Victoria Cox

"My personality types from the quiz were developer, influencer and quality controller. I think this is a close match to me. For example a developer is \"interested in the world around them and how to make it better\" and \"enjoys learning new things.\" I am a PhD student who works in a university department which researches global health and how to improve this. I am constantly learning new things and working with new people. "

"I study how a virus called dengue is spread by mosquitoes. I use a combination of maths, biology and computer science knowledge to do this. I love my job because it allows me to work independently and creatively to solve problems, whilst still being part of a team/university department where I can meet and work with new people from different STEM backgrounds on all sorts of exciting global health projects."

"I loved science at school but wasn't sure what job I wanted or which subject to study at university. My biology teacher encouraged me to apply to a week-long course (called UNIQ: a summer school at Oxford University for sixth-form students from state schools) studying biochemistry. I didn't realise before this that you could study biochemistry since it was a combination of school subjects, but there are loads of exciting combination university courses out there! Because of the summer school I applied to the university and studied biochemistry there for four years. I became interested in viruses and how they interact with our immune systems and I worked in a laboratory for a year studying this. I enjoyed the experience but after a while I realised I wanted a change from lab work. I now work in epidemiology research (the study of infectious diseases in populations) which is computational (I work at a computer looking at data, writing code and analysing results rather than in a lab). I love my current job because it allows me to be flexible, work on lots of projects at once and to find ways to creatively solve problems."

"In my spare time I love reading, playing video games and baking vegan cakes. I also do yoga and go running a lot even though I used to hate PE when I was at school. I really like old music and have started to collect vinyl records. "

"After several cups of tea in the morning I sit down at my computer to answer emails and to start work. I read scientific reports/papers, write computer code, look at data and make graphs. This is for my PhD project work where I'm making a model (a computer simulation) of how a particular virus is spread and how we might reduce this. I have meetings with my supervisor and other team members where they suggest cool new ideas to try if I'm stuck on something! I always talk to other scientists at work to find out what exciting things they are working on."

"A levels: Chemistry, Biology and Maths (and Psychology AS level)Undergraduate degree: Biochemistry"