Staff Spotlight: Caitlin O'Grady

Hello! I’m the Communications and Marketing Manager for the Faculty of Social and Historical Sciences. I’ve been at UCL for 13 years – first as a Masters and PhD student in Anthropology and then as a staff member in roles across three faculties, central communications and marketing, and UCL East.

Within SHS, the faculty team (made up of myself, Jessica Thomas and Sarah Mullen) is responsible for being a conduit to central Vice-President External Engagement (VPEE), offering support and advice regarding student recruitment activities, and coordinating work around advertising, media, events, and digital comms. We also assist on market research for new programme development.

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

As a team we are currently reviewing and revising the faculty website, supporting departments with student recruitment activities such as planning for offer holder events, and working with central VPEE to make the most of the ongoing PGT campaign.

What has been your most memorable career moment so far?

I’ve been fortunate to have a wide variety of roles at UCL and my greatest achievement was while I was on secondment as a research manager for the MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing. I arrived at the role just as the unit’s funding was coming up for renewal and so my main duty was to manage that process. Thankfully, we were successful in receiving just over £9 million, which meant we could continue to fund the unit for several years. So much hard work and many stressful moments went into that application and it was a fantastic result for the whole team.  

What are your main interests outside work?

I enjoy getting out into nature for walks with our dog, Maisie Moo, and sneaking veggies into lovingly made foods that my son will use to decorate our kitchen floor.

Where’s top of your list of places to visit?

Western Canada. I’ve started putting together a vague itinerary around British Columbia for my family to do before my son starts school. He’s only just turned 1 so we have some time to plan! Hoping to do some whale watching, bear spotting, hiking and general adventuring around Vancouver, Whistler, Jasper and Banff.

If you had to eat one meal, every day for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Probably pizza… I think you could be very cheeky and classify almost anything with a bread-like base as a pizza so I could still manage a decent variety of foods!

What would people be surprised to discover about you?

My parents are both US diplomats, so I was born in South Africa and then moved to India, Cyprus, Russia, Greece and the US. As a result, moving to the UK in 2008 meant I was actually geographically closer to my parents (who were living in Turkey and then Italy while I was studying) than I would have been in the US!

What advice would you give to your younger self?

“The universe will provide” – when I was living in Chennai, India during my fieldwork, a friend of mine always used to say this to me when I was feeling anxious or stressed. It was her way of telling me to go with the flow and as intensely irritating as it could be to hear in the moment, she was usually right. There’s always something better waiting over the horizon for you so don’t worry if you don’t get the job or miss out on an opportunity.