Profile

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Sian Ford

    • About Me:

      I live with my husband, son, daughter and dog in Hebburn. I’m a part-time Astrophysics Researcher and also a part-time Software Tester who loves watching movies, gaming and doing crochet.

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      I love reading and watching fantasy fiction and science fiction. I love Star Trek, Star Wars, Friends, SpongeBob Squarepants, and so much more stuff on tv. My top 3 movies are 1) Lord Of The Rings, 2) Interstellar, and 3) Labyrinth. I like to watch SpaceX rocket launches on X. I also like reading action thrillers, especially space-related ones.

       

      I’ve been interested in astronomy ever since I saw Halley’s Comet with my own eyes through some binoculars when I was 10. I volunteer at Grassholme Observatory from time to time in Barnard Castle. This is a photo of the Comet NEOWISE that I took over Grassholme Reservoir in 2020 using just my phone camera.

      A photo at night during sunset with the silhouette of Grassholme Reservoir vegetation and Comet NEOWISE flying vertically in the dark blue twilight sky

      I have a 10-inch Dobsonian telescope, which I sometimes use to stargaze with from my back garden. These photos are of the Great Orion Nebula, the double open star clusters in the constellation Perseus, and the Andromeda Galaxy – my favourite object in the night sky – that I took with my phone camera placed over the eyepiece of my telescope.

      A photo of the Great Orion Nebula with blue and pink colours and the four close 'trapezium' stars in the centre A photo of the double open star clusters in the constellation Perseus A photo of the Andromeda Galaxy with the bright galactic bulge and its visible fuzzy galactic body.

       

      My favourite video game of all time is Skyrim. I also love to play Mario Kart, Sonic 1/2/3, Hogwarts Legacy and Minecraft. My daughter and I have become fond of playing split screen in Minecraft lately and have built some great structures, caves and underwater viewing areas together.

       

      I like to be outdoors, walking among trees and wildlife with my family and my dog. This is my dog, Nancy. She’s a 1-year-old Cavapoo.

      A small, brown Cavapoo dog chewing on a stick

      I especially like to visit local National Trust sites like Gibside, Wallington and Cragside, where I can breathe in the fresh air and see the magnificent tall pine trees. It’s very peaceful.

       

      I taught myself how to crochet and enjoy making many things, mostly for my daughter, but also for decorating the house, like Christmas decorations and Easter bunting. Here are some of my creations:

      A photo of a dark green crocheted Christmas tree table decoration with gold crocheted chain representing garland around it, crocheted by Sian Ford

      Screenshot

      A photo of a section of a crocheted hanging Easter string decoration with pink and blue Easter eggs and chicks hanging from it, crocheted by Sian Ford

      Screenshot

      A photo of a bunch of red, pink, orange and yellow coloured tulips crocheted by Sian Ford

      Screenshot

      Photo of a fairy with brown hair with flowers in it, white antennae, a blue and pink dress and yellow wings crocheted by Sian Ford for her daughter

    • My pronouns are:

      She/her

    • My Work:

      I am a PhD student at Northumbria University in Newcastle, researching hidden links between special types of erupting binary star systems using machine learning. I also test web components used to build financial software apps to find bugs in the code.

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      In my Postgraduate Researcher job, I am using different machine learning methods to find hidden patterns in the brightness data gathered over time of different types of a special type of binary star system called “cataclysmic variables”. These systems contain two stars orbiting very close together and doing a cosmic dance around each other. One is a hot, dense white dwarf star around the size of planet Earth, and the other is either a star much like our Sun, or a red giant star, which is what our Sun will become around 5 billion years from now. We can’t observe these star systems directly and see what’s going on close up, but this is what scientists think a cataclysmic variable star system looks like from the data gathered so far:

      An artist's impression of a cataclysmic variable binary star system consisting of a white dwarf star drawing gas from a larger red giant star

      The white dwarf is drawing gas from the other star, sort of feeding from it, and as it does that, we see that the system produces a lot of light in different wavelengths, like visible light, ultraviolet light, and x-rays. I am hoping to discover new relationships between the subtypes of these systems using advanced machine learning methods.

       

      My other job involves testing the different objects on a web page, like buttons, text inputs, drop-down lists etc, that you see on many web pages, which are used to build financial software apps. I check different things like how they look and how they behave when I click on them or press various keys (Enter, spacebar) on them, or when I scroll down them to make sure that they are working correctly. This is so that when we use them to build products for businesses to do their accounts on and pay their employees from, they have fewer errors in them, which makes those businesses happy. This is an example of a Table component I sometimes test:

      An example of a Flat Table Carbon component used to build Sage financial products

    CV

    • Education:

      • Castle View Comprehensive School, Sunderland (1987-1992)
        • I gained GCSEs so I could apply for an engineering apprenticeship
      • Wearside College, Sunderland (1992-1996)
        • I gained a Higher National Certificate (HNC) in engineering while working as an apprentice so that I could complete my apprenticeship
      • The Open University (2007-2016)
        • I studied from home in my spare time to gain a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree so that I could gain that level qualification to help me to be able to apply for other jobs. I had thought back then that I may want to teach students physics. I also was just really interested in physics and astronomy and wanted to learn all about it
      • Northumbria University, Newcastle (2021-2023)
        • I studied from home in my spare time to gain a Master of Science (MSc) in Computer Science to help me to be a better Software Tester. I wrote a lot of assignments and projects that involved astrophysics and realised that this is really where I wanted to be. Having a MSc degree meant I could then apply for a PhD
      • Northumbria University, Newcastle (2024-…)
        • I am studying 3 days a week (Monday, Friday and another day spread over my spare time) to gain a PhD in Astrophysics. This will help me to be a Researcher, Data Scientist, Physics Tutor, Data Engineer or many other jobs in the area of physics, computer science, education and many more across multiple industries.

    • Qualifications:

      Academic qualifications:

      •  GCSEs
        • A – IT, English Literature, Art
        • B – Maths, Science, English Language, Design & Technology, French
        • C – Geography
      • Higher National Certificate (HNC) in Engineering
      • Bachelor of Science (BSc) Honours degree in Natural Sciences (Physics)
      • Master of Science (MSc) degree in Computer Science with Artificial Intelligence
      • Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Astrophysics (in progress)

       

      Work qualifications:

      • ISTQB Intermediate Certificate in Software Testing and Quality Assurance
        • This was important to show I can do software testing
      • ITIL v3 Foundation Certificate in Service Management
        • This seemed important at the time but I have had no need to use it
      • ISTQB Foundation Certificate in Usability Testing
        • This is important to help improve my testing to make sure I think about the users of our apps
      • AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (in progress)
        • This will be useful for many other jobs I may have where I store and mange data in the cloud (not at the place of work)

    • Work History:

      • Multi-Skilled Facilities Maintenance Technician
        • Nissan | Sunderland | Sep 1992 – Jul 1998
        • I wasn’t happy here after a while so I left
      • Data Analyst/Senior Customer Advisor/Trainer
        • npower | Newcastle Upon Tyne | Aug 1998 – May 2006
        • I got my first job at npower because I needed to pay my bills, but soon enjoyed the work. I trained other employees, new starters, fixed missing and wrong data issues and got my first software testing role here
      • Test Analyst
        • npower | Newcastle Upon Tyne | May 2006 – Sep 2008
        • I had to leave here because the business was changing and didn’t need my team any more
      • Test Team Member
        • Siemens IT Solutions and Services | Durham | Sep 2008 – Feb 2010
        • I thought it would be interesting to learn how to be a Tester in a different company
      • Software Engineer
        • Siemens IT Solutions and Services | Durham | Feb 2010 – Jul 2011
        • I decided to try to be a Software Engineer (also known as Software Developer, or Computer Programmer)
      • Senior Test Technician
        • Sage | Newcastle Upon Tyne | Jul 2011 – May 2013
        • I wanted to move to a different business that was more exciting, so I got another testing job, this time at Sage, but I didn’t like how the work was done on that team so I decided to move again
      • Quality Assurance Engineer
        • Nomad Digital | Newcastle upon Tyne | May 2013 – Apr 2016
        • This was an interesting testing job working for a rail company. Sadly, the company reduced the number of staff they needed and I had to leave

    • Current Job:

      • Senior Test Analyst | May 2016 – Current
        • My current job at Sage
      • Postgraduate Researcher | Oct 2024 – Current
        • My current reaserch role at Northumbria University

    • Employer:

      • Sage | Newcastle upon Tyne
      • Northumbria University | Newcastle upon Tyne

    • My Interview

      • What did you want to be after you left school?

        Physicist

        If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?

        Computer Programmer, or run a Cat Sanctuary

        Who is your favourite singer or band?

        Muse

        What's your favourite food?

        Chinese food

        Tell us a joke.

        How do you organise a space party? You planet!

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