​Tom Dack has been interested in science and technology for as long as he can remember and was encouraged to study STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, maths) throughout his school years. Tom found that he particularly enjoyed using computers and programming to enable his research so, after gaining his Physics degree, he made the decision to change direction and completed an MSc in Computer Science.

​His first encounter with STFC was when his college visited the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory for a Particle Physics Masterclass. Later, Tom discovered that STFC runs a graduate scheme and says it struck him then, that ”STFC was not only a cool place to work, but the perfect place to pursue a career in computing within a research environment.” 

​When he finished at university he became a member of the STFC graduate scheme, working in a number of different groups within the Scientific Computing Department to gain the knowledge and skills required for his chosen career. 

Tom now has a permanent staff role as a systems administrator in SCD’s Distributed Computing Infrastructure group. Here he is developing and managing an Identity and Access Management (IAM) service for use by IRIS, a nationwide collaboration which coordinates e-infrastructure needs and knowledge exchange to enable the exploitation of data outputs from high-energy physics communities.

Put simply, Tom says he is “setting up a computer system to make sure the right people have access to the right things!” ​​