Non-Student Trustee Profile (Chair) – Sian Impey
Hi! I’m Sian. I live in Mumbles with my husband, 2 teenage sons and a cat. I enjoy spending time outdoors and feel very lucky to live somewhere where I can walk, run and swim in beautiful surroundings.
I’m Head of the International Development Office here at Swansea University. It’s a lovely job as I’m passionate about international education and I get to work with people from all over the world- we help to bring international students to Swansea, enable Swansea students to spend time studying, working or volunteering abroad and develop links with universities and other organisations overseas.
I’ve been a Trustee for 3 years and I’ve just taken over as Chair, for the next year. Having worked with Discovery, I thought it was a brilliant organisation so I was delighted when an opportunity came up to get more involved. It’s also nice doing something different to the day job!
I first came across Discovery through the Siavonga (Zambia) project as my office provided some funding for it. I thought it was the most fantastic project as it benefits both the communities in Siavonga and the student volunteers who come back having had truly life changing experiences.
Discovery is all about the students so I very much see my role as providing support in the background, wherever and however I can. I really enjoy the mix of student and non-student trustees on the Board- the students bring such fantastic energy and creativity.
There’s so much to love about Discovery! Obviously the huge amount of good it does for the community through the many projects. But also the incredible, transformational impact it has on the student volunteers themselves- that’s a truly wonderful thing to see.