Francesca Longhorne

"Francesca is a PhD student conducting research in medical sciences and specialising in respiratory.Francesca is a logical and organised individual, which are really helpful attributes for her role as a PhD student. With these characteristics, Francesca is good at piecing together information, spotting errors, communicating ideas and having good attention to detail. This demonstrates how Francesca really is the ‘Quality Controller’ and ‘Investigator’ type – researching and testing new ideas. Being the Quality Controller, Investigator and Coordinator type contributes to her ability to produce good reliable and accurate data which is easily understood when reading a thesis or publication. "

"As a PhD student studying medical sciences, much of Francesca’s time is spent in labs testing and investigating! She is carrying out research into respiratory diseases that she hopes will bring about benefits to people’s health.Francesca will also carry out research, looking at reports and reading about other research and understanding of her topic. On days where she is not running experiments she is writing up findings or reading around the subject area and developing her thesis."

"Francesca had two core motivations for doing a PhD. First, was that she loved being in a lab and running her own experiments. Second, she had a passion to make a difference – wanting to do something that would positively impact people’s lives.At University, Francesca studied for a degree in Biomedical Sciences with a year in industry, where she developed her experience at the university of Birmingham research unit. This was what really developed her interest in working within a lab! After University, Francesca went and worked for a year to gain experience and to save some money before she started her PhD. The year out helped Francesca decide how much she wanted a lab-based role – it confirmed that she did!"

"When Francesca was young, she never saw herself as a scientist. She danced from a very young age and always believed she was going to be a dance teacher and have her own ballet school. It wasn’t until that she made a last decision to switch her Dance A-level to Chemistry – and she is so pleased that she did.When Francesca is not at University she will travel back home to visit family and friends or, visit new places both home and abroad. After a busy week in the lab, she loves listening to music and watching TV and films. She also loves to bake (and eat the cakes she makes!). She also enjoys watching cricket!Francesca is unsure on what the future holds but she still has a while before she completes! She knows she loves being in the lab and choosing what she wants to research, but she also loves the outreach side of things when she can share her results and findings. "

"A typical working week would include running lots of experiments. Francesca cultures and grows human cells to test related to the disease that she is investigating. Within her week, Francesca will also attend lab meetings with her supervisor and group to discuss progress that’s been made or to identify if areas need reviewing. "

"Degree in Biomedical Sciences with a year in industry"