What year did you graduate?
2014
What is your current role?
Senior Technician in pharmacology at the University of Brighton
How did you decide to take your current role?
I knew I wanted to be in the lab, but I wanted something more secure than a fixed term research post. As a technician you get the best of both worlds being able to undertake research, but with the security of a permanent contract.
Can you describe a typical day?
There isn't really such thing as a typical day for me as new things are happening every day. Typical activities in my role include conducting research, advising people on their research, preparing equipment/chemicals for classes and outreach in schools among other things.
What do you enjoy about your role?
I love the variety; there isn't chance for me to get bored here as there is always something new to do. I am lucky to also have the ability to take on responsibilities outside my regular day job. I am an active member of the University of Brighton LGBT+ staff network group and help to advise university policies on equality issues.
What do you find challenging in your current role?
Managing other people’s expectations is often tricky, people often want the world from you and are very upset when you can't provide a complicated experimental set up with 5 minutes’ notice!
What advice would you give to a current BMS student at St George’s who was keen to get in to a similar area of work as you?
I would say to go for it! Even if you decide it's not the career for you, working as a technician will provide you with invaluable professional experience that will make you a desirable employee in any field.
Which aspects of your degree are relevant to your current role?
Pretty much everything comes in handy at some point or another, but most of all my practical skills from labs and scientific numeracy.
If you could go back to your time at St George’s, what would you do differently?
I would go back to my final year research project and make decent notes! Making proper notes during lab work was such a valuable lesson to have learnt, but unfortunately I learnt it the hard way when I had no idea which data represented which sample.