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Alice Jones

Totally over-excited

    • About Me:

      I  live in Edinburgh, Scotland with my friends in a big house. I love nature so I spend my time outside walking and running. My job is studying African trees, which means I get to travel to Angola and Namibia every year.

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      I moved to Edinburgh in September to start my 4 year PhD at the University of Edinburgh. I love living here! I get to live in a city but I am also surrounded by nature.

    • My pronouns are:

      she/her

    • My Work:

      I study how trees are adapted to survive in extreme environments.

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      I look at the different strategies trees have, for example thick bark to survive fire or having lots of thorns to stop animals from eating them. I go to Angola and Namibia to measure tree characteristics and I return to Scotland to analyse the data.

    • My Typical Day:

      When I do field work, I wake up at 6 am to have eggs and rice for breakfast. It is hard to have fresh food in remote locations! I drive to my field sites at 6:30 to start work before it gets too hot. I take lots of tree measurements (tree height, bark thickness and size of leaves). At 3pm I drive back to camp and sort out the field equipment and write up my data. For dinner I eat rice and beans, my favorite.

       

    • Read more

      In Scotland my days are very different. I eat beans on toast for breakfast and I spend most of my time reading science papers, designing experiments and presenting my research findings.

    Candidate CV questions (extra)

    • Education:

      Chiltern Edge Secondary School (2011 – 2016): 10 GCSEs grade A* – B

      The Henley College (2016-2018): A Levels: Biology (A), Geography (A) and Maths (A)

      The University of Birmingham (2018 – 2022): MSci Biological Sciences with Professional Placement (Honours Class I)

      The University of Edinburgh (2023 – 2027): PhD in the School of GeoSciences

    • Work History:

      The Pirbright Institute (2020 – 2021): Looked at insect abundance on farms

      Biffa Waste Services (Summer 2022): Wrote reports on invasive plant species

      Key Royal Botanical Gardens (January – March 2023): Looked at plant DNA

    • Current Job:

      PhD student at the University of Edinburgh

    • Employer:

      The University of Edinburgh

    • My Interview

      • How would you describe yourself in 3 words?

        nature loving ecologist

        What did you want to be after you left school?

        A vet! I started to love plants after I finished my A-levels

        Were you ever in trouble at school?

        Only for talking too much!

        What's your favourite food?

        Daal

Questions answered by Alice

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