Our Story
Fabienne C. Saurer
Fabienne likes cheese, chocolate, and yodelling. (One of those three things is wrong.) She enjoys pop culture to such an extent that she got a degree in it, just to be able to claim screen time as "research". When she isn't working on her PhD, you'll most likely meet her browsing in a book shop, at the archery range, or travelling the world. Her biggest dream is to go hiking in the Himalyas.
Joshua M. Silberstein Bamford
Josh had a typical Australian childhood, in the Northern suburbs of Perth, surrounded by a menagerie of native wildlife. He worked as an opera singer and professional student for many years, before moving to Europe because he wanted to see a castle. He got more than he bargained for upon moving to Oxford, as he spent the first year of his doctorate in the Oxford castle dungeon. He now intends on moving to Finland to live out a life-long dream of being a forest elf.
In 2015, Fabienne and Josh were both at a summer school in Helsinki, where Josh was studying cognitive neuroscience and Fabienne was studying heavy metal music. They first met in the Nuuksio national park, where they shared a canoe (see photo of "their" lake on the Home page). It was love at first paddle.
After some time in a long-distance relationship, they decided to try living together, which they achieved in Vienna in 2016. Unfortunately, they enjoyed it so much that they decided they wanted to try it again. In 2018, they returned to Nuuksio and got engaged.
Since then, they've been following each other around Europe and Australia. This was interrupted for 18 months during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Josh was stuck in Australia and Fabienne in Europe. They currently live in Oxford, where they are both completing their PhDs.
