Leanne Stewart

"After taking the quiz I am very surprised at the results.. who would have thought a few simple questions would identify me so accurately!My 'types' were communicator, coordinator and manager, all of which contain skills I use in my job everyday, whether this be being confident, organised or motivated and adaptable. My role can rapidly change throughout the day depending ongoing projects, I could start the day only have one project to work on and leave with six or seven, this definitely needs good organisation skills to ensure that everything is completed accurately and on time. "

"My role involves the running of small scale chemical pilot plants with a view to scaling up the projects to full scale manufacture if the projects prove to be successful. We don't actually make a 'final product' though; we generate knowledge which we can then sell to other companies for use in their processes.My job is hugely varied from day to day depending on what project requirements are and if the pilot plants are behaving themselves, and this is what I enjoy the most. I have been known to have to get the toolbox out to fix broken equipment!Starting salary for this sort of role is approx £25,000."

"My current role is not what I envisioned myself doing when I was at school. I originally wanted to be a nurse or forensic pathologist but somewhere along the way I fell more in love with chemistry than with the thought of dealing with blood.I've held a few different positions in various size companies, ranging in size from just 5 people to several thousand.Fresh from university I worked in for a small company as a peptide chemist, this was enjoyable but involved a lot of organic chemistry which is not my favorite. This was a temp contract so after 6 months I moved to Edinburgh to work for a contract pharmaceutical company this was much more fun as I got to work on various different drugs in various stages of development. This was again a temp contract, I was there around 8 months before I was offered a position at GSK a large pharmaceutical company (they also make Ribena and toothpaste!) I started off as an analyst in the stability testing department working on powder inhalers which was very interesting making sure that drugs were performing to specification over the allowed shelf life. I also worked in the cephalosporin stability department, again testing the antibiotics and ensuring they were performing as expected. After a few years in these roles I worked my way up to team coordinator where I led a team of around 10 people.After 10 years at GSK I moved to Johnson Matthey which is where I am now and I've been here for a little over 8 years and I absolutely love it, the people, the work, the challenge everyday - Amazing!"

"My role involves working shifts so my free time is limited, but when I do find myself with a few spare hours I like to pick up my camera, I'm not very good but I enjoy the challenge of creating the perfect picture, my favorite type of photography at the moment is macro so I'm spending a lot of time photographing insects and water droplets."

"A typical day for me doesn't really exist.A shift is 12 hours long (7am-7pm), so when I come in I will have a handover from the person on the previous shift, we will discuss any problems which have arisen, if any troubleshooting has taken place to rectify the problem and if it was successful or not.Pilot plants will require sampling at regular intervals throughout the shift and analysis performed to see if the plant is performing as expected or if operating conditions need changing to get the results we need. "

"After school and GCSE's I went to college where I did A levels in Biology, Statistics and English Language (notice no chemistry yet).From there I studied Biomedical Science at University, part way through this course I decided it wasn't for me and changed to Applied Science and Forensic Measurement, this gave be a BSc (Hons) degree.Whilst working at GSK I also studied for a Masters degree in Analytical Chemistry, this was though a part time route and was fully supported by my employer."