Ladies Who Lab #1

As a student of science I make observations on a daily basis and there has been one that always stands out to me: gender. Now I am not going to debate about women’s rights and gender inequality, which is a whole can of worms I don’t wish to open. However, I am passionate about scientific outreach and encouraging young girls to discover science and to peak their interest. So here begins my new monthly segment: Ladies Who Lab. Starting with myself this month I will hopefully regale you with fun and inspiring stories from women of science. The how, the what and the why!

Watching ‘The Weakest Link’ and when asked his profession the contestant answers “an ice cream scientist”. I turn to my mother, that’s what I want to do when I am older! This is the earliest memory I have of wanting to go into the scientific profession although admittedly given my age I was probably more excited about the prospect of trying new ice cream flavours than I was about science. I must have had some interest though as I do remember owning a mini science kit and a crystal growing set.

Moving onto school I was just going through the motions learning the standard primary school lessons: reading, counting and writing. 

Of course this progressed onto poetry, other languages and more complicated calculus that my later years of primary school had in store. I also remember the standard science lessons: placing a car at the top of an incline to demonstrate potential and kinetic energy, growing plants and bending water with a ruler. These were all very well and exciting but mostly because they were physical activities I didn’t care much for the science behind them. I had a dream though, become a dancer on the West End stage. I took weekly classes and I loved it.

Then at the latest years of school, studying gets more serious and at the mere age of 16 you need to start thinking about careers and deciding what your future will look like. Exams brought upon stress and extracurricular activities are a luxury you can’t afford to waste time on. So goodbye dance classes and goodbye dream of back up dancing in musicals…I wasn’t that good anyway! I’ll keep my moves for busting out at parties. That shifted by focus onto using my brain which lead to studying Psychology at university. That idea came crashing down in a ball of fire when I had a panic attack because I had never studied it before it just seemed interesting to me. I then asked myself the question, what am I good at? The answer: CHEMISTRY. A passion was then ignited like a classroom Bunsen burner leading to on to university where I graduated with an honours degree. The thirst for knowledge wasn’t quite quenched though so I studied an MSc in Advanced Pharmaceutical Manufacturing which lead me on a scientific path I never thought I would be on. The past that I am now on today, a PhD! It is stressful but it suits my independent nature and I can learn new things day in day out through collaboration and self-study.

So I guess what I am saying is science might not be your dream in school but it can be. What you might find boring could actually open up a passion that you never thought you had. I wanted to be a dancer and now I am far from it. I have even moved onto a branch of science I didn’t expect.

Are you in a career you didn’t expect? Did you like science or maybe still do?

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