Caitlin Thomson

"The three personality types I matched with are: - Campaigner - Developer- InnovatorI would say, the combination of these do match my personality well! I'm a people person and I am super enthusiastic about widening people's understanding of science, whether that is people who already work in the field I do, or people who don't feel all that confident about the subject. I love having good long chats with people, I love that 'ah hah' moment that people can have, including when I finally understand a concept I was struggling with! I'm very chatty, due to this I participate in lots of outreach activities, I even used to work in the Science museum just so I could engage with more people about science. I tend to be quite laid back, as my best laid plans never work out quite how I imagine, now I plan what I can and go with the flow for the most part. Adaptability is something I have learned during my time working in science as I can never always predict what's going to happen! I love solving a good problem, and taking charge when I feel it's needed. But I also think it's important to make sure everyone's voices and points are heard, especially in a group setting! I would say I am enthusiastic, open to a challenge, always willing to get stuck in to figure out a problem and persevere with it until it is completely sorted."

"I am a PhD researcher joint with the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow and the National Physical Laboratory. I am based full time at the National Physical Laboratory in London. My work uses a combination of biology, chemistry and physics even though my PhD is solely in Chemistry. Due to this I have had to learn a lot of skills and topics I had never worked with before, but that's a part of working in STEM and I do really enjoy learning new things and widening my skills. I grow up cells in my laboratory, then I analyse them using a type of spectroscopy called Raman spectroscopy, which can give me information about what the cells are made up of. I can then use that information to see if the cells are behaving the way they should or not! I also sometimes use a different analytical technique called fluorescence microscopy to try and confirm the information I have deduced about my cells from the Raman spectroscopy. Both of the analytical techniques use lasers or a light source and a microscope, so that's all very physics based. The chemical information that they give me is all chemistry, and growing and investigating cells is all biology! Being involved in multidisciplinary work and indeed working with two different institutions is what I really enjoy and I always look for chances to learn new skills to widen my knowledge. "

"I am originally from Glasgow, and did my undergraduate degree as an integrated Masters at the University of Strathclyde in Pure and Applied Chemistry, which was a really useful basis for me to gain more scientific knowledge. I am actually the first person in my family to go to University, so I didn't really have anyone to ask or anyone's perspective on what university was like, so my undergraduate degree was a learning curve in many ways. During my undergraduate degree I spent a lot of hours in the different types of chemistry labs, learning how to use the equipment, make and analyse chemicals and generally becoming familiar with how to be a scientist complete with white coat and safety goggles! I still have the same lab coat and safety goggles from my undergraduate degree! There are four main areas of chemistry - organic, inorganic, analytical and physical chemistry - and all the classes or lab experiments that I did was based around these four main areas. It gave me a good grounding and allowed me to find the area of chemistry I liked the most, although I liked all of them! During my course I got to go on a year-long work placement and I was lucky that I got to move to Northern Ireland and work for a pharmaceutical company, where I learned a lot about the industry and all of the requirements for the production of the medicines that we use everyday. Some of my friends even went to places in Europe and further away like Australia! I made a lot of friends during my time there and still keep in contact with today and gained invaluable work experience and knowledge. During my undergraduate degree I must've worked a million jobs as well, I was a bar tender, waitress, barista (still love making fancy coffees now), supermarket worker and even did a short stint as a care-worker for an amazing company local to where I lived. All these jobs taught me interpersonal skills, time management, multitasking and how to balance my income. I had student loans, but they didn't cover everything and university work still needed done even if I needed to work. Working during university might seem hard, but I actually learned so much and it can teach skills that sometimes a degree can't. When I finished my degree, I was a little uncertain about what I wanted to do. I had looked at PhD's before but hadn't quite thought I was smart enough for them. However, I saw one that really interested me. was with the University I did my undergraduate degree with, so I knew how it worked and knew I liked the person who would become my supervisor and it meant I got to move to London, so allowed me to experience another new place. Which I love! I applied and was as surprised as anyone that I got accepted! I am now in my final year of my PhD and things are a bit up in the air, but I have learnt a lot, been to events and worked in places I never would've thought I could work. A PhD is hard though, so being enthusiastic, liking what you're working on is super important!"

"Since moving to London, I had to branch out a little bit. All my friends were mainly in Glasgow or Northern Ireland and I didn't really know many people in London! I actually ended up taking back up a hobby I did when I was much younger! I started an adult Irish Dancing class, a hobby that I hadn't done in maybe 10 years. But I absolutely loved it, met new people through it and it has the added benefit of keeping me in shape! I like to run and go to the gym and sometimes I even try to do a bit of rock climbing, but honestly I'm not very good. I love music, and going to see live music and love absolutely nothing more than reading a book. More often than not, I spend my spare time reading, I'm definitely a bookworm. "

"On a typical day I tend to try and get up early (not an easy feat as I am NOT a morning person) and go to the gym or for a run before work, mainly because I know sometimes I'm too lazy to go after work or I can end up being caught up in an experiment that took longer to run than I expected. It's important to me to keep moving as it really helps me keep my head clear. I will then drive or get the train to work, At work, the first thing I do is make a coffee. I can't function without that either! I then drink my coffee and check my emails and my work's internal noticeboard for anything important. Once my coffee is finished I then have to check on my cells. Working with cells is a little bit like having a pet! They need food, care and to be moved into new spaces whenever they outgrow their old one. This means that I usually have to check on my cells daily, to make sure they're healthy and happy. If I need to, at this point I will prepare samples that I need as well! If my sample preparation is successful then I will spend most of my day analysing them in the lab. The labs that I work in are a little bit away from each other, so my day is spent running between them to get all my work done! It's definitely a good way to get my step count up! If I don't have samples to analyse, I tend to make sure that my lab book is up to date, which is super important! Then I will read papers relevant to my research, analyse data (which always takes longer than I think it will), write up some of my analysis for later putting into my final thesis or attending meetings and working with colleagues on other problems that might not be directly related to my PhD, but that I can maybe help with. Sometimes I am trying to put together applications to go to conferences in the UK, or further abroad, which can be exciting. The best part of a PhD, to me, is getting to travel to these conferences, learning new things and interacting with people I usually wouldn't have the chance to! Then I tend to head home and relax unless I have dance class or sneakily avoided the gym in the morning and go at night instead! "

"Scotland's school system is slightly different to England's. So my post-GCSE qualifications were called Highers and Advanced Highers instead of AS or A-levels I took: Higher:- Maths- English- Chemistry- Physics- Computing - History - Music Advanced Higher: - Maths - English I then applied to University straight from school and completed an MChem in Pure and Applied Chemistry. I am now in the last year of my PhD in Pure and Applied Chemistry."