COVID RESPONSE
LEADING FROM THE From leading a Ministry of Defence task force to sourcing PPE for the NHS. From inventing a field ventilator and training laboratory staff to acting as national spokespeople, Staffordshire University staff, students and alumni have played active roles throughout the pandemic. Seven individuals share their story with Horizon magazine.
COURTNEYJAYNE FOLEY MBE Her work as a Maritime Electronic Warfare Manager within the MOD is so secretive that, other than confirming her job title, Staffordshire University Forensic Science graduate Courtney-Jayne Foley can’t talk openly about it. But Courtney-Jayne’s work during an intense three-month secondment towards the start of the pandemic is a different matter entirely. She is not only able to talk about her experiences, she was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List in recognition of that work. Courtney-Jayne, who graduated in 2011, answered a call for volunteers and was seconded to lead the MOD’s special operations team in PPE procurement for the NHS. Her job was to help ensure the NHS not only had enough
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PPE but that the PPE being provided was of suitably high quality. “What I ended up doing was special operations and politically sensitive,” she says. “I did a lot of work with the Sri Lankan High Commission and the Beijing Embassy. I was setting up processes and technical assurances. “It was quite an eye opener as to just how much work goes into it. The NHS was overwhelmed so they brought us in to boost the numbers.” From April to June 2020 Courtney-Jayne was working intense 12 to 14 hour days on the project and didn’t have a day off work during that period. “You watch the news, see what’s happening and want to help, which is why I volunteered,” she says. Courtney-Jayne has now gone back to her day job, but says those three months were a hugely beneficial experience. “It involved a lot of different skills, dealing with people you normally wouldn’t deal with. I had to be quite resilient as I was leading a team and you have to lead from the front. Even when you’re having a bad day you can’t be seen to be having a bad day.”
