It’s a family affair: Happy Sibling Day!
To celebrate Siblings Day (10 April), we interviewed graduates in our alumni community who share a surname! From local twins who swapped places in English seminars to a trio of Stateside siblings crossing the Atlantic to study on campus, read on to discover their stories.
8 April 2026
Meet the alumni siblings who have Newcastle University in common
The relationship between brothers and sisters is a unique one and often one of our most long-lasting bonds. To mark Siblings Day this April, we spoke with families in our global alumni community to hear about their decision to follow each other to Newcastle University’s campus, where life has taken them since graduating, and what their favourite memory is with each other.
If you and your sibling(s) have Newcastle University in common, we’d love to hear your own experience. Get in touch to share your story.
Seeing double: Local twins still causing confusion on campus!
Twin brothers Daniel and Craig Hinds both studied English Literature for their undergraduate degrees on campus, before pursuing matching Master’s degrees!
Since graduating, the pair have embarked on writing careers alongside working at the university. For a time, the identical pair both worked in the same office at Newcastle University’s School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, which often caused mass confusion!
Daniel’s debut poetry collection New Famous Phrases was published last year, and his poetic sequence The Stone Men of Newcastle, about the city’s statues, was broadcast on BBC Sounds and BBC radio. Craig meanwhile has had well-reviewed short stories published in various fantasy magazines and anthologies, with his Arthurian retellings available to read for free in Lackington’s Magazine and The Icarus Writing Collective.
When asked what his favourite memory is with his twin brother, Craig said:
“When Dan got the phone call saying he had won two scholarships for his Master’s degree it was a really exciting moment for us. But just as we were celebrating, I received an identical phone call, saying I had won them too. We can’t stop twinning!”
Dan looks back on their competitive nature fondly, telling us:
“A big moment for us was when we were both starting to take writing seriously and decided to split poetry and prose between us – that way we aren’t in direct competition! Though I do think our competitiveness with each other helped spur us on to get good grades at uni!”
From Stateside to Tyneside: Sibling trio cross the Atlantic to gain a degree
When Bianca Sembrano moved from New Jersey to Newcastle to study Politics in 2011, little did she know she was setting the course for her whole family, with younger siblings Tricia and Dave following suit a few years later!
Bianca was drawn to Newcastle after being offered an international student scholarship, and was especially keen to study with David Walker, who, she tells us, remains one of the best lecturers she’s ever had! Today, she works across healthcare strategy and operations.
Younger brother Dave was next to make the move, having fallen in love with the UK on a trip to London to see his big sister (and his diehard team Chelsea!) in 2012. It is this trip that Dave credits as his favourite memory with his older sister. After graduating from Newcastle University Business School in 2019, Dave joined a graduate scheme at a Fortune 500 Medical Device company. Since then, he’s jumped into all sorts of finance, strategy, and M&A roles - mostly in Medical Device, IT Services, and Industrial Real Estate – learning something new with each position.
Just a year after Dave arrived on campus, youngest sibling Tricia followed to study the same Accounting and Finance course as her big brother. Eldest sister Bianca was on hand to help Tricia move into Marris House and teach her how to meal prep – Tricia’s favourite memory with Bianca! – and her big bro was always available for a trip to Shijo by Haymarket when studying got too stressful.
Tricia graduated from Newcastle University Business School during the COVID-19 pandemic and so embarked on her career and ACA professional qualification remotely to begin with. Since then, Tricia has qualified as a Chartered Accountant and today works in the energy and infrastructure industry.
Sister act: Non-identical twins follow identical path from NUBS to NHS
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Twin sisters Jessica and Katie Nelson chose to study identical courses at Newcastle University Business School, graduating with a BA in Business Management in 2023.
During her time on campus, Jessica completed a placement year at Rentokil Specialist Hygiene and attended a two-week summer school at KEDGE in Paris. It was these practical experiences that made the course stand out when applying for university in the first place. For Katie, her decision to come to Newcastle was made during an Open Day talk, with the option to do a management consultancy project instead of a dissertation standing out.
Since leaving campus, the pair have continued twinning by embarking on a career within the NHS. Jessica is currently working as a Senior Workforce Information Analyst at Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, developing reporting dashboards on key performance indicators to identify opportunities for improvement. Katie, on the other hand, helps to provide centralised governance, standard processes, and administrative support to a large-scale NHS programme, ensuring projects are delivered efficiently.
In true twin fashion, both Jessica and Katie told us how difficult it was to pick just one memory that they’ve shared! When pushed, Jessica recollected:
“Since graduating, we’ve been lucky enough to travel to some amazing places across Europe and North America, which has given us lots of unforgettable moments. My favourite probably has to be our Western USA road trip. We travelled from LA to San Francisco, drove through Yosemite, and then headed over to Arizona and Utah. The scenery was incredible and the whole trip was just such a fun adventure to do together. It’s definitely one of those trips I’ll always look back on and smile about.”
The trip was also special for Katie, who told us:
“Exploring the trails at the Northern Rim of the Grand Canyon together was really special, and I feel especially grateful we got to experience it before wildfires caused significant damage to the lodge and surrounding area just a few months later.”
Siblings in STEM: Brothers with a shared mission of disability justice
Having graduated from Newcastle University’s School of Computing in 2021, Peter Hayton worked in the charity sector before returning to campus to study for a PhD at Open Lab.
Being visually impaired himself, Peter is interested in accessibility and disability justice, with his research focusing on how the increased automation of technologies in urban spaces impacts the mobility of visually impaired people, and how we can create intelligent systems to make public transport more accessible.
Peter’s younger brother Daniel is currently in his second year of a Theoretical Physics degree on campus, and alongside his studies is an active member of the Physics, Astronomy and Chess societies organised by the Students’ Union.
It was because of his own visual impairment that Daniel first became curious about studying Physics, describing the subject as a way to explore not only the physical, visual world, but also the quantum – where relying solely on sight can be more of a hindrance than a help! And like Peter, Daniel also hopes to improve accessibility for disabled people in physics research throughout his career.
Speaking of their favourite shared memories, Peter told us:
“There have been so many great memories with Daniel, it’s hard to pick a favourite, but on a recent holiday we visited a railway restaurant where food and drinks were delivered to your table by train. We both really enjoyed ordering the food and guessing which train was going to stop at our table and retrieving the food and drink before the train departed.”
Daniel added:
“One of my favourite memories with my brother is when we used all my Scalextric tracks and built a circuit right around the garden. We had such a great time racing different cars around it, having to keep pace with them so that we didn’t lose them.”
Building bonds: Sisters who really ‘dig’ Ricky Road and Archaeology
Dr Hannah Lynch first arrived on campus in 1997 to study Archaeology. She had such a good time on her course – which included a trip to Rome and numerous archaeological digs in northern England – that she didn’t want to leave! After completing an MLitt and PhD in Archaeology, Hannah had a brief career in museums before returning to campus as a member of staff in 2013, where she remains today.
Sarah Scott followed in her big sister’s footsteps in 2001, studying Archaeology and even living in the same student accommodation Hannah had – the iconic Ricky Road! In Sarah’s second year on campus, the sisters moved in together which helped grow their bond. A postgrad at the time, Hannah was the site supervisor for one of Sarah’s undergraduate fieldwork projects, but they assure us no favouritism was shown!
It is this fieldwork project that Hannah chose for her favourite sibling memory, telling us:
“Sarah and I both worked on the Thornborough excavation (where I was her supervisor!), and we had some really good pub trips!”
After graduating in 2004, Sarah went travelling and then returned to Newcastle University to embark on a Master’s degree. The financial crash of 2007 made finding work difficult and it took a few years to find the right fit, but today Sarah is happily working as a pensions technical expert in the public sector.
While the sisters stopped living together a long time ago, they both remain in the North East today. Hannah lives in Corbridge while Sarah lives in North Gosforth with her husband and son.
Sharing her favourite sibling memory, Sarah told us hers was:
“The first overnight trip we took to London in 2014. My son was only a few months old at the time, so it was great to have some time away to feel like myself again.”