Profile

I’ve loved Harry Potter ever since I read the books as a child – when I was growing up there was a new Harry Potter book to read every summer holiday! I also love science fiction because I like to imagine the different ways science changes the world we live in. Zombie movies are my favourite! I like to explore imaginary worlds in video games like Zelda, Pokemon and Hogwarts Legacy.

I am a huge Swifty was so excited to see Taylor Swift twice at the Eras Tour!! I like all sorts of music from pop to rock. As well as concerts, I usually have a holiday coming up to look forward to – I love travelling and exploring new places. I even lived in Canada for a year when I was a student! One of my favourite things is trying new foods from different countries and then seeing if I can cook or bake them myself when I’m back home!

I work for the National Centre for the 3Rs (NC3Rs). The 3Rs are replacing, reducing and refining the use of animals in science. We find new ways of doing research that don’t use animals (replace) and when animals are needed for experiments we help scientists use as few animals as possible (reduce) and make sure animals are well cared for (refine). I write about new ways scientists are doing their experiments using the 3Rs to help other scientists improve their research. I also talk to the public about the 3Rs and animal research and help scientists to share their work.

Before my current job, I worked in a lab researching viruses. I studied a virus called HIV and helped with research and testing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Most days I work from home. Before I start work I go for a walk around my local park with a cup of coffee, then I log onto my computer in my home office. A typical day includes reading research papers, writing for our website, news articles or social media accounts and chatting to scientists about their research and giving them advice on how to talk about their work. If I have a talk or training session coming up, I might be making a presentation, practising what I’m going to say or planning activities.

About once a week I go into the NC3Rs office in London – it’s great to see my colleagues and work together in person when we have big meetings or lots to discuss. Depending on the day I talk to a wide range of people, from scientists to vets and other people looking after animals in labs, to people working for the government, companies and charities involved in animal research and welfare. Some of my favourite days at work are when I go to public engagement events to chat to people about our work, animal research and better ways of doing science with the 3Rs.