Profile
Sbusisiwe Mbatha
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About Me:
I am a South African 🇿🇦 expat studying for my PhD in Synthetic Chemistry 👩🏾🔬 at the University of Bristol. I’m researching how nature makes antibiotics to help combat the problem of resistance 🦠.
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I have been living in Bristol and studying for my PhD for 3 years now. Before that, I spent 4 years in Leeds studying for an integrated masters in medicinal chemistry. I come from a healthcare family (parents are dentists, grandmother was a nurse) so I always thought I was going to follow in their footsteps until I realised during my A-Levels that I didn’t really like biology (ironic because I now do more bio now, all the sciences overlap some way). I decided on medicinal chemistry because in some way, I’m still contributing to helping others through research! After my undergraduate, I wanted to spend some time finding the right PhD programme for me. During that time, I started off working as an academic learning coach at a college before teaching BTEC level 2 and 3 science for the remainder of the year.
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My Typical Day:
I usually wake up early and go to the gym which helps to boost my energy levels. When I get into work, I spend some time planning out my experiments and make sure all the safety has been signed off. I then set up my reactions, work up reactions that were left overnight and purify to get nice clean compounds (usually in varying shades of brown to yellow) which I analyse using different types of spectroscopy.
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Education:
I went to a primary school in South Africa until I was 10. That’s when I moved to a Witton Middle School until year 7, then onto Droitwich Spa High School until year 11. I wanted to continue playing netball competitively, so I moved to Worcester Sixth Form College for my A-levels. After that I went to the University of Leeds to do my undergraduate degree and now I’m at the University of Bristol doing my PhD.
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Qualifications:
I completed 10.5 GCSEs in maths, triple science, english literature and language, history, physical education, business studies, french and religious education (half GCSE). I then did maths, chemistry and physical education at A level and an AS level in biology. I then completed an integrated masters programme (BSc and MChem) in Medicinal Chemistry.
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Work History:
I worked in hospitality when I was 16, waitressing at local events. In my final year of college, I worked as a Census collector chasing up census forms for a few months. I didn’t really have time for a part time job during undergrad but I was a student ambassador in my department, giving tours to new applicants and their parents as well as answering calls in the clearing call centre after results day. After university, I started off working as an academic learning coach at a college before becoming an unqualified teacher of science for the remainder of the year. Alongside my PhD studies, I work as a demonstrator teaching second year undergraduate students in the teaching labs, as well as giving outreach talks about my research to schools.
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Fun, Motivated, Organised (I'm a bit of a control freak)
What did you want to be after you left school?
A doctor, but only because of my family’s background.
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Never (or at least not any trouble that I got caught for 🙊)
Who is your favourite singer or band?
I’m obsessed with Tom Misch at the moment, but I’m partial to a bit of Dua Lipa and Lizzo when I’m feeling sassy!
What's your favourite food?
I love anything pan-Asian! Would usually go for a duck udon noodle dish or anything with Korean fried chicken.
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