Profile

Candidate CV questions (extra)

• Education:

  I went to the Holgate school in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire where I did well at GCSE. I stayed on in the sixth form to do my A-Levels, which at the time they didn’t offer a computing course, so I did Maths, Physics and History. I thought I was doing well with my A-Levels, predicted ABB, however our entire year had terrible results compared to what we were predicted.

  I couldn’t find a degree program that would accept my grades so I enrolled on a HND in Computer Studies at Derby University, which is a shorter course with lower requirements. My grades during that course were the highest in the year, I had the option of transferring the HND to a BSc but decided that I wanted the university experience that I had originally wanted, so I started again at Nottingham University.

  At Nottingham, I was really interested in image processing, and my project supervisor wanted me to do a PhD with him but he’d just accepted a new job at Aberystwyth University in Wales. I couldn’t start that PhD with him straight away so I enrolled in a Masters Degree in Remote Sensing at UCL in London. This was a fantastic course and very exciting to live in London for a year.

  After I finished the Masters degree, it took a further year before I was able to move to Aberystwyth and start my PhD. During that year I lived back at home with my parents, worked and then spent the summer at a summer camp in America working as a climbing instructor.

  My PhD in Aberystwyth was working with NASA satellite data of the Moon, calculating the age of craters using image processing techniques. This is useful for scientists who use these dates to make calculations about when certain events happened in our solar system, such as times where the Earth and Moon were subjected to a large number of meteorite impacts.

• Qualifications:

  • PhD Solar System Physics – Aberystwyth University
  • MSc Remote Sensing – University College London
  • BSc Computer Science – University of Nottingham
  • HND Computer Studies – University of Derby
  • A-Level Maths (E), Physics (N) and History (N) – Holgate School —- YES, you’ve read that correctly, I failed my A-Levels!
  • GCSEs – 11 A-C. Maths (A), History (A*), English (B), Joint Science (B) … French (D)!

• Work History:

  My work history is actually a little bit of a joke amongst some of my close work colleagues because I’ve had so many jobs, particularly through university. So here are all the jobs that I’ve had (or at least those that I remember)!

  • Shelf stacker at a supermarket when I was 16
  • First aider at a theme park during the summer holidays aged 18-22
  • Wedding/party DJ at weekends aged 20-24
  • Call centre operator at an energy company one summer aged 23
  • Barman at a restaurant and hotel… the same summer as working at a call centre aged 23
  • Data entry and order taker at a motor parts company, summer aged 24
  • Receptionist at an Ice Rink for six months before traveling aged 25
  • Note taker and exam invigilator, during my PhD for three years.
  • My first “real job” using my qualifications, Computer support officer in the Physics department where I completed my PhD at Aberystwyth University.
  • Data Manager/HPC system administrator, Biology Department at Aberystwyth University
  • Post doctoral researcher, John Innes centre  – my first job where I did science as the main purpose of my role.

• Current Job:

  I am a senior scientist in the Informatics platform at the John Innes Centre.

  My job is to work with biologists to solve their biological questions by using computers and technology.

  In science, it’s very rare for one person to have all the skills required to answer a complex question, particularly in the field of plant biology. This is why there are so many types of scientists working on similar and overlapping projects, attempting to answer the same question but using multiple methods. Computer scientists like me are able to use our experience to solve parts of these problems by building systems, writing software or using analysis tools.

• Employer:

  The John Innes Centre is a plant biology institute here in Norwich. It’s on the same campus as three other biological institutes, next door to a hospital and over the road from the University of East Anglia.

  It’s a fantastic place to work because you are in the middle of all of these experts who are working on a variety of projects. You are able to attend lots of lectures and see how other people solve problems, ask for help and collaborate with researchers that you might not otherwise meet.