Gemma Sweeney

"Gemma is the Enterprise and Equalities Manager in a university developing research projects with businesses.Gemma describes herself as a conscientious and self-motivated person. In her job she needs to be efficient and organised which matches with the ‘Quality Controller’ type. She is also confident and fits well with the ‘Service provider’ and ‘Trainer’ types, which is good as her role sometimes involves speaking at conferences."

"In her job as the Enterprise and Equalities Manager in a university, Gemma works to develop mutually beneficial research projects between universities and businesses. She supports companies to develop their business through research and to ensure that the university and business projects are inclusive, offering everyone opportunity to participate. Companies may want to develop new technology, or identify patterns or trends in a market, or look at ways to improve healthcare. Gemma helps them to work with the relevant departments in the university to find answers to their problems. This involves attending business meetings, talking to academics, communicating with emails and phone calls, as well as going off-site to meet clients. Gemma also chairs two university committees related to the study of gender issues in science."

"Gemma has always had a love of science and she ended up doing a PhD in Organic Chemistry. After this, she worked in the pharmaceutical industry, with a starting salary of £24,000.Gemma did this for many years before taking a career break to have children. She then returned to science by becoming a Research fellow at the university which was a fixed-term post and led to her current role.Gemma would recommend being sure you want a career in science before embarking on a PhD. If you're not sure, it might be better to work for a few years before making such a big decision. It is fantastic, but you need to be dedicated as you will develop very specialist knowledge for your job with a PhD."

"In her spare time, Gemma enjoys being with her children, gardening, eating out, reading and socialising.Through her job, Gemma travels to business meetings within the UK, normally about one a week. She also travels to conferences in the UK and occasionally abroad. The last one she attended was in Barcelona. In the future, Gemma would like to work in a slightly different, more senior role. She was recently promoted but that's as far as she can go in her current role. If she wanted to progress, she may need to move to another university or seek a different role within her institution."