The Museum's trustees and staff oversee the running of the museum and work in partnership with the volunteers and local community.

Our Trustees

John Sheppard

John is a Chartered mechanical engineer and Fellow of the IMechE with over 40 years of experience working in the water industry both in the UK and overseas. One of John’s most notable achievements was the £44M St Germans pumping station near Kings Lynn, for which he was the overall project manager and lead designer. It pumps 100 Cumec and is one of the largest land drainage and flood alleviation pumping stations in Europe. John Retired from Atkins in 2019 as Head of Technology (Mechanical) and Chief Engineer.
Watch John’s videos about volunteering at the museum and his passion for engineering.

Laura Carnicero

Laura Carnicero completed a degree in Art History at Universidad de Oviedo (2004) and then an MA in Gallery Studies at University of Essex (2006). Originally from Asturias (a region in the North of Spain with a long history of mining and metallurgy) she has an interest in industrial heritage from a social and ethnographical perspective. She has worked at the University of the Arts London and since 2012 at the University of Cambridge in a professional capacity. The remit of her work has been the business administration of education and research programmes. Since completing MBA studies at the University of Warwick (2016), she has engaged with improvement projects in the fields of operations management and human resource management at Judge Business School.

Lucy Thompson

Lucy has a degree in History of Art (2009) and an MA in Museum Studies (2012) both from University of Manchester. Originally from Newcastle, Lucy has worked in a variety of community organisations in the North before her museum career began at Manchester Jewish Museum at the beginning of its re-development. Following this, Lucy became the inaugural House Director at Turner’s House Trust, and is currently Operations Manager at Highgate Cemetery. Lucy’s skills and interests are in the management of museum spaces, heritage sites and historic buildings, as well working on capital projects and engaging communities.

steve kruse

Steve Kruse has worked at the Whipple Museum of the History of Science for over ten years, and is currently Exhibition and Project Coordinator. As well as overseeing special projects, he assists in the management of the museum’s collections, and has a key role in general operations. He is currently working on a project to upgrade the museum’s database, and on a general audit and review of the museum’s collection. Past projects have included store and gallery refurbishments. He has a Museum Studies MA (2016) from the University of Leicester.

anne french

Anne currently works as a volunteering and community specialist for the National Trust at Wimpole, near Cambridge. In her career with the National Trust she has held a variety of visitor experience-related roles, including events management, and she has volunteered for the Cambridge Museum of Technology as part of their events team. Anne graduated in Modern Languages at Oxford University and has worked as a teacher of English as a foreign language and a public relations consultant, before moving into the heritage sector. She is passionate about history and about bringing it to life for people and continues to volunteer when the opportunity arises.

nick plaister

Nick has volunteered at Cambridge Museum of Technology since 2017 primarily in a marketing role and has been a part of the management committee from 2018. Nick’s last paid role was as Product Director at Domino Printing Science and in common with most of his working life involved a lot of overseas travel with a focus on Asia and Africa.

AMY HOOKER

After graduating with a degree in physics, Amy trained as a primary school teacher. During her career, she has shared her love for sciences and mathematics with the students she has taught at schools in the UK and Switzerland. She has also worked in education outreach for the Royal Institution where, in her current role, she supports a nationwide network of local organisers who create opportunities for young people to fire their enthusiasm and broaden their horizons in mathematics. 

Amy joined the Museum as a volunteer in 2022, coordinating the educational programme and supporting wider engagement activities.

Kieran gleave

Kieran Gleave has a degree in Archaeology (2019) from the University of Chester and an MPhil in Heritage Studies (2022) from the University of Cambridge. He is currently undertaking his PhD at the University of Cambridge, where his research explores how communities in de-industrialised areas draw from the industrial past to construct or re-negotiate their identities. He has research interests in industrial heritage and archaeology, particularly in the areas of communities, museums and environmental sustainability. Kieran’s most notable achievement in the heritage sector to date is helping to secure a £90,000 Historic England Restoration Grant for the 18th century Marple Lime Kilns in East Manchester.

Our staff

Joanne Hamilton - Front of House Team Leader

Joanne graduated from the University of Leicester with a BA in History and went on to take an MA in Cultural Heritage Management at the University of York. She is passionate about creating museum environments that are welcoming to everyone, and that can be engaged with by all. Originally from West Yorkshire, Joanne has worked and volunteered at several museums and heritage sites across the country, covering a range of areas from collections management to oral history projects. Most recently, she led the Visitor Welcome Team at the National Coal Mining Museum for England.

Catherine Rooney - Administrator

 Originally from Durham, Catherine came to Cambridge in 1995 to study at the University and never left. She has a Ph.D. in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic which looked at the surviving manuscripts of Gerald of Wales, a twelfth-century author, work which gave her a lifelong interest in old books. Since she finished studying she has worked as an administrator at Darwin College for six years and more recently as a rare book cataloguer at Emmanuel College. Lured by the prospect of learning more about the history of printing, she began volunteering in the Print Room at the Museum in 2021, and, along with her fellow volunteer and friend Su Morris, tidied and sorted the Print Room ready for reopening early this year. She and Su are now sorting and cataloguing the typecases and picture plates in the Print Room and plan to use them for various projects in the future.