Welcome Rachel and Nic, farewell Jane

Welcome Rachel

We’re welcoming a few new team members this edition, including Rachel Rayner. Rachel will be acting as our Communications Advisor while Kirsten Fredericksen is on parental leave until mid-October.

Rachel brings a strong familiarity with the site and the region to the role and has worked on communications and engagement for SKA precursor telescopes in both South Africa (working with the MeerKAT team) and Australia in her current role as ASKAP communications advisor.

You might have seen her around the Murchison already as she’s stepped in to help out the Site Entity team on multiple occasions for events like the ILUA celebration at the Settlement on 5 November and the SKA-Low Commencement of Construction Ceremony on site on 5 December.

Rachel will spend a lot more time out on Wajarri Country after her short visits in 2022.

“There is so much to learn from places, spaces and each other. This will be a fantastic year, as I have this opportunity to learn so much more and I am looking forward to working with you all from within the Site Entity team,” said Rachel.

Welcome Nic

Our team has also recently grown with the addition of Nic Svenson as our Governance Coordinator.

Nic has a long history with the SKA project and the observatory site. She first wrote about the SKA in January 2003 in her science column in Sydney’s The Sun‐Herald newspaper! At the time Australia was looking for a site for the telescope core, so this was all well before the observatory was established in the Murchison.

Fast forward eight years and Nic began working for CSIRO and helping prepare Australia’s SKA site bid documents prior to the site decision in 2012 and then she joined the ASKAP team. Now Nic has come back to WA (where she went to school and uni) to join the Site Entity team to manage all the many documents and agreements that go into making the site a fantastic radio observatory.

Nic shared her enthusiasm for heading back West and joining the team over here. “I’m honoured to be in a position that reconnects me with breathtaking Wajarri country – even if it’s via paperwork in Perth!”

Farewell Jane

Finally, we say a fond farewell to our Senior Project Manager Jane Adam who finished up with the Site Entity last week after working as a powerhouse to help establish the interim SKA-Low team sites in Perth and Geraldton, as well as starting the process on more permanent Science and Engineering Operations Centre (SOC and EOC) locations.

“Coming to work is a pleasure when everyone on the team is motivated to create the best possible outcomes and genuinely care what they do. To that end I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with CSIRO and will miss working with the Site Entity the most. I offer my thanks to all those who supported me in my time here,” said Jane.

Welcome baby Malik

We also welcome Malik to the extended Site Entity team, the newest addition to our RFI engineer Mohamed’s family.

Malik joined the family just a few weeks ago as an early holiday present, and we look forward to his future contributions to Site Entity meetings as he grows.

Definitely a certified cutie pie, no question!