree in Biomedical Sciences. Previously she worked as a lab technician in a veterinary hematology lab before starting my current role here at Sheffield in May 2016. Laura predominately works using fruit flies to investigate the mechanisms of ageing from an evolutionary perspective, including using diet restriction, drugs and complex genetic manipulations of the fly. She specializes in scientific techniques including demography data collection, dissection, microscopy, fly husbandry, molecular techniques and microinjection.

Committee steering group members

Ben Palmer

Ben is the Controlled Environment Facilities Manager for the School of Biosciences. He has held several positions in both the Faculties of Science and Engineering since starting work at the University in 2004.

After studying Ecology at the Unversity, Ben worked as a Research Technician on several different research projects in the spheres of plant physiology and ecology, before moving to the Department of Materials Science & Engineering. Here he worked as a Stores Technician followed by moving on to run the Materials Characterisation Small Research Facility. Ben then moved back to the Department of Animal & Plant Sciences to help run their world-leading plant growth facility, before being appointed CE Facilities Manager, when APS merged with MBB and BMS to form the new School of Biosciences. Ben has been keenly involved with both the Institute of Science & Technology and the Science Council for many years in promoting their Professional Registration schemes, as well as assessing RSci & RSciTech applications.

Katherine Whitley

Kath is the Fly Facility Technical Team Manager & DHSO in the School of Biosciences.

Kath has worked in many technical roles including as a microbiologist in the pharmaceutical industry and as a school science technician. She relocated to Sheffield in 2008 and secured a job as a fly technician at The University of Sheffield. After two years in this role, Kath was promoted to her current position as Fly Facility Technical Team Manager with responsibilities for managing the technical staff, organisation and operation of the facility. Kath also has health and safety duties for genetically modified organisms and biosafety matters.

In 2014, Kath became professionally registered and a member of the Institute of Science and Technology. She assesses RSciTech and RSci applications for the Science Council and is particularly interested in career development for technicians and how technicians can help to improve sustainability in labs.

Yvette Marks

Yvette is the Lab Manager and Teaching Technician in Archaeological Science, for the Department of Archaeology. She is responsible for managing the department's teaching and research laboratories, manages the technical team and is the Departments Health and Safety Officer.

Yvette completed her MSc in Archaeological Science within the Department at Sheffield in 2012 and then continued to work within the department, as a Teaching Assistant until starting her current role in 2019. Yvette worked at Doncaster Museum from 2015-2019 as a Education Officer and Archaeological Curator, working to combine archaeological science and material studies with Museum interpretation and outreach. Yvette is a staff PhD candidate, her thesis is focused on the reconstruction of copper production in the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Aegean. Yvette supports teaching and research within the department, with a focus on analytical techniques for material science and environmental science.

Fiona Wright

Histology hub facility Manager and Technical specialist in the Department of Infection, Immunity and Cardiovascular Disease.

Fiona graduated from University of St. Andrews in 1993 with a BSc Hons in Experimental Pathology with Biochemistry. She has worked in several Universities in a variety of subjects and roles, where she published several first author papers (cancer and bone research) – she was also involved in Beta testing early luciferase assays. Fiona had a brief spell as a forensic scientist, a subject in which she holds her Masters degree. Then came motherhood and a brief hiatus in career – always get a job before you have a child! Then she came to UoS in 2004, where she works as a research histologist in IICD. When Fiona first started out as a technician in 1993, technicians were highly regarded. She wants to work with TechNet to get that again for current and future generations of Technicians.

Robert Moorehead

Rob is an Advanced Materials Experimental Officer in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

Rob joined the University as a research technician in the School of Clinical Dentistry whilst writing up his PhD in 2010. After many happy years supervising the materials laboratories in the School he joined the Department of Materials Science and Engineering as an Experimental Officer in 2019 as part of the growing Royce team. In this role, Rob is responsible for the X-ray diffraction small research facility in the department, along with being the radiation protection supervisor for X-rays. He is a Registered Scientist with the IST and a fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Cari Littler

Cari is a laboratory technician in the Department of Geography.

After graduating from a MSc Geochemistry course at the University of St Andrews in 2019, Cari worked as a research assistant across the University of St Andrews isotope geochemistry and geobiology labs. She started working in Sheffield’s Geography department as a laboratory technician in September 2021. Cari works in both the lab and field assisting with research and teaching. She is responsible for the Geochemistry lab in geography and runs the Ion Chromatography instruments.