Nicol Caplin

"The personality types generally touch on some of my main qualities. For the campaigner personality type, it identified me as someone with lots of creative ideas and I think this is particularly helpful in my line of work with respect to creative problem-solving for experiments being sent to space! The communicator personality type aligns closely with a lot of the presentation work I do, whether it is outreach activities in primary schools or high-level scientific forums; being a strong communicator reinforces my ability to perform well in these areas. For manager, one of the core skills it pinpoints is being team-orientated. Teamwork is essential in my field, so knowing how to be a productive part of one while appreciating that everyone has their own unique ways of working is incredibly useful. "

"My primary objective is to work with European science teams and work out the experiment scientific requirements for selected projects. I’ll follow these project from inception right up until they come back from space with the data! This means that I’m involved in the planning, testing and launching of projects. My role means that I’m engaging with collaborative project partners in operations and engineering to get an astrobiology project off the ground (literally!)"

"As part of my PhD, I designed, commissioned, tested and utilised my own hardware for biology experiments. Having this experience in managing my own project and knowing each element in great detail opened up the door in science coordination for ESA projects. I had also worked for various companies and organisations which gave me a grounding in the commercial world. The fusion of academia and industry is the environment I’m working in now and I like the different factors and sometimes challenges that offers."

"I’m really passionate about fitness and as soon as I’ve left the office I’m usually doing something active! I have a horse called Rose I ride most evenings. We hope to do some low-level dressage competitions in the future. I like target sports, like shooting and archery and once I had a few lessons combining archery and horseriding skills- horseback archery is awesome! I recently took up climbing and am doing a course at my local climbing centre. I also have a passion for flying and never turn down the opportunity to get up in the sky. I would say that the most memorable thing last year was not flying a plane, but jumping out of one! I did a static line course with the Army Parachute Centre and a tandem skydive over beautiful Salisbury Plain. "

"My work day varies, but typically I’ll start my day replying to emails that have come in, sometimes overnight as collaborating with international organisations e.g. NASA means this often occurs due to the time difference. I’ll often have several meetings, either with my immediate team to brief our management about current experiment statuses or with the science teams that are attached to individual projects. The science teams are dotted all over Europe, so we use online meeting facilities. Sometimes, if there’s a need for a face-to-face meeting e.g. a specific issue needs to be physically shown to me, I’ll travel to the team’s laboratories or offices. I’ll always make time to catch up with colleagues/teammates over lunch, and then it’s back to my desk, where I’ll sometimes be preparing presentations, evaluating experiment proposals or giving interviews to the media about our projects. "

"A Level English.Foundation science degree.BSc Environmental Science.PhD in radiation/plant biology/radioecology"