{"id":167,"date":"2020-06-02T11:17:42","date_gmt":"2020-06-02T10:17:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/doid-staff\/?p=167"},"modified":"2020-06-02T11:17:42","modified_gmt":"2020-06-02T10:17:42","slug":"in-profile-jess-billins-section-manager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/doid-staff\/2020\/06\/02\/in-profile-jess-billins-section-manager\/","title":{"rendered":"In profile: Jess Billins, Section Manager"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jess
Jess Billins<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the latest instalment of our Staff Profile series, we spoke to Jess Billins about her role as Section Manager and what she’s been up to during lockdown.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

Introduce yourself \u2013 who are you and what do you do?<\/h2>\n

I\u2019m Jess and I\u2019m the Section Manager for Paediatric Infectious Disease and Structural and Synthetic Biology. My role is to ensure the administrative processes of my Sections run smoothly \u2013 whether it\u2019s recruiting new staff, costing grant applications or managing grant funding worth a combined \u00a364 million. It\u2019s a busy and demanding role but I love it.<\/p>\n

When did you join the College, and where were you working or studying before this?<\/h2>\n

I joined Imperial College in January 2019, having previously worked at Royal Holloway University as an Executive Assistant. I haven\u2019t always worked in administration – I was a Special Constable in the Metropolitan Police Service at the tender age of 18 and was the youngest constable on the borough!<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the most rewarding part of your role?<\/h2>\n

A lot of work goes into costing grant applications and it\u2019s a fantastic feeling when we\u2019re successful. I also love hearing about the great research both of my Sections are doing and knowing I\u2019m playing a small part in that.<\/p>\n

And the most challenging?<\/h2>\n

The role of a Section Manager means you are the connection between your Section and the rest of the College. It can be a tricky balancing act and not a day goes by where I don\u2019t get asked question I\u2019ve never been asked before.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the proudest achievement of your career so far?<\/h2>\n

I didn\u2019t know what I wanted to do when I left school so I took a gamble and moved to London at 17 to start working. I am really proud of how far I\u2019ve come without a degree, especially in this environment where I am surrounded by so many highly educated people.<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re not working, what hobbies or activities have you been most enjoying during lockdown?<\/h2>\n

I am currently studying for a degree in Law alongside working at Imperial, so this takes up a lot of my free time. When I\u2019m not studying or working I love getting into a good book or doing some cooking. During the lockdown, I\u2019ve been doing yoga and going for long walks in my local forest. I miss seeing my family and friends but it\u2019s been nice to enjoy a slower pace of life.<\/p>\n

If you were exiled to a desert island but allowed one luxury item, what would it be?<\/h2>\n

Without a doubt, a bottle of gin!<\/p>\n

What\u2019s one thing you\u2019d like staff in the Department to know about you or your role that we haven\u2019t already covered?<\/h2>\n

The Section Managers are hugely busy and sometimes it takes us a bit longer to get round to things than we\u2019d like. Patience is much appreciated.<\/p>\n

Is there anyone in our Department who you would like to praise or thank?<\/h2>\n

All of the Department’s Administrative team work hard to keep the Department running smoothly, this includes the PAs, Section Managers, Divisional Manager and Department Manager. It\u2019s a supportive team to work in and there\u2019s no shortage of people to turn to when I need some help with a task, a question or just to lend an ear when it\u2019s been a challenging day. I really appreciate it and I\u2019m very lucky.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the latest instalment of our Staff Profile series, we spoke to Jess Billins about her role as Section Manager and what she’s been up to during lockdown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1382,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[278172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-staff-profile"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/doid-staff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/doid-staff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/doid-staff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/doid-staff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1382"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/doid-staff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/doid-staff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":170,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/doid-staff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167\/revisions\/170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/doid-staff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/doid-staff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/doid-staff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}