Spotlight on Edd Morgan

This week the spotlight is on Edd Morgan, House Manager, John Dodgson House.

What is your role and what does it involve?

I am the House Manager at John Dodgson House. I'm part of the student accommodation team, UCL Estates, and manage the day-to-day running of a hall with 211 residents.

How long have you been at UCL?

Four years as a student and three years as a staff member.

What working achievement or initiative are you most proud of?

Transforming the summer trade website. This is the website used by UCL Estates to take bookings during the summer, when most student houses and halls are let like hotels. I managed to navigate a not-so-simple web publishing tool without enrolling in training.

Our summer trade is worth around £3.5 million, so it's very important for the website to be clear and attractive to potential customers.

Additionally, I'm proud of opening the recently extended John Dodgson House. This involved a lot of work liaising with contractors and settling into the new space with a new cohort. 

Tell us about a project you are working on now which is top of your to-do list

Myself and four other colleagues are working towards getting an award under the UCL Green Impact scheme. The biggest changes we have to make are around waste disposal, energy use and the communication of green issues.

It's a bigger task for student accommodation than many other departments as we have 12 site offices, hundreds of kitchens and bathrooms and over 4,500 students under our care.

For example, one of the requirements of the scheme is to have food waste collection from all kitchens. This involves advertising the change to students, ordering bins for our many hundreds of kitchens and arranging a contract for their emptying.

What is your favourite album, film and novel?

Album: Anything by Ludovico Einaudi (contemporary Italian pianist).

Film: Finding Nemo or Terminator 2.

Novel: To Kill a Mockingbird.

What is your favourite joke (pre-watershed)?

Why can't you hear a pterosaur use the bathroom? Because the 'p' is silent!

What is your cultural background?

I was born in the United Kingdom (Stoke-on-Trent), moved to the United States as a child and relocated to London as a teenager.

Who would be your dream dinner guests?

Nelson Mandela, Kim Il-sung, Isaac Newton and Kim Kardashian's mum (Kris Jenner).

What advice would you give your younger self?

Go on a year abroad. I was offered an exchange in Toronto but never took it up.

What would it surprise people to know about you?

I can play a pretty mean clarinet and have a Master's degree in Palaeobiology (dinosaur studies) from UCL.

What is your favourite place?

Hawaii. It is American enough to remind me of my time growing up in the US and is one of the most diverse places on the planet. Not to mention the sunsets, which are to die for.