Briefly, could you summarise what you consider your role/job is within the department?
I am a staff scientist in cryo-electron microscopy, so my role is to help researchers use cryoEM to answer their favourite scientific questions.
What has motivated you to be in the job you are today?
It was not a conscious decision at all to work as facility staff in electron microscopy. I guess I ended up where I am now due to a mixture of the opportunities I had along the way, and the choices I made at each ‘crossroads’. Nevertheless, I ended up in a job that I love and find very fulfilling. I am sociable, and in my job I interact with fun and interesting people all the time, I make contributions (if often indirect) to a lot of interesting scientific research, I look at cells all the time (I was always fascinated by cells), and I do a mixture of intellectual activities and detailed manual work. It is not a job for everyone, for sure, but it is great for me.
What would you say have been the biggest challenges you have overcome being a woman in your field?
The first challenge was trying to stay in science as a mum of three. After my second maternity leave (I had a son, and then twins), I wanted to work part-time to spend more time with my children. I didn’t have a permanent job then, so I had to find a new part-time job after maternity leave. There were very few options of part-time jobs for scientists unless I switched to a purely office-based (albeit still science-related) role, or to a purely technical role. The general culture at the time was that you could not do a lab-based post-doc ‘properly’ on a part-time basis. Nevertheless, I was offered a rare part-time post-doc opportunity that allowed me to stay in research and contribute to many interesting research projects. Still, I had to pay for childcare for three while I worked, and my post-doc salary (albeit good for the role) just about covered the costs of part-time childcare for three! I then started doing another part-time job – but this one office-based – to generate some more income for the family in the evenings or early mornings, when the kids were asleep. I worked relentlessly for years as I had the equivalent of a full-time job (i.e. two part-time jobs) and three young kids. I never felt that I could work hard enough (or was clever enough, for that matter) to reach PI level while doing a decent job as a mum of three, but then I don’t think being a PI was ever for me anyway. It all worked out in the end, as I have a truly beautiful family, and a meaningful and interesting job that I love. The second challenge as a woman doing lab work was keeping the career afloat during perimenopause (i.e. the stage before menopause). This stage can last for up to 10 years, as it starts when women are in their early to mid 40s. Perimenopause can come with only a few mild symptoms, or with a lot of strong symptoms (in approx. ¼ women). I had a lot of symptoms. In fact, I had pretty much all the classic symptoms! It was very hard to keep things going in life until I understood what was going on with my body and found out how to manage the condition. It’s a long story for a slightly different forum, I think.
If you could have been anything/or anyone else in the world, what would you have been?
I would have worked on the visual arts, potentially on movie making of some sort. I have always been keen on drawing, painting and the visual arts in general. Since the children were little, making home movies – with green screen, CGI and proper video editing - has become a bit of a family hobby. I have a YouTube channel of work movies, and I have made a lot of family movies (from our holidays and other ‘adventures’). I really enjoy filming and movie editing, but then I think I would have missed out on science if I had chosen the visual arts.
What advice would you impart to your younger self?
Be patient. Life takes time to unfold and a lot of it is outside of our control. When we are young, we want to see light at the end of the tunnel straight away, we want things to happen quickly and to feel that we are on the right track for the future. The future is very, very unpredictable, in good and bad ways. Enjoy each step of life fully, keep choosing what feels right for you and the people you love, and don’t think too far in the future. Excessive life planning does not pay off.
What is the most rewarding part of being a female in your line of work?
I think this is a difficult one to answer without sounding a bit sexist. I guess women are thought to be more caring and sociable than men, and in my line of work being sociable and caring means you will enjoy training people and putting their needs above yours. However, I have not felt that the academic men I interacted with throughout my career were, in general, any less sociable and caring than my female academic colleagues (but then academia is a bit of a bubble, right?!). I have made so many male friends in academia who are incredibly caring and supportive. I think my job is rewarding for any scientist who is sociable and caring (and energetic!). I think men can find it rewarding just as much as women.
Do you have any advice for younger women wanting to pursue a career in your field?
Be patient and kind to those around you, and be patient and kind to yourself too. I do think women are, generally, less confident than men, and that affects how far they think they can go in an academic career. On the other hand, academics can be arrogant and make others feel inadequate for making mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes, but not everyone admits making them. If you think you have made a mistake or a choice you regret, accept it and be open about it, while never losing confidence and faith in yourself. You can - and you will - get it right in the future. I feel that, in the long run, it is not your mistakes that count in life, but how you handle your shortfalls.
Who has been your biggest inspiration (if you don’t mind saying)?
Here, I am going to choose my kids. They are all amazing, intelligent, creative and determined. My boys have inspired me to try so many new things I had not done before I became a mum, and to keep my mind open to new adventures and experiences. I think I have learnt a lot more from them than they have learnt from me..
Where would you like to see yourself in ten years' time?
I am not sure, but I am not worried about it. Didn’t I say excessive planning does not pay off?! I have learnt the lesson by now. In saying that, a moderate amount of future thinking can help you make decisions when time comes. I feel that where I will be in 10 years depends on where my children decide to be in the future. Becoming separated from family and lifelong friends because of work was extremely hard for me when I moved to the UK to do my PhD. It has been many years, but the trauma only gets worse, as I see my family and friends ageing while I have missed so much of their lives. I do not want to become separated from family ever again. If my children move far away, I will do my best to be part of their lives as much as I can (or as much as they let me!). That’s my only future ‘plan’.
What is the most unusual thing you have been asked to do as part of your career?
By far the weirdest thing I was asked to do in my career was to edit papers in Psychology. At the time, I did freelance editing of scientific manuscripts, and one of my clients was a company that sub-contracted me to edit biological and biomedical research manuscripts. It was within their remit to review Psychology research manuscripts, so one day I was sent a paper on ADHD to edit! The authors liked my work and kept requesting me as an editor for their future papers. It was strange as I felt I did not fully understand what they were talking about in the papers, yet they seemed to think I could edit their papers well. Very strange feeling.
How do you spend your time outside of research?
At the moment, I mostly just socialise with my family and friends, and do a bit of exercise. I do park run with one of my kids on Saturdays and do a bit of swimming after work. My children are older teenagers now, so they might be leaving home in a few years to go to university. As I work full-time on site, I don’t see the kids much, so I have decided to cut down on after work activities to spend time relaxing with the family after work. I do like playing board games with family and friends, and playing VR games with the kids. When we get the time (mostly in the holidays now), I do crafts and some cooking with the kids too. The extra-curricular activities I always liked doing (and I will go back to them at some point) are life-drawing, choir and dancing. I also like reading and I am in a book club still. I have not stopped book club as it is only once a month, and the book club crowd is so special, I could not do without them in my life.
