Ivor and Heloise Clifford

IVOR & HELOISE CLIFFORD

Nuclear engineer and pianist

Location: SWITZERLAND

Ivor BSc Eng (Mech) 2001; Heloise (Murdoch) BMus 2001, MMus 2007

Witsies watching an episode of House Hunters International a few years back may have seen two familiar faces on the show, looking for a home in Switzerland. They were Ivor and Heloise Clifford.

Being on House Hunters International was a “fun experience and it’s been so interesting to hear how many friends around the world have seen the show and were able to see the apartment we found through it and now live in. It’s in the village of Würenlingen, 40km from Zurich in northern Switzerland,” Ivor explains. “We moved here in 2013 when I took up a post as a scientist and later as a group leader in the field of nuclear systems and safety analysis at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Villigen, the village neighbouring Würenlingen.”

PSI is Switzerland’s largest research institute for natural and engineering sciences, conducting research into matter and material, energy and the environment and human health.

Before moving to Switzerland they lived in the United States for four years, where Ivor did his PhD in Nuclear Engineering at Penn State University, followed by an internship at the Idaho National Lab as a Graduate Nuclear Engineering Fellow.

During this time, pianist Heloise did a Professional Performer's Certificate at Penn State University and played in the Penn State Orchestra, a highlight being when they performed in New York at Carnegie Hall.

The two met at the Wits Yacht Club. Heloise says: “When we first joined, we were both vaguely interested in sailing and very interested in parties, but in the end we were both long-term members of the club.”

After graduating from Wits, Ivor worked for the Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa, which had provided a bursary for his studies. After that he worked for the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor Company, designing a nuclear reactor. “Nuclear energy and its role often sparks controversy but it remains one of the few viable options for long-term base load energy production when we remove fossil fuels from the energy mix,” says Ivor. “For a researcher, the modelling and analysis of the complex physical processes taking place in nuclear reactors is fascinating and challenging.”

After Heloise graduated from Wits, she doubled as a piano teacher at the Ridge School and a freelance classical pianist performing as a soloist and accompanist in many venues around Johannesburg.

“These days my piano playing is confined to our living room!” she smiles. “I work in Zurich and the surrounding areas as a teacher of English, music and piano. It's a challenge to teach piano in German, but something I'm proud to be able to do after many years of German language study. I love teaching and at the same time I am happy to have a good balance between working and having time at home enjoying Würenlingen with our young boys.

Würenlingen, she explains, “is a small village of 4000 people, which is different from growing up in Joburg. The shops are all closed on Sundays.”

They found it hard to integrate into Swiss life at first, primarily because of the huge language challenge. They also needed to adapt to the lifestyle and the housing situation, which is vastly different from South Africa. Land is at a premium and they don’t have a back yard or workshop where Ivor can fix up old Minis or dream up designs for his ideal Formula 1 car, as he used to do in his family’s home in Johannesburg.

As the top student in his mechanical engineering class at Wits, Ivor took part in the Formula Student Design Competition, travelling to the UK twice to compete. Over 100 student teams from universities throughout the world compete in racing cars they design, build and race.

“Fortunately, after five years in Switzerland we are well settled and we have a wonderful life in a beautiful country,” says Heloise. “We have forests, mountains, glacial lakes, medieval cities, culture, concerts, galleries, amazing cheese and chocolate. We spend a lot of time skiing and hiking in the mountains. We now swim in lakes rather than swimming pools, and we raft on the rivers.”

The Cliffords love being in the centre of Europe “so we can travel to Paris instead of Parys for the weekend”, Heloise quips. “We travel a lot, spending weekends in Italy, France, Spain, Germany... We also love exploring Switzerland, which is amazing. We didn't own a car for the first four years here; we travelled everywhere by train and the Swiss public transport system is phenomenal.”

They have a large group of international friends and have done their best to convert them into “braai fundis”. “We miss having braais, we miss biltong and Ouma rusks and we miss our family and friends, but we are happy here,” says Heloise. “We are adding new memories to our older ones. We think back with nostalgia to our time at Wits and our lofty plans about our lives and futures. We had no responsibilities and lots of energy, and, of course, we were young and in love.”

By Heather Dugmore