Stephanie Dickinson

Biographical Details

Since May 2019 I have been Timetable Coordinator for Statistical Science. During that time I have taken on the additional role of Exhibitions Keeper, for which I look after collections of objects owned by the Stats department and ensure they are kept in the correct locations for researchers to access them. I am currently Green Champion for my department which involves people management in ecological sense. I come up with new initiatives to help stats at UCL lower emissions and drive progress. I am also the administrator for BSc Projects, SoRAs and the secretary for the Student Partnership Committee.

Since Autumn 2023 I have been working on a Changemakers Student/Staff Partnership to raise engagement and criticality with the history of the Department of Statistical Science, with the support of the Eugenics Legacy Education Project (ELEP). This involves workshops and creativity to understand our own thoughts and feelings on a difficult topic. I started becoming interested in this field after finding historical objects which related to eugenics in storage, which were unarchived and forgotten. I brought them into the Special Collections for researchers to examine these objects from a contemporary perspective and with a critical lens.

This work with the eugenics legacy has developed into a new series of workshops where students will co-design a course about eugenics from a statistics perspective, and this will be available online for free to anyone who wants to learn about this important topic, and will hopefully act as a narrative builder to challenge an increasingly fraught political landscape globally.

Due to my work in the Statistical Science department at UCL, I have become interested in Science Communication and how my practice as a conceptual artist can contribute to the landscape of information that exists about various science related topics.

Prior to UCL I worked in social housing, the NHS, the creative industries and adult education (key skills tutoring). I have experience of designing learning materials in the housing sector, for young people who were leaving supported accommodation, and in adult education I taught a range of key skills programmes. I have also taught Art and Design, and have a Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector qualification from Camberwell College of Arts (2011). In 2018 I set up an art gallery shop from a narrowboat that I lived on but ceased trading in 2024 to focus on Science Communication activities.

Responsibilities

• Manages the departmental timetable
• Looks after and catalogues the departmental historical exhibits
• Departmental Green/Sustainability Champion
• Admin for BSc Projects
• Admin for SoRAs
• Secretary for the Student Partnership Committee
• Facilitation of critical and thoughtful workshops about the difficult eugenics legacy
• Departmental Photographer