Staff Profiles
Chris Trimmer - Chief Executive Officer
Chris joined the Society in 1999 as the Executive Officer and became Chief Executive Officer in 2006.
During her time at SEB Chris has organised a large number of national and international scientific meetings and continues to project manage the SEB Annual Main Meeting.
As the environment in which the SEB operates has changed, Chris has become heavily involved in assisting Council with the development of, and managing the implementation of, the Society’s strategy. Key aspects of this role include overseeing the SEB’s subsidiary companies, SEB Management and Carronades Property Management and building relationships with other learned societies in order to facilitate future collaborations.
Prior to joining the SEB, Chris completed a degree in biology at Royal Holloway, University of London and worked for the National Grid and the Field Studies Council.
Contact Chris (c.trimmer@sebiology.org) for information on:
- Governance
- Strategy
- Collaborations with other Societies
- Main Meeting organisation and management.
Sarah Blackford - External Affairs Officer
Sarah is based in the Education and Public Affairs office where she combines her background in biological sciences research with her experience and skills in science communication, career guidance, and personality profiling. She provides education and training for SEB members and the wider scientific community, edits the membership's newsletter, handles public relations and policy advocacy, and conducts career management workshops to enhance the employability of postgraduates and postdoctoral researchers. The SEB is an affiliated member of the national Biosciences Federation (www.bsf.ac.uk) and Sarah also serves on its Education Committee as the Education Secretary.
Contact Sarah (s.blackford@lancaster.ac.uk) for information on:
- Education and training
- Public affairs and public relations
- Career management and coaching
- Science communication
- SEB Bulletin
Kate Steel - Conference and Web Officer.
Kate organises the Society's Symposia and assists Chris and the rest of the team with the main meeting. She is also responsible for general society administration and managing the SEB Website.
Contact Kate (k.steel@sebioogy.org):
- With queries on SEB symposia
- With ideas for developing the website
- With comments on the website
- With ideas for developing the abstract system
- With queries relating to the main meeting
Heather Budd - Membership and Finance Officer. 
Heather joined the SEB in 2006 and works on Membership and Finance.
Heather is responsible for ensuring that the queries of new and existing members are dealt with efficiently, managing the membership databases and administering the student grant schemes. Heather is also involved in the initiation and maintenance of individual projects designed to improve the service that the SEB offers to its members, such as the Ambassador Programme.
Heather is part of the SEB conference team and handles queries relating to delegate registration and conference payment as well as managing the session budgets and implementing the conference marketing strategies.
Heather is also responsible for the finance function which involves day-to-day bookkeeping, payment of speaker expenses and managing the audit process each year.
Contact Heather (h.budd@sebiology.org) with:
- Ideas for new member benefits the Society could offer
- Membership administration queries
- Problems using the online systems for membership renewal or meeting registration
- Finance queries
- Queries relating to the financial aspects of the Main meeting (session budgets etc.)
- Travel grant queries
