SoapboxScience

Dr Joy Sumner gained her Bachelor’s, Master’s and PhD degrees in Natural Sciences (focusing on materials science) from the University of Cambridge, but tried to break this up by spending a year at MIT in the USA.  Returning to the UK after spending a year teaching in Japan, she became a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Bath before heading to Cranfield University.  At Cranfield, she works towards understanding the corrosion performances of a range of materials vital for generating energy. Catch Joy on her Soapbox, Saturday, 9th July 2-5pm in Milton Keynes, where she will be talking about materials for energy supply and the problems of creating systems to survive conflicting requirements.  This might better be summarized as “Of course I can engineer it to perfection, but there’s just one pesky materials problem I’ve got to sort out first!”. You can follow Joy on twitter @materialsjoy

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

JS:  I’m lucky, in that having a background in materials science gives me a fairly broad base to work with.  In my undergraduate I worked with a whole raft of materials:  metals, polymers, ceramics, and semiconductors.  Then, in my PhD, I used a variety of different analytical techniques.  When I was looking for my next position after the University of Bath, it was helpful to know that I had the tools to work on a number of different problems.  This was especially important when applying for the position at Cranfield, because here, unlike many other institutes, researchers tend to run a number of different projects in parallel.  (That’s one of the aspects that I really enjoy!)

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

JS:  I’m from quite a practical, hands-on, DIY family.  It feels like there were always people willing to explain things.  Sometimes the answers were quite vague and unresolved, like when I asked what was outside the universe.  More often I got clear replies to my question of the moment:  Why are dinosaur bones still around and not dust?  Why do we need to get special metal to weld the swing’s frame back together?  Why do I float when I swim

Whether it was listening to my Dad joke about an engineering error in old James Bond films, or my Mum talking about why the constellations changed as she crossed the Equator, it feels like my life was filled with trying to understand just a little bit more about everyday events.  Enjoying understanding how things worked or why they were impossible grew naturally out of that.

However it was when I went off to university that I really fell in love with science.  I’d intended to study physics, but within the first fortnight, I came across this fascinating new subject:  Materials Science and Engineering.  “Materials” is heavily rooted in real-world problems.  If you want to know why you can only bend a paperclip so many times before it breaks; or why steel isn’t the best thing to make a hip replacement out of; or why it took so long to make blue LED lights:  materials explained it all.  Better yet, it made use of that understanding.  It felt just like being a child again!

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

JS:  I think it’s the moment when something you already know collides with a problem you’ve never encountered before.  There’s that instant when, suddenly, you begin to have a glimmer of new understanding.  The fantastic thing is that, the longer you work in science and engineering, the more pieces of information you pick up and yet there are always more problems to apply that knowledge to.

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

JS:  I’ve been a material scientist for what feels like a long time, and what fascinates me most about the subject is how it helps us understand the world around us, in particular, its opportunities and limitations.  I’d like the opportunity to talk to people about an energy supply and its related materials issues.

However, what’s special about Soapbox Science over other programmes is the emphasis put on female scientists.  I think that it’s really important for people (not just young girls, but also those who may influence their thoughts about their futures such as parents/grandparents) to see that women are not just good scientists (which we obviously are!) but that we feel passionate about our work and enjoy the world science has opened up for us.

Hopefully our conversation will encourage people to think not just about the materials around them, or energy supply, but also the opportunities available through science and engineering.

SS:  Sum up in one word your expectations for the day – excitement? Fear? Thrill? Anticipation?

JS:  Excitement.  Or maybe curiosity – I want to talk to people make them curious about scientific research, but I’m also curious myself.  I want to know what everyone else thinks about the work that’s so important to me.  Have I cheated by explaining too much? 🙂

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

JS:  I would love for more people to understand how creative and fascinating science is.  It’s easy to be so busy as a scientist, trying to be taken seriously by our peers, that we can forget how to drop the jargon and just talk to everyone else about why we’re passionate about our work in the first place.  I think this can give the wrong idea about the type of person who can thrive in sciences:  people see the ‘performance’, which is meant for other scientists, and think that it’s 100% real.

That’s a shame, because you really don’t have to be Einstein to do well in science; but what you do need is to want to understand how things work, to just understand one little part of the whole wide universe, and then to try and understand that better.  Plus, people shouldn’t worry so much about being trapped away in a cold, dark cellar working on crazy experiments!  You can do that if you want, but science these days is incredibly social.  The potential for collaboration and team work are the absolute heart-blood of scientific advancement, and yet this always seems to get downplayed and forgotten by people outside of the field.

SS:  What would be your top recommendation to a female PhD student considering pursuing a career in academia?

JS:  Enjoy yourself.  Sounds simple maybe, and unfortunately no job (including academia!) is all fun.  There will always be areas that you just have to grit your teeth and trudge through, but there’s such possibility for branching out in science and meeting your interests.  So take some time in your PhD to decide what really matters to you.  That could be building experimental kit; developing wild hypotheses; nurturing collaborations; writing articles; or winning funding.  Knowing what you love can help keep things in focus.  Sometimes you just have to take a moment out in a busy day (that day where all your data seems backwards, the kit’s broken for no obvious reason, and you’ve got another urgent email) and remember what it is that you love doing.

Raffaella Villa is a Senior Lecturer in biopress technology at Cranfield University. Raffaella is an applied microbiologist with particular expertise in microbial and enzymatic processes, which she has adapted to the waste and environmental sectors. She is leading national authority in anaerobic digestion science (making energy from waste). She will be talking about the role of microbes in anaerobic digestion for her talk on ‘Bugs: Friends or Foes?” at Milton Keynes on Saturday 9 July.

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

RV: I came over to the UK 22 years ago on a research grant funded by the University of Milan to work on microbially-mediated chemical reactions at Exeter University. I had a great time, made lots of friends (some of which are professors in other UK universities) and I fell in love with the job…and my husband. I went back to Italy to study for my PhD but it was pretty clear that the only place where both of us could get an Academic job was the UK, so I came back with a Marie Curie fellowship to Stirling University.  After a career break to raise two children, I returned to science in 2007 with a lectureship at Cranfield University.

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

RV: I’ve always been interested in science, since my first encounter with a chemistry set when I was 12 years old. When choosing my degree, I decided to study Food Science and Technology, which seemed to provide a good balance between chemistry, biology and physics, but very quickly I discovered that my real passion was microbiology. I was and still am fascinated by the variety of processes that can be delivered by these amazing organisms.

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

RV: The variety of research, even if I’ve been working in the same area for over 20 years, every project is different from the previous one. I love to see my research applied to the real world and the idea that I can contribute towards making a difference… and I have the pleasure of travelling and meeting very talented people from all over the world.

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

RV: I love talking to people and I love my job so the soapbox science event looked like the perfect combination of the two. I like the idea of talking to adults and children about science in an informal way and I hope I will prove to be a good role model for young girls.

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

RV: Science can sometimes be a little nepotistic and occasionally hierarchical. We all started somewhere and novelty often originates from people outside of well-known networks.  I think we should be prepared to take a few more risks to be truly innovative.

SS: What would be your top recommendation to a female PhD student considering pursuing a career in academia?

RV: Science is for everyone but the traditional academic career path is shaped to suit men. We need to create a more diverse range of acceptable career paths which enable future generations of female scientists to be successful at the highest levels, whilst also achieving other life goals.

Vibha Srivastava is currently a PhD student at The Open University, Milton Keynes. She is fascinated with space and has a strong interest to contribute towards a future where humanity will settle at other planetary bodies like Moon and Mars. Here she explains how her ambition to be an Astronaut brought her to the position of exploring and investigating 3D printing techniques for the construction of infrastructure for human settlement on Moon. Meet Vibha as she takes on to introduce her work one of our soapboxes in Milton Keynes, on the 9th of July

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

VS: I completed my Bachelor in Aeronautical Engineering from Gujarat University in India and then joined Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, an aviation company in India. I was in the Aircraft R&D centre as a Design Engineer in the Aerodynamics department. Getting into the space sector has always been my interest. But my ambition to be an astronaut did not die out even after getting well-settled job in India. I took a year of sabbatical leave and pursued MSc in Space Studies from International Space University in France. My Master’s individual project took me to explore the in-situ resources available on Mars and how they can be utilized to the benefit of human needs. I had a wonderful 3 month internship opportunity to work on a small project on in-situ resource utilization at NASA Ames research center in California and I during my also carried out the same project at Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS)  in Utah for two weeks as a Crew Scientist.

After such a thrilling experience, my urge to work further in the field of in-situ resource utilization made me look for a PhD position in this field. I came across the advertisement for a PhD opportunity at The Open University, applied for it and here I am.

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

VS: Since a very young age I dreamt of being an astronaut. It was the shining bright stars in the dark night sky which inspired me to reach out to them and increased my curiosity to know more about them. As my father is an electrical engineer, I grew up in an environment where science and mathematics were given importance. My mother, a housewife always enhanced my thirst to study science related subjects. My ambition to pursue space studies was well supported by my parents and it strengthened my dream at every step.

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

VS: The most fascinating aspect of my research is to know more about extra-terrestrial bodies in general and making infrastructure for human habitation on the Moon in particular.  The excitement of finding out about extra-terrestrial bodies – which have been a mystery to human beings for many years –  keeps me motivated. The most amazing thing is that my research can impact the future of our civilization.

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

VS: The platform that it offers to connect to general public and to convey them what is going on in the field of Space exploration attracted me the most. Another important fact is the opportunity it provides to inspire the young minds by explaining to them how my research can impact our future. It also helps to show the tremendous potential of today’s women in every field of life including Space Exploration.

SS: Sum up in one word your expectations for the day – Excitement? Fear? Thrill? Anticipation?

VS:Curiosity !

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

VS: I would like to change the way how females are discouraged when they choose to go for higher education.  Every higher education degree awarded to someone is a contribution to the future of science. All willing and deserving candidates must be encouraged irrespective of their gender.

SS: What would be your top recommendation to a female PhD student considering pursuing a career in academia?

VS: I would suggest to them to pursue what they like to do and to believe in what they choose to do. It is not the gender that defines our capability but our dreams and our commitment to those dreams that define our capability. So see big dreams and strive towards their fulfilment. Go for it!

Emily Lines is a lecturer at the School of Geography, Queen Mary University of London. Her research interests combine ecology, remote sensing and the terrestrial carbon cycle, with particular emphasis on forest ecology and data assimilation. She is interested in answering questions on the structure and functioning of terrestrial ecosystems, how these vary with environmental conditions and how these will change with climate change. Her approach is strongly mathematical and computational and she is interested in applying novel methods for data analysis. Emily will be standing on one of our soapboxes in Reading, where she’ll talk about “Forecasting the future of forests”. 

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

EL: Even though I now work in a Geography and Environmental Science department, I actually did my undergraduate degree in Mathematics. I took a couple of modules in dynamical systems and became fascinated by complex systems and the concepts used to describe their emergent properties.

Purely by chance I came across an advert for a Master’s course at the University of York designed to attract mathematics graduates to work in the Environmental Sciences, for which I was lucky enough to be funded. That course led me to do an internship at Microsoft Research, who also sponsored my PhD in forest ecology at Cambridge, where I was able to be involved with several different projects, in part because of my unusual background.

Even though I loved working in ecology, I wanted to get experience in a more computational-focussed discipline so I undertook a postdoc at UCL in remote sensing terrestrial vegetation. That led me to my current position as a Lecturer in Environmental Science at Queen Mary, University of London, where I have the freedom to indulge all my varied interests!

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

EL: I took Maths at university because I just loved solving problems, and I always wanted to find a career that I enjoyed but also challenged me every day. I think the first person to actually suggest a research career to me was my undergraduate dissertation supervisor, who was a very inspiring teacher and gave me the confidence to explore the idea.

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

EL: What I find most fascinating is working out how to approach problems. I deal with large datasets and working out how to interpret them to get the information I need is the most exciting part.

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

EL: I like the way it democratises science; I’m excited by getting the chance to explain what I do to people I might not otherwise get to interact with.

SS: Sum up in one word your expectations for the day – excitement? Fear? Thrill? Anticipation?

EL: Butterflies.

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

EL: I think the high pressure that all researchers are under to regularly publish ‘exciting’ results can distort output, producing too many papers that oversell and over-generalise their findings in order to count as high-impact. For me, many of the most interesting papers make small or subtle methodological advances, or carefully answer specific questions, opening the door for new approaches and ideas.

SS: What would be your top recommendation to a female PhD student considering pursuing a career in academia?

EL: I would say two things. Firstly, after your PhD, don’t be afraid to change your focus, discipline and/or institution – being exposed to other ways of working is exciting and can propel your career forward.

Secondly, whilst overwhelmingly I’ve had fantastic colleagues and mentors, I’ve also experienced behaviour that was (shall we say) less than professional, and sadly I’ve heard many such stories from other women in science. If you’re being made to feel uncomfortable in your work, be it in the field, lab or office, do something to change the situation, and if the first person you contact doesn’t respond how you want, don’t give up.

By Tosin Onabanjo, Cranfield University

In the movie ‘Divergent (2014)’, Beatrice Prior was born into in a world governed by division into factions: a system where you could only be one thing — abnegation, amity, dauntless, erudite or candour. Turn in between societal norms and own choices, Beatrice decided for ‘Dauntless’— a faction known for bravery. This decision will not only lead her to self-discovery that she belonged to more than one faction, it was the path to the collapse of a strong wall of division between the various factions. This story reminds me of ‘Ordinary’ in Bruce Wilkinson’s Book, ‘The Dream Giver (2003), who left the Land of Familiar in pursuit of the “Big Dream” and had to face ‘Border Bullies’, the wild ‘Wasteland’ and the intimidating Giants in the Camp of ‘Anybodies’.

Though fictional, these stories reflect the rigidity of our educational systems and workspaces, where students are fitted in pre-determined course structure and eligible for work on this basis.  It also unveils real world complexities and challenges in trying to fit two or more disciplines in a society governed by conformity. Yes! multidisciplinary education is widely encouraged and in recent times, there has been strong focus on interdisciplinary research, but drawing from my personal experiences, reality is still far-fetched in major branches of science and engineering. Like Beatrice, I was faced with the choice to stay in the familiar or to step out into the unknown and like the encounter of Ordinary, I was confronted with the risk of belonging to nowhere. In 2011 among several options, I took up a doctorate degree in gas turbine technology, a big leap from my core microbiology background. I spent the first 6 months of my PhD studying fundamental mechanical engineering subjects including mathematics, thermodynamics, heat transfer, energy conversion etc, besides my core research domain. I also spent a considerable amount of time learning new softwares and developing models while preparing for opportunities in the wider domain. This sometimes means working late into the night (hours and hours of studying) and finding innovative ways to close research gaps between both disciplines. I also work hard at maintaining the right attitude in the face of opposition, building resilience to negative outcomes and asserting self-discipline. Here are a few lessons from ‘Divergent’ for anyone considering a multidisciplinary career path:

 “Alright, listen up. I’m Eric. I’m one of your leaders. If you want to enter Dauntless, this is the way in. And if you don’t have the guts to jump, then you don’t belong in Dauntless.”

“Is there water at the bottom or something?” asked Will.

“I guess you’ll find out,” replied Eric.”

1. Taking that first step or jumping off the wagon can be very daunting and it should be.
2. You might be faced with uncertainties and you might likely not fit into any space.

“Statistically speaking, you should have hit the target at least once by now, even by accident. I think you are actually defying nature,” said Will

3. You will face personal doubts, pessimistic friends, rigid people, rules, systems, processes, and policies and more so, you might need to tag along with deliberate mockers.
4. Some people will only remind you of your limitations, others will say it’s never been done.
5. You might get more rejections than acceptance. It might be hard to publish that great piece of work after all the effort because the editors cannot find suitable reviewers or the work gets misunderstood.

“Check it out, stiff. That’s gonna be your new family.”

6. You might find yourself in the midst of strong opposition: people might try to take you down or talk you out of options. Others might passively never recommend you and you might be seen as odd.

“You chose us, now we have to choose you”.

7. You might feel the need to prove yourself or the system wrong. You might see the need to do extra work than your peers.

“I’m never gonna make it,” said Tris

8. You might in the middle of everything realise you’ve made a wrong choice.

I’ve had to jump off my comfort train to venture into research areas that I knew little or nothing about. I’ve had to face a lot of rejections and I’ve built resilience for systems that says it’s impossible to achieve. I’ve also had to speed learn, even with subjects such as advanced mathematics and engineering that I originally thought were not natural to me. Now, I am glad that I ventured out of my ‘Land of Familiar’ and its fulfilling to apply my multiple disciplines and work experiences in new environments. I am also enjoying the flexibility that comes with breaking new grounds. That brings me to the point the tide turned.

“Look she’s gone from being the worst to one of the best.” … “I just want to know how she does it.”

“Nobody gets through it that fast. Why don’t you tell us how you do it?” Peter asked

A multidisciplinary career can help you to interconnect multiple subjects that ordinarily are not considered to fit. It also allows you to take responsibility and ownership of your work, unlike working in already crowded spaces. This gives you some sort of flexibility, space and time to develop blue sky ideas and innovative research solutions for real-world problems. It can also improve your ability to work independently and collaboratively across several disciplines. What I love most about this is the interdisciplinary lens perspective that one develops to make connections despite the lack of evidence and support from others. I also get to criticise assumptions based on facts that might not seem obvious to a single discipline. Finally, if you are fortunate to do something awesome, which is a beautiful wish of mine, you get to change someone’s life in real terms.

Final advice, be clear on what you want, surround yourself with the best, don’t underestimate the hard work, don’t be afraid to say you don’t know, have an open-minded approach to new/difficult subjects.

Julia Cooke is a Lecturer in Ecology at the Open University, Milton Keynes.  She is a plant functional biologist, who enjoys fieldwork – from counting thousands of seedlings in outback Australia, to collecting leaves in savannas to making measurements from the top of a gum tree in a canopy crane.  She is the author of an Australian picture book, My Little World, about natural history from a child’s perspective.  Here she explains that asking questions about nature during her rural childhood and the mentors she worked with on high school projects inspired and kick-started her science career.  The discovery of new, extraordinary plant strategies is what really blows her hair back!  Julia will be on her soapbox in Milton Keynes on Saturday the 9th of July 2016 talking about “Ingenious Plant Survival Strategies”

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

JC: After I completed a BA/BSc(Hons) at the Australian National University I took 6 months off to travel before taking a position as a Research Assistant at Macquarie University.  This transitioned into a PhD on a topic of my own development (plant silicon).  Following my PhD I did three very different one-year post-docs at three universities while teaching undergraduate and Masters units, before securing a lecturing position at The Open University.  My research has always focused on plant ecology and included fieldwork whenever possible.

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

JC: I grew up on rural property in South Australia where learning about and understanding the natural world was part of play and important part of the livelihood of our farming neighbours.  My parents interests in ecology and physics (Dad is a biologist and Mum worked in medical imaging) were a big influence as I asked lots of questions and they would either know the answer or help me find out.  Turning these interests into a career was facilitated by two school projects where I worked with established scientists either through my own initiative or as part of formal programs.  These scientists were my first mentors.

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

JC: Plants have evolved over millions of years into the extraordinary diversity present today.  Plants have evolved complex interactions with their environment, competition with other plants and relationships with animals.  I love exploring the intricate strategies that plants have developed, particularly when the strategy is not what I was expecting and I have to change the way I was thinking.  I enjoy the mental gymnastics and my admiration for plants increases all the time!

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

JC: Soapbox Science offers a wonderful opportunity to build a UK network, promote women in science and share science with the community, all at the same time.  As a recent arrival in the UK (I joined The Open University a year ago), I’m keen to get to know more researchers here. Outreach is critical in both changing the perceptions of women in science and making science accessible and useful to everyone. Sometimes people think of science as hard or difficult to understand, but often it is just the newness of the concept not its complexity that confronts people.  Everyone is curious about how the world around them works, and I like the challenge of finding ways to explain things in an accessible way.

SS: Sum up in one word your expectations for the day – excitement? Fear? Thrill? Anticipation?

JC: Enthusiasm!

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

JC: I would change policy in all journals to make the peer review process double blind, making good science rather than big names the focus of publications, and help to reduce gender bias.

SS: What would be your top recommendation to a female PhD student considering pursuing a career in academia?

JC: Find multiple mentors.  I’ve really benefited from having a series of mentors – researchers who I admire, who are happy to chat and act as my champion, who can advise, guide and inspire me!  Diversity in mentors can really help – male and female, inside and outside science, with and without children, early career and towards the end of their career.  I hope I can pay forward their kindness as a mentor to others.

Sasha Berdichevski is currently a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Cambridge. She studied medical science and physiology, and then switched to tissue engineering. Sasha tells us that her father encouraged her to question the world around her and how she is fascinated by the complex process of tissue formation. Sasha will be talking about “Growing tissues and organs in the laboratory: the future of the transplantation medicine” at the Soapbox Science event in Cambridge Market Square on July the 2^nd 2016 12-3pm.

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

SB: It was a chain of fortunate events, rather than a systematic search. I was about to complete my PhD in Biomedical Engineering at the Technion, Israel, where I really enjoyed the research, but wasn’t sure what are my plans for the future. Moreover, having a family with a small child, I hadn’t considered moving to another country for a post-doc as a default option. However, when I saw an advertisement of a 2-year post-doctoral fellowship in Cambridge University, I jumped at the opportunity. Visiting Cambridge University confirmed that this would be a good decision for me. I began to see moving abroad and starting new research as more like an adventure than a challenge. Now I am involved in multidisciplinary and thrilling research, and have the opportunity to share my excitement about science with the public!

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

SB: My father inspired me to learn, question, and doubt, saying that education, knowledge and critical thinking are the most valuable things one can have. Such values were deeply rooted in my mind, and I wanted to do something related to learning, investigation and discovery, and science is one of few fields that combines them all! Therefore, after undergraduate studies, I decided to continue to my MSc degree at the Faculty of Medicine, Technion, Israel. I worked with heart cells, and it was love from first sight! Seeing these cells beating, and being able to manipulate their physiology, fascinated me. Additionally, the desire to see my work contributing to peoples’ lives led me to more applied medical research.

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

SB: I work in the field of tissue engineering, where everything is exciting! The human body is such an extraordinary machine; it has always astonished me how amazingly it is organized, yet how easily it is thrown off balance. In my research I investigate how tissues are formed, and try to mimic nature’s design – can anything be more fascinating? The intricacy of biological systems, the thrill of manipulating cell behaviour, reading and comprehending new material, using cutting-edge technology: all these make me love my job!

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

SB: Science communication is tremendously important nowadays. Firstly, scientists rely on public opinion. For example, it looks bizarre to the general public that we grow tissues and organs in the lab. However, when people are aware of why and how we do it, it can change their whole perception. Secondly, if science is explained creatively, it can attract people of all ages and cultures. It is about showing younger generations, and young women in particular, that they can become part of an enriching and world-changing action called science, and that things that may seem difficult to understand, or even frightening, can be enjoyable and interesting. Finally, it is an extraordinary opportunity to communicate my own research to a broad audience, showing how much we have progressed in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.

SS: Sum up in one word your expectations for the day – excitement? Fear? Thrill? Anticipation?

SB: Being my first time presenting at this format, I have a mixture of feelings, including excitement, anticipation, but also a little apprehension!

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

SB: The expectations of scientists are very high. We are judged against our publications, funding, etc., which can produce a lot of stress, and sometimes distance you from the science in which you’re interested. Additionally, other activities that are not directly related to your research are considered ‘’a waste of time’’. Moreover, for female scientists, it is harder to maintain a work/family balance. Therefore I’d like to see a more open evaluation of scientific merit, and more programs to address the equality issues in academia.

 SS: What would be your top recommendation to a female PhD student considering pursuing a career in academia?

SB: While at times science can be challenging, it is a highly fulfilling and rewarding discipline. If science is your passion, don’t let other things stop you on your way!

Megan McGregor is a PhD student in the department of Materials Science at Cambridge University. Here she tells us how a physics teacher encouraged her to aim high and why she is excited by creating new materials that could be used to build aircraft! Come along and ask Megan some questions on Saturday 2^nd July in Cambridge Market Square, where she’ll be talking about “Those wondrous women and their flying machines – How can you engineer atoms to make flying leaner and greener?”

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

MM: I arrived in Cambridge in 2011, wanting to specialise in Physics for my undergraduate Natural Sciences degree. However, after four years I emerged having specialised in Materials Science, a discipline I wasn’t even aware of when I applied to university. My preference for trying to solve practical problems and a latent enthusiasm for aviation, meant that Materials Science piqued my interest in a way that university physics never did! My final year project involved research into the suitability of titanium aluminides as materials for low pressure turbine blades, and this confirmed for me that I wanted to pursue a PhD so that I could have a similar problem that was all mine to solve. I found just such a research question in the Rolls-Royce UTC in the Cambridge Materials and that’s how I’ve come to be working on intermetallics for high temperature applications.

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

MM: I am lucky in that I was always encouraged to study whatever I wanted in school, and my school had a very strong science department, so I’d have to say that my initial motivation came from there. I remember very vividly a parents’ evening where I expressed a desire to my Physics teacher (shout out to Mr Vesty) that I wanted to be an optician, and he actually admonished me for not aiming higher! He asked why I didn’t want to be an eye surgeon, or an astronaut, and told me that I could do anything that I put my mind to – so that’s what I’m doing.

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

MM: For me the most interesting part of my work is how combining basic elements in different ways can results in materials with totally different properties, and how these can sometimes be totally unexpected! It’s also pretty exciting to think that if I get it right, these materials could be working hard in a turbofan engine flying over the Atlantic in 25 years time!

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

MM: The opportunity to get people excited about the materials that make up the modern world around us! So much work goes into things that we take for granted and I really wanted to use this platform to demonstrate just one little corner of that to the public.

 SS: Sum up in one word your expectations for the day – excitement? Fear? Thrill? Anticipation?

MM: Questions – I hope I’ll get asked lots of them! The more “out there”, the better!

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

MM: Everyone loves a positive result, but negative results are just as important to the scientific community, if not more so! I’d like to see more negative results accepted for publication.

SS: What would be your top recommendation to a female PhD student considering pursuing a career in academia?

MM: Ask me again in fifteen years and hopefully I’ll have an answer!

Siobhan Braybrook is a Career Development Fellow at The Sainsbury Laboratory, University of Cambridge. Her research aims to understand how patterns of growth emerge from biological systems by combining principals from biology, mathematics, physics and engineering. Here Siobhan tells us about working across the borders of different disciplines, and choosing the scary option! Siobhan will be talking about Moving without muscle – how plants dance in Cambridge Market Square at 12-3pm on 2^nd July 2016. Come along to discover how shapes are grown (not made!) and movements generated (without muscles!) in these elegant and complex organisms.

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

SB: The Sainsbury Laboratory is a new research department at the University of Cambridge. I met the directors at a scientific meeting and became interested in this new place which focused its research in plant development. So I applied for an open Career Development Fellowship, was invited to interview, and subsequently was offered the position. Coincidentally, I was also awarded an HSFP long term fellowship to work in France. Starting my own group in Cambridge was scarier, and I make a point of doing the scarier thing; I find it pushes you outside of your comfort zone, which is where most growth occurs!

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

SB: I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t curious about the world around me. I suspect that my parents are largely at fault as they kept forcing me outside and pointing out amazing things! They raised me to feel empowered by discovery and they also encouraged me to be happy- scientific research makes me happy.

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

SB: I am constantly renewed by the interdisciplinary nature of my work; by meeting with scientists from many disciplines I am always learning new ways to approach experiments and new ways of questioning the biological world. Disciplines are human constructions, so we can choose to extend beyond their borders.

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

Everyone can engage with science, absolutely everyone. It is not an Ivory Tower, it is the pursuit of understanding of our world – where we all live! One could be forgiven for assuming that science was the territory of socio-economically privileged cis-gendered white men if one examined the evidence, but hopefully we can recognize that trend is also a human construction. And if we made it, we can change it. Soapbox Science is one way we can effect change by increasing the visibility of women in science.

SS: Sum up in one word your expectations for the day – excitement? Fear? Thrill? Anticipation?

SB: Excited!

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

It is hard to be creative and adventurous in science when you are constantly being evaluated against metrics of ‘success’ (where your work is published is more important than what it is, how crazy!). I wish research was given a little bit more room to spread its wings- sometimes we will fall to earth, but sometimes we might fly and that is what we should be aiming for.

SS: What would be your top recommendation to a female PhD student considering pursuing a career in academia?

If you want it, go for it; you have to be actively engaged in your own future. Find the right mentor for you, follow your enthusiasm for projects, and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t (including yourself!). It will be amazing, and sometime difficult, but you deserve to do what makes you happy.

Danielle Mersch is currently a Human Frontiers Science fellow at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. Danielle studied Biology, and almost switched to geophysics after the first year. An internship on dispersal behavior of lizards convinced her to stick with biology and allowed her to discover scientific research. From then on she was hooked and went onto work on vultures, voles, and ants. Currently Danielle studies the brain of the tiny fruit fly to decipher how insects smell the world. Come and learn from Danielle about “Decoding the fly brain” on 2^nd July 2016 12-3pm in Cambridge Market Square!

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

DM: It was a mix of coincidence, timing and advice. After I finished my PhD on ant behavior, I knew that I wanted to learn more about how brains process sensory information to decide behavior. Ants were not a good model, but the fruit fly was. But switching to fruit flies and neurosciences meant starting all over again, a big risk to take in the competitive academic environment where everything is counted in publications. Thus, before diving in, I went to a neuroscience meeting to make sure that was really what I wanted. Once I had sorted my goals out, I looked for labs, and that was the tricky part. I was not familiar with the field and thus could not tell the good from the not-that-great places. From papers and words of mouth I narrowed my selection to a few labs. The decisive moment, however was a chat with a professor from my university who recommended yet another lab to me when I asked him for advice. By coincidence I was about to go to the UK for a conference a week after the chat, and thus visited the lab he had recommended. I had a good impression and decided that I’d like to join, that was 2 weeks after the chat. Luckily for me, Dr. Greg Jefferis was also willing to take the gamble and hire a postdoc without any neuroscience background. I then applied to several fellowships and was lucky enough to get funded.

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

DM: I never thought about a career in science, I just liked science and learning. It sounds ironic, but I was sad when I had finished my masters, because I felt like the time where I could learn new things was finished. Research turns out to be a continuous learning and discovery, and that is what I like most. There are however times, when I wonder whether I enjoy it enough to pay its costs in terms of instability and the continuous uncertainties. After my PhD I thought a lot before continuing with a postdoc, because it implies a long-distance relationship. I still sometimes question it. On the other hand, I realised that I would regret not trying a career in academia, and would in addition contribute to the lack of women in science. I thus took my chances, and time will tell.

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

DM: Being able to learn more every day. I just spend 10 days learning about microscopy and optics, and loved it. Having the opportunity to work at the forefront of knowledge and contributing to more knowledge is what is most exciting. It’s maybe weird, but it is the pleasure of understanding something that was until then incomprehensible, the satisfaction of having a proof or disproof for something that was just an option on paper, the joy of finally finding a mistake after days or weeks of work. Science is a continuous challenge of our assumptions combined with a diversity of work and to me that is just perfect.

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

DM: I was attracted to Soapbox Science because I see it as a means to de-mystify science and share with the general public the excitements of discovery, and also the behind-the-scenes of what scientists do. In addition, because I work in basic research, which is mainly funded by tax payers, I believe it is crucial to share our insights and explain why it is essential that we continue basic research. And deep inside, I believe that anyone can understand and become excited about science, if only we manage to communicate with words that people are familiar with.

SS: Sum up in one word your expectations for the day – excitement? Fear? Thrill? Anticipation?

DM: Apprehension.

I love to share the excitement and thrill I find in science, but I dislike being the center of attention. So, speaking in front of an unknown audience is a challenge for me.

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

DM: Make it a truly scientifically driven and less of a show. I have the impression that scientific research is treated more and more like a business where investments are distributed based on predicted benefits for society. However, most often the biggest scientific advances come from discoveries in fields that were ignored by most. Similarly, the best scientists are not necessarily those who make the biggest shows and have the biggest crowd, but those who are most rigorous in their experiments and careful in their interpretation. Unfortunately, their stories are often perceived as less exciting, and thus often disappear in the mass.

That aside, there is still a need for major improvements to make academia more family friendly. Currently it is impossible for a women, or man for that matter to combine family life and academia if her/his partner also has a full-time job, even more so in long-distance relationships. As a consequence more and more scientist have to choose between having a family, or continuing in academia, and this is unacceptable.

SS: What would be your top recommendation to a female PhD student considering pursuing a career in academia?

DM: Go for it, do your best, don’t question your capacities and surround yourself with people that help you reach your goals.