A Day in the Life of the AberInnovation Operations Team

Right ok, go easy on me, this is my first work blog!

My colleague asked me the other day, what exactly does my day really look like when we’re so busy establishing systems and processes at this new facility, to ensure the smooth running and world-class capability of the £40.5m Innovation & Enterprise Campus? I thought I’d put it down on paper.

I’m Dafydd by the way, I’m on the key Operations Team at AberInnovation, making things happen!

Arriving at 8.30 am each morning, I begin by setting up the building for the day. Generally speaking, this means opening the entrance locks, turning on our digital reception technology (thanks Greetly), making sure staff and clients have access around the building and so on.

The one constant every day is to select the setting on the coffee machine to clean so that everyone can get their morning caffeine kick, it’s also a good showpiece for clients when they arrive to meet with the team. Really excellent coffee!

My next port of call is to check the calendar for what will be happening in the building that day. How many R&D projects are scheduled? Which of the centres are busiest and might need support? Are we expecting any sample deliveries?

Depending on how many meetings/events we have booked alters how I go about setting up each meeting room. We’ve often got small roundtable meetings but also larger-scale events happening in the building with Aberystwyth University colleagues and local and national organisations. We’re pretty flexible with what we can host at our Innovation Hub!

Tech support has become a large part of my role with many hybrid meetings becoming the norm in the post-pandemic working environment. However, it is very rare that the leader of the meeting knows how to facilitate a hybrid meeting. We’ve tried to mitigate this as much as possible by investing in a state-of-the-art hybrid meeting system that can detect and locate who in the room is talking so that there is no boundary between the people in the room and the guests online. Working well so far!

What part of my job do I love the most I hear you ask?

When I have time aside to show my creative flair. I don’t mean this only in one sense, it ranges from problem-solving for a client or fellow team member to creating digital content for our socials or newsletter. Ensuring outstanding customer service is an absolute must in this job. When it comes to problem-solving, I feel my ADHD gives me a perspective that most others don’t see, and I feel this is a large part of how I am able to excel in my role.

The most exciting thing about my job is that it is ever-evolving, no two days are the same, which means there is always something to do, and with my desk perfectly situated next to the test kitchen at our Future Food Centre, means I am usually the first one to taste some of our Food Technologist’s experiments (best part of the job, obviously).