Dashboard – I'm a Scientist 2024

About Me:

I live in Edinburgh, Scotland with my friends in a big house. I love nature so I spend my time outside walking and running. My job is studying African trees, which means I get to travel to Angola and Namibia every year.
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I moved to Edinburgh in September to start my 4 year PhD at the University of Edinburgh. I love living here! I get to live in a city but I am also surrounded by nature.
My pronouns are:

she/her
My Work:

I study how trees are adapted to survive in extreme environments.
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I look at the different strategies trees have, for example thick bark to survive fire or having lots of thorns to stop animals from eating them. I go to Angola and Namibia to measure tree characteristics and I return to Scotland to analyse the data.
My Typical Day:

When I do field work, I wake up at 6 am to have eggs and rice for breakfast. It is hard to have fresh food in remote locations! I drive to my field sites at 6:30 to start work before it gets too hot. I take lots of tree measurements (tree height, bark thickness and size of leaves). At 3pm I drive back to camp and sort out the field equipment and write up my data. For dinner I eat rice and beans, my favorite.
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In Scotland my days are very different. I eat beans on toast for breakfast and I spend most of my time reading science papers, designing experiments and presenting my research findings.

CV

Education:

Chiltern Edge Secondary School (2011 – 2016): 10 GCSEs grade A* – B

The Henley College (2016-2018): A Levels: Biology (A), Geography (A) and Maths (A)

The University of Birmingham (2018 – 2022): MSci Biological Sciences with Professional Placement (Honours Class I)

The University of Edinburgh (2023 – 2027): PhD in the School of GeoSciences
Work History:

The Pirbright Institute (2020 – 2021): Looked at insect abundance on farms

Biffa Waste Services (Summer 2022): Wrote reports on invasive plant species

Key Royal Botanical Gardens (January – March 2023): Looked at plant DNA
Current Job:

PhD student at the University of Edinburgh
Employer:

The University of Edinburgh

My Interview
- How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
  
  nature loving ecologist
  
  What did you want to be after you left school?
  
  A vet! I started to love plants after I finished my A-levels
  
  Were you ever in trouble at school?
  
  Only for talking too much!
  
  What's your favourite food?
  
  Daal