SoapboxScience

Rachael Chandler, Biomedical Sciences, School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading, is taking part in Soapbox Science Reading with the talk:“Parkinson’s, DNA and… microscopic worms?!”

Hi! I’m Rachael, a doctoral researcher at the University of Reading in the first year of my PhD. I am researching how certain changes in DNA, called mutations, cause brain cell death in Parkinson’s Disease. This is a common brain disorder with no cure, which reduces a person’s ability to control their movements. To try and find out what could be going wrong in Parkinson’s brain cells, in the lab I study microscopic worms, which have been genetically engineered to include Parkinson’s related mutations in their DNA. It is a real puzzle how brain cells are lost in Parkinson’s and hundreds of scientists around the world are tackling this question in many different ways. Through combining pieces of the puzzle, we are gaining an understanding of what is happening in brain cells to cause Parkinson’s. If we can understand what happens, new medicines to treat Parkinson’s could be developed in the future. When I’m not peering down a microscope, I enjoy swimming, socialising, hiking and talking about science!

Q: How did you get to your current position?

Last year, I graduated from the University of Surrey, with a first-class BSc(Hons) degree in Biochemistry, with later specialiations in neuroscience, toxicology and genetics. As part of my degree, I undertook a work placement year, in which I was a research assistant in a lab at the University of Cambridge in the Department of Genetics. From working in a busy research environment, I gained practical experience to compliment my studies, had interesting discussions with colleagues and obtained so much insight into the workings of a lab and scientific careers. I have always been very intrigued by genetics and how neurodegenerative diseases work, so after this experience, I decided I would like to pursue a PhD in this area to start my scientific career.

Q: What, or who, inspired you to get a career in science?

Throughout my studies, I have been very lucky to have had many brilliant teachers, lecturers and supervisors who have taught, supported and encouraged me to pursue science further. Since school days, I have enjoyed and been interested in science, particularly biology and chemistry. I can still remember at the age of 14 being introduced to and taught about DNA, what it was and how it works; I was (and still am!) absolutely amazed! I’ve always had an awareness of neurodegenerative diseases and their impact upon people’s lives, as they have affected 3 of my grandparents (Multiple Sclerosis, Motor Neurone Disease with Dementia and Parkinson’s). Always with a desire to question and learn, I wanted to understand what I could see from a very early age. After studying neuroscience modules at University, I was so fascinated by how brain cells are damaged and die in these disorders, I hoped to eventually be part of the community of scientists trying to tackle them.

Q: What is the most fascinating aspect of your research/work?

There are always new questions to be asked! When you complete an experiment in the lab and get some interesting results, there are lots of new angles to take to try and build a better picture of what you’re trying to understand. It also amazes me that a microscopic worm, less than 1 millimetre long, which is so simple and different to humans, can have things in common with us and act like a simulation to better understand human disease.

Q: What attracted you to Soapbox Science in the first place?

I love talking about science and sharing my amazement! I strongly feel science should be accessible to everyone. Many people initially dismiss science as being too complicated, but when it’s broken down there are really interesting stories to tell and amazing discoveries to discuss. In relation to my research, I feel that this is particularly important, as it is supported by the charity Parkinson’s UK- wonderful people work tirelessly in charity fundraising to help fund our work. There should be opportunities to engage, understand and ask questions about current research. Interactive science fairs and informal talks are brilliant, fun places to communicate science with people of all ages and there are always great questions, which give us new perspectives as scientists. Furthermore, I feel it’s important to challenge gendered stereotypes of scientists and that we are very ordinary people, working together on some extraordinary projects.

Q: Sum up in one word your expectations for the day

Fun!

Q: If you could change one thing about the scientific culture right now, what would it be?

I’m quite new to this environment, but from many discussions with others, career progression in academia seems difficult and sometimes a little tenuous in the years following your PhD. It’s very competitive.

Q: What would be your top recommendation to a woman studying for a PhD and considering pursuing a career in academia?

Currently, I am this woman, but what I feel I’ve learned so far is to embrace opportunities that come your way- there’s so much that you could do!

Maria Christodoulou is a postdoctoral researcher in Biostatistics at the University of Oxford. Trained both as a statistician and a biologist, she is interested in the development and application of statistical tools to big evolutionary questions. In her current position, she is studying how we age as individuals, and the impact of genetics, environment, and pure chance on our life trajectories.

She is taking part in Soapbox Science Reading on 8th June with the talk: “Why do we grow old?  Ageing, demography, and the fun of biostatistics.”

Q: How did you get to your current position?

In a completely indirect way… I started off doing a BSc in Mathematics with Statistics at Imperial College London, and in the process discovered that I was fascinated by absolutely everything that had to do with biostatistics and mathematical biology. I was nowhere near done with biology after that so I did another BSc, this time in Biological Sciences, and then I followed it with an MSc in Plant Diversity and a PhD in Biological Sciences at the University of Reading. When I started looking for postdocs, I realised that I had to be flexible in what I wanted to do as few positions out there matched the research area I was in. In my case that was much more easily done, as I had two disciplines that I could fall back to. And so I became a postdoc in Biostatistics.

Q: What, or who, inspired you to get a career in science?

I think it takes a village when it comes to this but if I had to pick, I’d have to say my mother. She always took the time to answer questions, and she answered them clearly, and honestly. Being a nuclear chemist, she always gave explanations to natural phenomena using science. Her incredible storytelling abilities meant that she made science even more magical than it already is! Even when she taught me how to bake, she explained every aspect using chemistry and physics – which helps when I am trying to troubleshoot a baking catastrophe…

Q: What is the most fascinating aspect of your research/work?

The chance to take data describing many different and varied life courses, and extract the signal from the noise through mathematics is what keeps me coming back for more – finding the stories that are hidden in the numbers.

Q: What attracted you to Soapbox Science in the first place?

Seeing one of your previous events in Reading. I found the speakers engaging, inspiring, and incredibly refreshing.

Q: Sum in one word your expectations for the day.

Animated – not in the cartoon sort of way, although that would be cool too.

Q: If you could change one thing about the scientific culture right now, what would it be?

As a culture, the scientific community deals with rejection in a very toxic way. We are bombarded by rejections, from publications, to jobs, to grants. They are the constant. But we don’t speak about them. We hide them and make everyone around us believe that they are alone in a sea of rejections. If I could change one thing (and if that one thing can’t be not to get rejections…) then I would make people share their failures more openly. Tell others about all those times when they just wanted to curl up and eat ice-cream to forget the rejected grant.

Q: What would be your top recommendation to a woman studying for a PhD and considering pursuing a career in academia?

The archetype of academic scientist was designed to describe men. You don’t have to be that archetype to be successful. What academia needs is your voice, and for you to find it, you probably need a good mentor. Look for academics who care both about your progression and for you as a person and ask them to mentor you, however informally.

Dr. Leah Morabito, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, is taking part in Soapbox Science Reading on 8th June with the talk:“Super massive black holes: how do they shape galaxies?”

I am a radio astronomer, working as a Hintze Fellow at the University of Oxford. My research focuses on understanding how super massive black holes, which live at the centres of galaxies, help shape the Universe we see today. I have always been passionate about science, although I had a brief hiatus between my undergraduate and graduate studies when I served in the US Air Force. I love what I do, and couldn’t imagine anything better than carrying out scientific research! Radio astronomy in particular is fascinating — I get to make beautiful images from a telescope that is essentially collections of dipole antennas in fields across Europe.  It’s very low tech but we can use it for incredible science!

Q: Leah, how did you get to your current position?

When I was finishing my PhD, I had to think about what I wanted to do next. I knew I wanted to continue as a researcher, and I thought about where I could bring my radio astronomy expertise and also learn more about other wavelengths. I applied to the position I currently hold at Oxford because of the opportunities to work with experts on using telescopes across a broad range of wavelengths, who are also experts on galaxy evolution. Fortunately I was successful in my application, and here I am!

Q: What, or who, inspired you to get a career in science?

As a child, I was always fascinated by space, and learned all I could about it. My parents were both geologists, and instilled in me a curiousity for learning about the world around me in a critical way. When I was doing my undergraduate degree, the movie “Contact” came out — it’s based on a book written by an actual astronomer — and at that moment I decided I wanted to be a radio astronomer like Jodie Foster’s character.

Q: What is the most fascinating aspect of your research/work?

The most fascinating aspect of my work is making radio images of the sky. The telescope I use, the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR), is fairly new, and I am helping develop observing strategies and data calibration techniques to make extremely high resolution images, with 10 – 20 times the typical resolution people achieve with standard observations using LOFAR. That means that for some of the galaxies I look at, I am the first person to see the detail of their internal structure, and that is really cool!

Q: What attracted you to Soapbox Science in the first place?

Soapbox Science is a great opportunity to share my passion for astronomy with people who want to learn. Science can seem daunting to those uninitiated in it, but I find that when I explain my research to non-scientists, it can be really accessible to them! I love what I do, and there is nothing better than communicating it to a broad audience in a way that they can appreciate it.

Q: Sum up in one word your expectations for the day

I expect that the day will be exciting, challenging, and rewarding!  Exciting because I will get to share my research and passion with people; challenging because there are always interesting questions I have never considered; and rewarding because at the end of the day, I will have taught at least someone something about super-massive black holes and how they shape the galaxies they live in.

Q: If you could change one thing about the scientific culture right now, what would it be?

The scientific culture today is still entrenched in an old-fashioned idea of what it means to be “A Scientist.” We need more diversity, and more people who are willing to exchange ideas and work in a collaborative fashion.

Q: What would be your top recommendation to a woman studying for a PhD and considering pursuing a career in academia?

My top recommendation for a woman studying for a PhD and/or considering a career in academia is this: try everything, and don’t give up! The worst that can happen if you ask for something (or apply for something) is that the answer is no; but you’re no worse off than you were before. And if you keep asking often enough, sometimes the answer will be yes! I have had a lot of rejections for job applications in my time, but I have also had several key successes, which led me to where I am today.

In the spintronics lab with our superconducting magnet ‘Emily’

Daisy Shearer is an experimental quantum physicist and first year PhD student at the University of Surrey’s Advanced Technology Institute. Her PhD project focuses on spintronics in the semiconductor InSb for initialization of electron spin quantum bits. With a background in designing semiconductor lasers she wants to shed light on the applications of quantum physics that we take for granted in everyday life.

She will be taking part in Soapbox Science Reading on the 8th June with the talk: “From lasers to quantum computing: how quantum technologies impact our lives”

Q: NAME, how did you get to your current position?

After I graduated from the MPhys course at Surrey in July 2018 I decided to apply for several quantum computing based PhD programs. My research placement in a telecommunications company, designing and testing semiconductor lasers, had given me a passion for research, particularly in exploiting the quantum mechanical properties of semiconductors for quantum technologies. In the end I decided to stay put at the University of Surrey as the project I was offered in the photonics and quantum sciences group had the most flexibility and was the most interesting to me!

Graduating with an MPhys last July

Q: What, or who, inspired you to get a career in science?

I’ve always had that inherent curiosity about the world around me, which I think drew me to physics. It’s the most fundamental of the sciences and I love exploring the workings of the universe in depth. Both my parents are vets and my dad has a PhD so I always knew that science was an option for me. Once I decided to do a degree in physics I discovered I was a good experimental physicist and the subjects that engaged me the most were optics, photonics, quantum and condensed matter physics. The research that some of my lecturers showed us during my undergraduate courses really made me think seriously about becoming a researcher.

Q: What is the most fascinating aspect of your research/work?

The potential! Quantum technologies and especially spintronics is still a very new field so I get very excited by the prospect of there still being so much to be discovered. I do a lot of nanofabrication and even in the time I’ve been at university the techniques have improved so much we can now manipulate single atoms. I also enjoy the fact that I get to do a really nice mixture of things in my day to day research– from fabrication in the clean room and using a focused ion beam, imaging using scanning electron microscopy, carrying out experiments using amazing equipment like a superconducting magnet and lasers, simulating the quantum transport properties of my devices, to keeping up to date with the latest research.

Quantum transport simulations and analysing images

Nanofabrication with the Focused Ion Beam

Q: What attracted you to Soapbox Science in the first place?

I saw a poster for it in the physics department and decided to apply. I’m really trying to push myself and public engagement is a priority for me as a researcher. It can be really beneficial to take a step back and look at the bigger picture once in a while rather than getting bogged down in the details. Being able to explain cutting edge scientific research to the general public is difficult but I think it’s so important that people know what kind of work we are doing and maybe even to inspire future generations of scientists!

Q: Sum up in one word your expectations for the day

Challenging

Q: If you could change one thing about the scientific culture right now, what would it be?

“Publish or perish”. The pressure to published and get citations as a metric for our worth as researchers. I think this mindset is incredibly detrimental to mental health in academia and adds so much additional stress that good quality science can’t be done very easily. I would also change the lack of diversity in science. It’s been shown that diverse research groups are more productive and diversity of thought from people from different backgrounds is important when carrying out scientific research.

Q: What would be your top recommendation to a woman studying for a PhD and considering pursuing a career in academia?

Follow your passion and build a support network around you for when the going gets tough.

Theresa Robinson (@snorkel_maiden), Zoological Society of London/University of Reading is taking part in Soapbox Science London on 25th May 2019 with the talk: “Three’s a crowd? Mating system diversity in the Mauritius Fody”

As I started preparing for SoapBox Science, I knew I had to choose just one aspect of my PhD to discuss, for my own sake- so that I can keep on topic on the day and not gabble at people too much. A neat good news / bad news aspect of my current analyses is how the environment is determining how my Mauritius Fodies breed, and in fact how it’s (probably) changing their breeding behaviour, so that was an easy choice to make.

A male Mauritius Fody

Then during the excellent training and introduction session at London Zoo I had the idea of making chocolate Shredded Wheat cakes with Mini Eggs to represent successful breeding, as a prize. A prize for what, though? So I’ve spent many hours since then inventing a game that I have, with CONSIDERABLE imagination, called Great Eggspectations. It’s possibly the world’s only game designed to illustrate environmental limitations on bird breeding, though I realise that niche is small.

Mauritius Fodies are insectivorous, and so to successfully fledge a nest they need to gather insects, in the game represented by small wooden butterflies which you draw (without looking!) from a tub. If you collect five butterflies you fledge a nest and win a chocolate Shreddie cake! However there are many perils along the way. A lot of Fody nesting attempts are ended by predation, so if you draw a dragon you lose all your current butterflies and must start again. Many birds, fodies included, don’t like to forage in the rain; so if you draw a raincloud with a rainbow you miss a turn. And there are increasing threats to nests from unpredictable and changing weather patterns and cyclones, which can devastate large areas of ecosystem literally overnight. So, if you draw a heavy raincloud, all players lose their current butterflies and must start again.

Great Eggspectations play shapes

All of this is within a time, set by an egg timer (!!), to determine the available length of the breeding season, which is where the good news comes in. The majority of the world’s Mauritius Fodies, and my entire study population, live on a tiny offshore islet reserve called Ile Aux Aigrettes. The habitat here is different to the mainland where they lived previously, with more of the year being suitable for breeding, and the Fodies are making the most of this by cramming as many nests as they can into each season. Some breeding seasons last for more than a calendar year before they take a break. This has played a part in the recovery of the Fody from Critically Endangered to Endangered, and the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation are working hard to get the species downgraded further. Reduced pressure on the breeding time available will be represented in the game by a longer time set on the egg timer for some rounds, although of course the other limitations of predation and unpredictable weather still apply.

Game rules

The Fodies are making things even more interesting by practicing polygyny, where a male has more than one nesting attempt at the same time, with different females. So I might try to incorporate this into the game by getting people to team up and drawing twice each go instead of once; males that are polygynous raise more fledglings than those who remain monogamous.

Play board. A fledged nest wins chocolate!

This process has been a fascinating learning tool for me to try to condense some complex ideas (that I don’t even fully understand myself yet) into bite-size chunks that I can easily communicate to others. My son Leo and his friends Emily and Charlotte (aged 6-8) have had fun recently testing Great Eggspectations for me, and there was laughter and lots of questions, so I’m feeling fairly confident that it will work on the day. They weren’t even being bribed by winning chocolate at the end!

Please come along to SoapBox Science London, on the Southbank, on the 25^th May, and play Great Eggspectations for yourself and see if you can win a cake!

A female Mauritius Fody

I am very lucky to be sponsored for SoapBox Science by ASAB, the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Thanks also go to the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation, IOZ, and CAER at UoR.

Dr Sarah Harris (@sarahthephd), Research Assistant in Regenerative Medicine, Keele University is taking part in Soapbox Science Stoke-on-Trent on 6th July 2019 with the talk: “Why would you want to make your spine glow in the dark?”

Hello, my name is Sarah. I am currently part of a team that works on coming up with novel and exciting spinal cord regeneration therapies, looking at ways of helping dogs and humans regain mobility after injury. I am a board gamer, a contemporary romance reader, a knitter, a party planner, an occasional musician, a total nerd, a walking encyclopaedia of song lyrics and film/TV quotes, but if you ask anyone who has met me what my defining *me* thing is, they’ll tell you I’m a fish person. Why a fish person, I hear you ask? Well, that is because I spent the best part of a decade studying fish health and as far as novel characteristics go, outside of fish biology circles it’s a pretty unique one.

When you look at the research field, fish biology is actually reasonably well balanced in terms of gender however the stereotype still often falls in favour of it being a male area. Fishing as a hobby, working as a fisherman or fishmonger, these aren’t things that are regularly associated with being a woman. So, when asked what I do, I often get a quizzical look whenever I have said that I am a fish biologist followed by the question “how did that happen?”. At this point, the expected reply is something along the lines of “oh I’m a keen scuba diver” or “I have a brother/father/uncle who got me into fish”, and I will always take great delight in turning that quizzical look into one of outright confusion when I say, “because I studied French”.

I never really knew what I wanted to do when I grew up until I hit 20. I worked part time as a lifeguard at the local swimming pool, and also as a private music teacher. I kept my options open at school studying sciences, electronics, music, and languages. By the time I got to university at 18, I had been able to narrow it down to studying Biochemistry and French, but I still had no real plan as to what it was that I wanted to do with my life. This all changed in the third year of my undergraduate studies. As part of the syllabus for the French half of my degree, I had to spend a year living in a French speaking country. Most people in my class went to universities in France and studied their other subject. If I had done that, my life would probably have taken a very different route. What I did instead was secure a Leonardo Grant (a subset of Marie Curie EU funding) and this meant I could spend the year working in a laboratory abroad. I spent several meetings discussing my options with Dave, the tutor in Life Sciences responsible for study abroad students. What I wanted was to go to the Pasteur Institute but, as Dave pointed out, whilst I was a good student, I wasn’t a great student with firsts across the board. The Pasteur was also known for taking its time in deciding whether or not they would actually take students on and because I had to go to France to get my degree, this would be a risky gamble to wait for them. So I went with my back up choice; a lab at the Natural History Museum in Paris.

I know. Worst back up plan ever, right?

Dr. Sylvie Dufour (left) and the rest of the team at the Natural History Museum, Paris after a PhD viva.

Going to the Natural History Museum was probably the best decision I have ever made. It is where I truly found my passion for science and research, and my career choices since have been because of my time there. My supervisor was an amazing woman by the name of Dr. Sylvie Dufour. Sylvie isn’t just a fantastic scientist, she’s one of those humans that is excellent overall. She always had time for me, no matter how ridiculous my questions. I was included in everything from conferences, grant meetings and visiting a collaborator’s salmon farm in the Loire Valley where we got to join in with releasing fry into the river, to celebrations in the lab and acknowledgements in papers. It didn’t matter that I was just an undergraduate, I was one of the team. There was no specific “aha!” moment for me, but I was in the second half of my degree and starting to think about what I wanted to do afterwards, and being in such a supportive, exciting environment I realised that I didn’t want to leave – I wanted to do research and be in a research lab.

Releasing salmon fry into the River Loire.

I had picked my placement because I got to go to Paris rather than based upon the science so when I first started, my project looking at gene expression in eels (and other fish) was just one of those random things that you do as part of your degree that doesn’t necessarily mean much beyond being a mechanism to learn techniques. As the year went on, I fell in love with fish biology. The European eel (Anguilla anguilla) is an amazing creature. It starts its life as a clear leaf shaped larva in the Sargasso Sea in the North Atlantic on the American side. It swims across the Atlantic to Europe where it not only changes into a more classic eel shape, but also goes from a saltwater to freshwater fish. It then lives in rivers throughout Europe for up to 20 years before changing back into a saltwater fish and migrating back to the Sargasso Sea to spawn. This second migration of over 3,000 miles is made even greater by the fact they do this whilst fasting. I can barely make it the 2.5 miles into work without a snack to tide me over, never mind traversing an ocean unfed. Unfortunately, eel numbers are falling fast. Over the past 20 years, their numbers have reduced by as much as 99% and they are categorised as critically endangered on the IUCN red list. There are several reasons for this; overfishing, pathogens, dams blocking their migration down rivers to name a few. One of the biggest challenges faced by scientists to try and deal with this crisis is no one can get the leptocephali (eel larvae) to survive long enough so there is currently no way of artificially inflating the populations through breed and release schemes (although I believe one of the Danish groups is getting pretty close). I hadn’t done any “real” research before this point in my life and it blew my mind that I was part of a project that was working towards trying to ensure the survival of an entire species.

By the time I got to the end of my placement, I had made two very big decisions: I had decided I wanted to go into research, and I had decided what field I wanted to work in. The rest is history. After my undergraduate studies, I moved to Germany for 2 years (brilliant use of my French degree, I know) where I worked on fish immune responses and gut microbiology, and eventually combined both of these things in my PhD back in the UK. I doubt I would have done any of that, though, if it hadn’t been for my year at the Natural History Museum. Would I have done a year abroad even if I hadn’t been studying French? Probably not actually. For all I loved the Museum, I was massively homesick at the start of my placement and I hated where I lived. I initially stuck it out because I had to, not because I wanted to, and if it hadn’t been integral to my degree, I may even have quit and missed out on all the experiences I got to have.

So that is my story about how studying French set me down the path to becoming a research scientist. Mostly, I really like it because it is just weird enough whilst actually being the most natural thing in the world in the way it happened. Is studying abroad for everyone? No, but I will always vote in favour of giving it a go. Will I ever go back and work in Paris again? Erm, it’s half an hour on the train from Disneyland. Obviously the answer is if there was a project available for me to do so. Would I go back to the Museum? In a heartbeat.

Elisabeth Wetzer is a PhD student in Computerised Image Processing at the Dept. of Information Technology at Uppsala University, Sweden. She will take part in the Soapbox Science event in Uppsala on 25 May where she will talk about “Training Machines to Detect Cancer”

I grew up in Vienna, Austria where I went to school and later studied at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien). I did my Bachelor in Technical Mathematics followed by a Master’s in Biomedical Engineering as I was eager to learn more about the possible applications of the rather theoretical knowledge obtained in the first years of my university life. During my Masters I had the opportunity to go on a year of exchange studies to Umeå University which was an amazing experience.

I’ve tried to join as many summer schools and research schools as possible and did a few internships throughout my studies to get a glimpse into academic life in other institutions and make friends all over the world who share my passion about science and technology.

My cousin Regina Wetzer was probably the most influential person in my decision to study Mathematics and to become a scientist. She is a marine biologist and when I was little I loved going on walks through forests or along beaches with her as she had an answer to any and all of my many questions – the name of a beetle, why a flower had a particular shape, how to tell male crabs from female ones, and so on. It seemed like she had an answer to anything and in a way, every answer just led to another long list of questions. This led to me wanting to learn more about science and nature early on in my life. When the time came to pick a study program the choice was however far from easy, my interests were broad and I had a hard time picking only one track. In the end I chose mathematics and I’m very happy I did. Mathematics is so fundamental to all the sciences that it is really easy to work with exciting application in close to all fields. I love the variety and multitude of applications I work with.

I’m very flexible in finding a project or an application I think is exciting and challenging to work with. As there are mathematical tasks and problems to solve in basically any scientific study, from data analysis in geo science, to epidemiology, to medical imaging to cryptography. I don’t know in which area I will work ten years from now, but I’m absolutely sure that in every project you’re involved in you learn something that’s bigger than the immediate application, which in turn you’ll be able to apply to something seemingly unrelated later on – or it will give you a fresh outside-of-the-box idea to tackle a hurdle. In short, I’m never worried that I will get bored!

If I could change one thing about the scientific culture right now it would be to remove all the financial barriers that accompany science and academia. Education is expensive and unaffordable to many in way too many countries. Even in countries without tuition fees, it can be a big financial burden that hinders very talented minds to reach the education level needed for an academic career and in turn deprives the world from scientific and technological progress. Furthermore, the prices of open-access publishing, conference participations, and journal subscriptions are so high and unaffordable for many scientists in many countries, that it has created a highly unfair system in which talent and hard work does not outweigh geographical location.

I’m very excited to participate in Soapbox Science and to give people outside my field a glimpse of what is possible with mathematics and some computational power! It will be a lot of fun to meet other female scientists and learn about the questions they work with. I hope we will be able to shed some light on why mathematics is great, the many problems you can solve with it and answer a few questions some listeners might have!

My advice to young women considering studying a STEMM subject is to simply go for it and not to listen to voices doubting that a woman will strive in such a male dominated field! Don’t doubt yourself just because others around you don’t believe in you or your decision. Work hard and attend as many summer schools, conferences, internships and exchange possibilities as you can – and never give up!

Emmeline Gray is a first year PhD student at the Open University, Milton Keynes. Emmeline is trying to reconstruct what the monsoon in India was doing about two to five million years ago by using marine sediments and the microfossils and nannofossils found in them.

You can catch Emmeline on her soapbox as part of Soapbox Science Milton Keynes on 29th June. Find out why studying the past monsoon is important and how “Tiny fossils can help predict the future”.

Follow Emmeline on Twitter: @emmelement

SS: Emmeline, how did you get to your current position?

EG: I did an integrated masters in Oceanography with French at university and when people asked me what I’d do with that strange combination, because I loved the practical side of science, I always said I’d go and work as a lab tech in France! A year after graduating I was lucky enough to actually get this “dream job”! I spent two years working as a palaeoclimate research technician at CEREGE, near Aix-en-Provence, and really enjoyed learning new skills and lab techniques. Then I decided that I wanted more of a challenge and that doing a PhD would offer me a lot of new opportunities and a chance to learn new skills, both in the lab and in “real life”, while staying in a branch of science that I really love. So I applied for a few, got accepted at the Open University, and began in October last year. It’s been a whirlwind since then!

SS: What, or who, inspired you to get a career in science?

EG: I don’t remember ever really deciding to go into science – it just sort of happened! I’ve loved science and the environment for as long as I can remember. There are scientists in my family, and my grandpa has a collection of scientific toys, so it was always normal to be curious about how things worked and what the science behind things was. I was also lucky to have really good science teachers at the schools I went to. They made the lessons interesting and made sure that everyone in the class understood as much as possible. This was often through practical work which I enjoyed, as I am definitely a ‘learning by doing’ sort of person.

Emmeline in the Kochi Core Center in Japan where some of the sediments she works on are stored (they have to be stored in cold temperatures so the core store is like being in a giant fridge)

SS: What is the most fascinating aspect of your research/work?

EG: I find it incredible that by looking at chemical signals in the shells of organisms that were alive millions of years ago we can work out the temperature of the ocean at the time they were living in it! It’s like some kind of time travel magic (but more scientific)! Sometimes the practical work can get a bit repetitive, but then I just remind myself that I am probably the first person ever to see this particular fossil. This just amazes me every time.

SS: What attracted you to Soapbox Science in the first place?

EG: I have loved being involved with public outreach activities in the past, and despite being a bit shy, I have enjoyed performing in a group on stage (I once accidentally joined the cast of a pantomime…). I thought that Soapbox Science would be an exciting way to combine two things I enjoy while forcing me out of my comfort zone by not being able to hide in the crowd (or behind pantomime makeup). I think that it’s a unique opportunity to talk about science to people who might otherwise never give it a second thought. Often at outreach events it is people who already have an interest in the subject who come along. With Soapbox Science our audience is whoever is walking past on the day, and the challenge is to catch their interest so they stop and listen!

SS: Sum up in one word your expectations for the day

EG: Exhilarating!

SS: If you could change one thing about the scientific culture right now, what would it be?

EG: I think sometimes there can be the assumption that it is normal to be stressed, which means there is a risk of burn out or developing other mental health problems as people try to “push on through”. I think this is slowly changing as everyone is becoming more aware of mental health issues and more people are speaking out about their experiences but there is still a way to go in scientific culture in general.

Emmeline holding a section of sediment core which has just been scanned with an x-ray florescence core scanner

SS: What would be your top recommendation to a woman studying for a PhD and considering pursuing a career in academia?

EG: I think this might be a question for someone further on in their career than me! If anyone has any advice about this I’m all ears! Advice I would give to someone who wants to study a science subject at university would be to follow your interests and go for it. Make sure you ask questions if you don’t understand something. It’s better to feel a bit silly momentarily while asking than to spend weeks or months not understanding something properly because you were afraid to ask! It’s easier said than done though, because it’s easy to fall into the trap of feeling like you have to do everything by yourself, but it’s definitely worth trying.

Cynthia is an EngD (engineering doctorate) researcher in the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Sustainable Materials and Manufacturing. She is based at Cranfield University, and her research is focused on converting by-products of paper mills into valuable resources for other industries. Her research interests include resource efficiency, cellulose, and the circular economy.

You can catch Cynthia on her soapbox as part of Soapbox Science Milton Keynes on 29th June, where she will talk about: “What?! Your car is made from paper?”

Follow Cynthia on Twitter: @CynAdu

They say that ‘it takes a village to raise a child’, but what happens when that child grows up and enters the real world, and has to take responsibility for driving their own passions and ideas? This journey requires a unique support system and community known as a ‘tribe’. We are profoundly shaped by our social environment, and are motivated by the people we interact with. To say that you are ‘building your tribe’ means that you are looking for a group of people who will together inspire, motivate and hold each other accountable when working towards their goals.

The idea of building a tribe is becoming popular amongst women on social media. There’s a group of female entrepreneurs tagging #tribe on Twitter or Instagram, often accompanied by photos of happy, successful women, loving life and their careers. In the reality of research, this is not always the picture, as the life of a research student can sometimes feel lonely. Your tribe is not to be confused with your 300 LinkedIn connections who know nothing about your research interests, and they are certainly not those who ask: ‘So, when do you hand in?’

A tribe is about the quality of your network. It is crucial to surround yourself with people with whom you have an actual relationship with, who are interested in motivating you towards your goals, and that you also influence to reach theirs. Your tribe holds you accountable for that paper you are procrastinating about, or the grant you aren’t confident in applying for. They involve you in their exciting new project and value your ideas. It is a fruitful symbiotic relationship of people with the same expertise, knowledge, skills and passions as you. Here are some ideas to help you start building your own tribe:

It’s never too late to start – I started building my tribe at the beginning of my EngD. I spent a lot of time with three inspiring researchers who were all midway through their PhD. This group immersed me in their creative ways of thinking.

The more diverse the better – Despite my background in engineering, my first tribe had a background in mathematics, product design and communication. However, we all shared a common interest in solving sustainability challenges through design, innovation and circular economy thinking.

Challenge each other – We all enjoyed exciting and challenging opportunities, so we entered competitions together. These ranged from small local pub quizzes to big international hackathons. We won a Philips prize for developing a circular economy technology solution to aid the recovery of an elderly stroke patient.

Become active in a professional network – I emphasise the word ‘active’, as there are other ways to make meaningful connections outside LinkedIn or ResearchGate. Whilst these platforms are useful, they only complement real-life engagement. So I became more active and committed to my professional institute, the IOM3. I joined their Sustainable Development Group to meet more specialists who are actively shaping sustainability. My tribe is still growing. It is also made up of senior mentors and young researchers who are part of a group called the Sustainability Cohort, and we have an annual gathering at the beginning of the year to explore the topic of sustainable manufacturing and other emerging themes.

Participating in Soapbox Science has already put me in a good position to meet other interesting women who may become part of my tribe. As two-thirds of female STEM graduates end up in non-science related careers, building tribes could play a significant role in keeping them in STEM.

Alice studied a BSc in Conservation Biology and Geography at the University of Exeter in Cornwall. She then went on to undertake an MSc in Earth Science with the Open University. This culminated in an independent research project investigating the impacts of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide on the carbon and water cycles from tree-ring stable isotope records. She is now a first year PhD student with the Open University in the field of environment and waste management. Her research is looking at trees growing on closed landfill sites. Are they taking in methane, thereby helping to reduce the effects of landfill greenhouse gases on the global carbon cycle? Or are they amplifying the effect by channelling emissions from the waste directly to the atmosphere?

You can catch Alice on her soapbox as part of Soapbox Science Milton Keynes on 29th June, where she will talk about: “Landfill site trees: do they contribute to global warming?”

Follow Alice on Twitter: @AliceFraserMcD1

SS: Alice, how did you get to your current position?

AF-M: After graduating from the University of Exeter in 2014, I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to do, but I knew that I had enjoyed the climate change and earth science modules that formed part of my degree. I decided to start a part-time Masters in Earth Science with the Open University. I really enjoyed the final project for my masters degree where I looked at water use efficiency in trees and linked it to the carbon and water cycles. At this point I thought that I had finished with studying! I then got a job in the curriculum management team in the Business School at the Open University. After a few months in the job I realised that I missed the academic side of studying, and wanted a new challenge. I started looking at PhD projects and was put in touch with my supervisor who had an idea about applying current tree research to closed landfill sites. I really liked the applied nature of the idea, and helped to create the project proposal. I started my research in October 2018.

SS: What, or who, inspired you to get a career in science?

AF-M: I am not sure that there is one person or thing that inspired me to study science, as I have always had an interest in the subject. Geography and science were some of my favourite subjects at school and so it seemed like a good idea to go on and study them at university (plus I thought I might get to go on some exciting field trips!). I have had an interest in nature and the outdoors for a long time as my family frequently went on long walks and spent time outside on holidays when I was younger. When I was completing my masters project I realised just how much I enjoyed studying trees and linking the small-scale process to larger ideas like climate change. All of these subjects that I enjoy have come together nicely to form my PhD project.

SS: What is the most fascinating aspect of your research/work?

AF-M: I think my research is interesting because it challenges the idea that trees are always ‘the good guys’ in every scenario. Quite a few people I have spoken to are surprised that trees are likely to be releasing methane to the atmosphere in some environments. It is exciting that I get to be the first person to try to find out whether trees are actually emitting methane from closed landfill sites, or if they are in fact taking it in and helping to mitigate climate change.

SS: What attracted you to Soapbox Science in the first place?

AF-M: I think Soapbox Science is a fantastic way for female researchers to share their work with a much wider audience than they might otherwise be able to do. It is a great chance for researchers to step out of their academic ‘bubble’ and talk to the general public about some really fascinating scientific subjects. The events are a wonderful way of engaging people with scientific research who may not normally encounter scientific principles in their everyday lives, and I am excited to contribute to this. I also think it is a good chance to gain valuable feedback about my research from a wide range of people, from the other participants to the general public.

SS: Sum up in one word your expectations for the day

AF-M: Excited!

I think a lot of people would describe their expectations for the day using this word, but I am really looking forward to talking about my research to the public, and after meeting the other speakers I am really excited to see their talks on the day as well.

SS: What would be your top recommendation to a woman considering studying for a PhD?

AF-M: Try not to be too disheartened if you do not get the first project or PhD you apply for. It is so competitive, but you will get there eventually. Also, get to know as many people as you can! If you can network and meet other people in your subject area, then they are likely to think of you when an opportunity for a project or job arises.