As Chair of oSTEM, Claire dedicated herself to making the University a more welcoming and inclusive place for LGBTQ+ individuals in, or with an interest in, STEM, during a very trying year. Despite starting her tenure as Chair whilst still miles away on her year abroad in Singapore, Claire became a leader immediately. She frequently took on extra responsibilities when her committee was overwhelmed and worked all hours to ensure activities and events ran smoothly. She applied her computer science knowledge and thorough understanding of the society to move activities online and innovate new ways of connecting oSTEM members, particularly the freshers. 

Claire consistently set high expectations for herself and her committee and, through her impressive organisational skills and her sensitive and considerate support of her team, she constantly met these expectations. Claire co-created and operated the oSTEM Birmingham Discord to cultivate a safe, supportive, and (most importantly) fun space for LGBTQ+ STEM students and alumni to come together as a community during a particularly difficult time for LGBTQ+ people. Claire’s strong leadership, including her willingness to always lend a hand, contributed to the huge success of this year’s annual STEM, LGBTQ & You conference, held digitally for the first time. Not only was Claire Programming Lead and Technical Support for the 200-person virtual conference, but she also cultivated a diverse program of ten speakers that could engage with any attendees across both the LGBTQ+ and STEM spectra. Claire is a creative, technical and dedicated force to be reckoned with, and an individual to be admired.