Dashboard – I'm a Scientist 2024

About Me:

I am from County Durham, North East England. When I am not in the laboratory or collecting data from lakes in the arctic, I love spending time with my horses and dogs going on adventures and hiking.
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I have loved travelling and being outdoors since I was young! I used to do a lot of mountain biking around the countryside but started travelling as soon as I went to university to study geography. I have been to many places, from Iceland to Thailand and I even managed to go to Guyana with my previous job during Covid! I have four horses and one dog and we often roam the countryside together. I love being outside be it rain or sunshine and this was what led me to being interested in our environment.
My pronouns are:

she/her
My Work:

I study arctic lakes to understand how they have been changing in the past, present and predict what they will be like in the future. I use a combination of looking at lake mud, lake water and lake gases to learn about how they have changed.
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Many clues are stored in lake mud and I search for these clues to learn what these lakes looked like in the past. I also monitor the lakes to understand how healthy they are! This includes taking water and gas samples as well as measuring temperature and oxygen to see how hot the lakes get each year and how the oxygen moves throughout the lake. This is very important for all fish and bugs that live in the lake. I use this collected information to help predict how hot the lakes will get by the end of this century to tell everyone how important it is to reduce global warming!
My Typical Day:

Being a scientist means no two days are the same! A typical day at the university begins at 9am where I am usually in the lab conducting experiments with my sediment, water and gas samples to understand how healthy each lake is! Lunchtime is usually with friends and in the afternoon I am either at my desk looking at my data or back in the lab to conduct more experiments. Home time is usually between 5-6pm.
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Although fieldwork is really fun! It does not happen all the time. I usually go in spring and autumn to monitor the lakes. This is because there is ice cover on the lakes in the arctic and I can easily walk across the lake! Fieldwork days are long but always exciting and fun. Lots of planning is needed beforehand to make sure we have all the equipment we need to collect data and to stay safe!

Most of the time when I am not doing fieldwork is spent in the laboratory looking at my samples to look at the health of the lake. It is very fun!
What I'd do with the prize money:

I would like to run a mini taster session with students not just focused on lakes but other disciplines in studying environment change. One such taster session idea is teaching children about the secrets that can be stored in the lake and how they can be used to see what the surrounding landscape looked like in the past. I would use pollen as an example of a secret that can be stored in the lake and through interactive activities teach them how pollen is unique to every plant (showing pollen examples) and getting them to work out which pollen grain belongs to each plant then teach them how this links to lakes and its importance.

Candidate CV questions (extra)

Education:

Primary School: Toft Hill Primary School, County Durham

Secondary School: Staindrop School an Academy, County Durham

A levels: Queen Elizabeth’s Sixth Form College, Darlington, County Durham

University: Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
Qualifications:

2009- 2014 Staindrop School an Academy
9 GCSEs: Grades A* – B 2 BTECs: Grades Di*
English Language: A* Mathematics: A Separate Sciences: B B B

2014- 2016 Queen Elizabeth’s Sixth Form College, Darlington
A Levels: Geology(A) Geography (B) Biology (E)

2016- 2020 Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne
BSc (Hons) Geography: First Class (80% overall)
Relevant Modules: Geography and Environment Dissertation (82%), Palaeoecology and
Biogeography (74%), Cold and Palaeoenvironments (77%), Cold Landscapes
(75%).
Work History:

October 2021- Present PhD student at Northumbria University, Newcastle

June 2018- October 2021 Environmental Consultant at Earth and Marine Environmental Consultants Ltd

September 2017- Present Programme Representative at Northumbria University, Newcastle

June 2017 – Present Student Representative at Northumbria University, Newcastle

March 2014 – January 2017 Waitressing and Event staff (2 establishments)
Current Job:

PhD student at Northumbria University, Newcastle
Employer:

Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK. Funded through the National Environment Research Council (NERC).

My Interview
- How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
  
  lake loving adventurer
  
  What did you want to be after you left school?
  
  work in saving the environment
  
  Were you ever in trouble at school?
  
  no
  
  If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?
  
  work for the environment agency
  
  Who is your favourite singer or band?
  
  Dire Straits
  
  What's your favourite food?
  
  Eton Mess
  
  Tell us a joke.
  
  Why did the fish blush? Because it saw the lake's bottom!