RSS fellow and government scientist Dr Phillippa Spencer has been awarded Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE), in recognition of her work combatting Ebola, Novichok and Covid-19.
Phillippa has worked at Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) for 17 years and is currently acting Dstl fellow of mathematics and statistics in the Cyber and Information systems division. Her statistical analysis has been used by healthcare workers in Sierra Leone during the Ebola outbreak, by those involved in the clean-up operations in Salisbury following the Novichok incident and, more recently, to support the Covid-19 modelling effort.
Talking about the OBE, Phillippa said she was ‘genuinely overwhelmed by the honour’ and paid tribute to her ‘incredible team of people who provide vital support to so many collective efforts.’
Phillippa is no stranger to awards; last year she was named Woman of the Year and recognised for Outstanding Contribution to defence at the 2019 Women in Defence Awards.