This month our short interview features Glyn Devlin, who divides his time between the synchrotron user office and the XAS beamline.
Describe your job in 25 words or less.
In the user office I ensure that users’ proposals get peer-reviewed and processed. Should they be awarded XAS (x-ray absorption spectroscopy) beamtime, I provide them with technical support.
Best thing about your job?
Working with the synchrotron’s diverse and amazingly talented employees, and having the opportunity to dive into the deeply technical on the XAS beamline as well as performing higher-level work across all the beamlines in my user office position.
Worst thing about your job?
That I can’t clone myself so I can also work with the external relations group, participate on the environmental sustainability committee and do experiments on several other beamlines on top of my current work. I’m greedy for broad experiences and I want to be able to do everything!
Apart from the Australian Synchrotron, what's the coolest job you've ever had?
I’d like to say that it was working as a research fellow at the University of Cambridge – I mean, that’s pretty fancy, right? But in reality, it was a brief summer job selling hammocks… I had a great time doing ‘quality control’ on the merchandise and managed to sell the coveted, luxury hammock known only as ‘big purple’.
Best things about living in Melbourne and why?
It’s the food! Melbourne has such a strong food culture, and I just love the way that the shared experience of enjoying a great meal can bring people together.
Your favourite overseas destination and why?
Florence, Italy. It’s absolutely beautiful, small enough that you can get around on foot, it has great food and wine and everything closes so you can have a long lunch and a nap in the afternoon – heaven!
A little-known fact about the Australian Synchrotron?
We have fantastic policies around diversity, and almost half our staff were born outside Australia. Furthermore, our registered user base represents some 20 different nationalities. We’re a truly multicultural facility.
What’s the most unusual or interesting research project you’ve seen on the XAS beamline at the AS?
On the XAS beamline we’ve studied everything from ancient Egyptian artefacts to poop. But now I’m working in the user office I’m privy to experiments on all the beamlines and I recently noticed that the SAXS/WAXS team are studying wine! We can’t beat that!
What do you see as your biggest achievement here so far?
I was fortunate to work on the synchrotron’s Organisational Development Project last year, which gave rise to the ‘light sauce’ (light source) lunches. The lunches brought together disparate functional groups from within the organisation to learn more about each other and brainstorm approaches for better collaboration. They’ve been really successful and productive, not to mention terrific fun!
If you could change one thing about the AS, and only one thing, what would it be?
Please, please, please drop the word ‘synchrotron’ from our email domain name – if I never again have to spell synchrotron for a sales rep over the phone, it will be too soon!