Profile

I did a MSci in Chemistry with Industrial Experience a the University of Nottingham, but I grew up just outside of Blackpool, so Wellingborough feels an incredibly long way south for a Northerner!

As part of my degree I had the opportunity to go and work in Sweden, for AstraZeneca at their Gothenburg site. The experience was amazing and I made great friends, plus I did some interesting chemistry as part of their Cardiovascular, Metabolic and Vascular Diseases department. I am now on a lifelong journey to speak Swedish, so I can speak to my friends and colleagues when I visit. Who doesn’t want to speak a language where grandchild is ‘barnbarn’ (literally childchild), but I will admit the grammar is a bit horrific.

I’ve worked for the Royal Society of Chemistry since 2020, I moved jobs peak pandemic! I spent 2 years working with our member communities and since July 2022 have been part of the Accreditation & Careers Team.

My most prized possession is my beloved road bike and you’ll usually find me cycling round Northamptonshire at weekends. I am also a massive bookworm and I enjoy cooking (ideally baked goods to nibble while cycling or reading a great book).

I am the “Accreditation and Chartered Status Specialist” at the Royal Society of Chemistry. My job is all about making sure that students get a great chemistry education when they go to university. I also work on something called “professional awards”, which is a bit like your GCSEs or A-Level but when you are working.

I have 2 parts to my role:

Degree Accreditation

I work with colleagues at universities on the “accreditation” of their degrees by the RSC. Imagine that “accreditation” is a bit like when OFSTED visit your school, OFSTED make sure that schools are providing a great education for you, and that’s what I do for Chemistry degrees. It’s really important because Chemistry involves a lot of lab work and practical skills, so when people leave university they can get a job and succeed. I travel all over the UK and Ireland as part of my job, and I get to meet a lot of people teaching really interesting chemistry.

Chartered Status

When you leave school and university you can gain something called “professional awards”, these are like exams for when you are working and show you have skills and knowledge. I oversee “Chartered Chemist” which is a special award just for people who work in Chemistry. I get to interview people and find all about their work, and help them when they are applying. People who apply submit a document similar to when you do coursework or write an essay, and my role is like your teacher, I will speak to people who are applying and help them with their application. I will check and review their document before I send to colleagues who will act as examiners. I like this part of my job as I meet great people doing incredible science from all areas of chemistry.

I like my job because there’s so much variety and there’s not a typical day. My job tends to follow the school year, so I am busiest on university visits and travelling between September and July. I will go on a visit and a trip to the RSC office in London about once two weeks – every month.

If I am visiting a university I’ll be arranging travel and reading information about the university course we are going to look at. I can travel all over the UK and Ireland and each week can be different. Just like schools can be different, universities can be different so we look at each one carefully. I work with specialists in chemistry, people who have very high-level knowledge of chemistry, they usually have a PhD (a really high level qualification) or are Professors, they have lots of experiencing in chemistry and in teaching. They and I look at the information about each course before we decide to say yes and approve. The process is similar to when OFSTED visits your school, I write up a report and the university get feedback on changes they could make to their course.

If I am working from home I will have virtual meetings over Zoom or Teams with colleagues to plan projects and discuss what I am working on. I like working from home as it gives me the flexibility to manage my work (and the commute is super short). When I am at home I will hold “CChem consultations”, this is when someone who wants to apply for the professional award Chartered Chemist has a meeting with me, I provide advice and talk to them about their application. This is one of my favourite parts of my job as I like hearing about the fantastic chemistry people are doing, and what they are working on.

When I am working in the Cambridge office I will have meetings with colleagues face to face, and I usually go for a walk around Science Park on my lunchbreak with friends. We’ll also have team meetings where we discuss what everyone is working on. I also sometimes go into London to go to the RSC at Burlington House for special meetings where we approve courses and interview people who are applying for CChem.

My job involves a lot of reviewing paperwork and information that is specific to Chemistry. I get to use my chemistry knowledge every day.