What a year! Another award nomination, this time for #DefenceMediaAwards in Best Technology Submission category for my story for Shephard Media about Ukrainian defence tech innovators. www.shephardmedia.com/news/landwar...

Delighted to be nominated for the British Science Journalist of the Year Awards in the investigative category for my deep dives into abuses of power at the European Space Agency. This nomination is also for all my sources. @absw.bsky.social @arstechnica.com

A director of a manpower company that supplies the #europeanspaceagency with workers is liking comments by a pro-Russian troll below my LinkedIn posts about visiting #Ukraine ! Unless the profile is stolen, in which case I apologise, I think that is seriously shocking.

1/x I managed to sneak out of the defence innovation conference to take a peek at Kiev's UNESCO protected Pechersk Lavra monastery complex. The ancient cave monastery was closed, but one little nugget of information struck me as particularly significant in the current geopolitical context.

One night's worth of air raid alerts for #Kyiv, #Ukraine. They also happen during the day. Yesterday night, a handful of #shahed drones were roaming above the city. Today, there was an alert because of ballistic missiles. Yet, most locals ignore it. The air defence forces has got them spoiled.

1/x I arrived in #Kiev via Krakow, Poland, to attend the Brave 1 Defence Tech Innovation Forum. Getting to #ukraine is a tedious saga. There is a no-fly zone over the country, so you need to take an overnight train or a bus from one of the neighbouring countries.

This is my belated Happy New Year video. Since my hernia surgery in May, I struggled with flexibility. I thought my days of doing splits were over. With patience and consistency, they are back. I celebrated their return by donning my gymnastics leotard. To more overcoming in 2025! Happy New Year!