Born in 1929 in Warsaw, Danusia fled Poland with her parents and came to the UK by boat in 1940, living first in London before attending school in both Perthshire and Edinburgh. She began her studies at the University of Edinburgh at the age of just 16 in 1945.
"I chose to undertake the BCom degree as I was looking for something that was interesting as well as practical", she says. "Something that would give me the opportunity to learn about areas that I didn't know about. Having been in a convent school, I felt I knew little about the outside world."
Danusia remembers that the degree was well ahead of its time as it was modular in structure.
"There were a lot of ex-servicemen attending, so for them and for me (as I didn't know what would happen after the war) it meant that we had something to show for each course that we did. There wasn't a final exam at the end; it was all based on the modular courses. There was a wide choice of subjects including business, economics, law, and accountancy, so it opened up opportunities for employment in a variety of fields."
The Head of Department at the time was Professor Oliver, who Danusia remembers as an extremely kind man who took great interest in his students. She describes herself as an 'odd' student compared with the others from the armed forces, and so she was grateful to him for his support. Most of them were still dressed in their uniforms and yet she had to wear her school tunic which her mother had cut in half to make into a skirt for her.
After graduating, she worked initially for Baillie Gifford Investment Managers as a junior, where she earned only £3 a week (well below the living wage) as she was under 21. She therefore chose to study a two-year masters in Management of the National Debt at the London School of Economics, which led to a role as a tutor at Manchester University.
However, while there, she received an offer of a lectureship role back at the University of Edinburgh in the Commerce and Industry department where she had undertaken her BCom, so she was delighted to return.
"It was a very small department", she recalls, "located between the public baths and the morgue on Infirmary Street, just across from the University's Old Quad. We had some interesting people calling if there was a big murder story as they wanted to see the corpse!"
Danusia remembers some of the students during her time as a lecturer, including David Bell, who lost his eyesight and use of both of his hands during the Second World War. He graduated in 1955.
Danusia completed her PhD at Edinburgh, graduating in 1956. By this time, she was married to Aubrey Trotman-Dickenson, and she and her husband moved to the US. Their time there was short though as Aubrey was offered a Professorship as Head of Chemistry at Aberystwyth University. They returned to the UK, settling in Wales, and it was there that they spent the rest of their academic careers.
Working initially as a tutor at Aberystwyth, Danusia worked at both the Open University in Cardiff and at the Polytechnic of Wales, before spending 15 years at the University of Glamorgan, retiring as Emeritus Professor.
During her academic career, Danusia published a total of seven books, and had over 50 papers in economics and public finance published in professional journals. This included a report for the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) on the demand and provision of part-time higher education in Wales. She presented over 30 papers at national and international conferences.
She recalls: "I also worked as an external examiner for the London Examination Board and was involved in the creation of multiple choice questions when they were first introduced."
Looking back on her career, Danusia says that she always wanted to be independent. This was why she undertook the BCom initially and even in retirement, she continues to be active on a number of boards, including the Police Independent Advisory Group and the Anglo-Polish Society.
While in Cardiff in 1990, she founded the Welsh Heritage Schools Initiative, which she ran for 22 years. "Starting in a small way, I set it up to encourage young people in schools in Wales to take a greater interest in their heritage and the contribution made to it by their families and communities."
This achievement led to Danusia being awarded an MBE in 2010 for Services to Education.
Danusia's career has also been recognised in other ways. In 2018, she was selected by Women's Equality Network Wales as one of the most inspiring 100 Welsh Women, to mark the centenary of the Representation of the People Act 1918.
Quite an achievement for someone who started her life in Poland and, despite much hardship in her early life, contributed greatly to her new homeland.