Dashboard – I'm a Scientist 2024

About Me:

I live with my partner and daughter in Hexham. I am a Research Scientist during the week and a Farmer at the weekends. I love reading. walking my dogs and Spending time with the sheep, cows and horses.
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My favourite books are without doubt the harry potter series. i quite like K dramas and have picked up a lot of the Korean language through watching them during lockdown. on the weekends when i am not at work i am very involved in the running of the farm. The ponies are my particular passion as well as the sheep. cows not so much.
My pronouns are:

She/ Her
My Work:

I work for a international chemicals company called Johnson Matthey. i am uk based in the north east of england. however as a company it is worldwide. I specialise in XRF analysis. I X-Ray things
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My job is to X ray materials and report back what they are made of. this can be very useful to see how something is performing for example to look for wear and tear. to see if what you think you made is actually what you did make. or of something is unknown to tell you what it is.
My Typical Day:

my work is hybrid and a mix of working from home and in the office/lab.

I usually work from home writing up the lab reports 2 days a week and will be in the lab the other 3.

A Typical day i will get to work for 8am where i do alot of sample preparation and experimentation. i will have lunch with my team mates and in the afternoon its time to look at the results. some of the experiments are safe to run overnight as i go home at 4pm
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i can access my equipment at anytime using my laptop so even if i am working from home i can dial in and watch my laboratory equipment running and see results as they happen.

at the end of a project it is usual that i then have to present my findings and write up a report or in some cases make a presentation of my work.

Candidate CV questions (extra)

Education:

i attended a local secondary school for GCSE’s then went to a couple of different colleges for A-levels so that i could choose the topics that i liked best. one of them was online learning using a portal.

I went to 2 universities one for my degree and another different university for my masters degree.

i am also doing some on the job training with the royal society of chemistry to become a chartered Chemist.
Qualifications:

I did GCSE’s in science. geography. maths. English and History . with grades A-C

I then went to college and did some NVQ’s in horsecare i did work with horses for a while but i loved the science modules the cells in the body and how everything works so i changed my path and did A-levels when my course finished.

I did A levels in Biology. Geography and History at college and got grades of A*-B

This gained me a place at Newcastle University to Study Biology i Graduated with a 2:1

i followed this up with a masters Degree at Teesside university in forensic science

i am currently working towards becoming a chartered chemist with the royal society of chemistry so learning does not end when you leave education. it continues in your working life too.
Work History:

My 1st jobs where working with horses something that i still enjoy today.

After graduation i worked a couple of placements and short term contracts with small laboratories before getting my current job with this big company 10 years ago. i also worked in the finance department here for a little while.

science is a very transferable skill
Employer:

Johnson matthey is a worldwide chemicals company that specialises in catalyst technology.

40% of all catalysts in cars today are made my Johnson matthey

we are a FTSE 100 company that put people the planet and sustainability at the forefront of what we offer.

My Interview
- How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
  
  X-ray 's all Things
  
  What did you want to be after you left school?
  
  something with science i just wasn't sure exactly what
  
  Were you ever in trouble at school?
  
  i was easily distracted
  
  If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?
  
  i think id have liked to be a vet
  
  What's your favourite food?
  
  Anything with chocolate in it
  
  If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
  
  To make weekends longer. Winter shorter and for the Sun to shine from the hours of 6-6
  
  Tell us a joke.
  
  Why are chemists so great at solving problems? Answer: They have all the solutions.