CQTian of the Year award presented to Santa

CQT PI Christian Kursiefer (the santa on the left) is our CQTian of the Year for 2014

CQT held its annual event on Friday 12 December as a celebration for staff and their families. The event is a thank you for everyone from the technicians to the Principal Investigators who work together to make the Centre successful.

The evening dinner featured presentations to CQTians who contribute to the vibrant and friendly culture of the Centre. This year, prizes were awarded to:

• The three CQT musicians who performed at the dinner - PhD students Jaren Gan, See Tian Feng and Jirawat Tangpanitanon,
• To the teams and individuals who won various games, including a scavenger hunt, a hula hooping contest and a limbo challenge
• And last but not least, to researcher Christian Kurtsiefer, named CQTian of the Year 2014

Christian Kurtsiefer, one of the founding members of the Centre, was presented the CQTian award of 2014 for "going far beyond the call of duty of a Principal Investigator taking care of a large group to work tirelessly for the benefit of the Centre, taking on tasks as diverse as looking after our building infrastructure, hosting visits and running activities".

The CQTian of the Year award was founded by CQT's Director in 2011. Nominations are collected from the CQT community then reviewed by a committee.

As well as shouldering all the usual responsibilities of a full Professor, Christian can often be found doing outreach, at social events and fixing things around the Centre, from malfunctioning locks to temperamental aircon. Christian's warm-hearted role in CQT was eloquently illustrated by the fact that he collected the award while dressed as Santa, a role he'd volunteered to play for CQT's Annual Event.

Find an album of photos from the Annual Event on CQT's Facebook page.n 2012 to Evon Tan and in 2011 to Auntie Swee