Profile

CV

• Education:

  I went to school in Sheffield. After school, I played the clarinet in a wind band, went to Brownies and then Guides and also enjoyed swimming and playing netball (although I wasn’t very good!). I now live in Oxfordshire, which I think is too flat. I miss the hills in Sheffield!

• Qualifications:

  I did quite a few GCSEs. One of my favourites was History. I liked looking at old cartoons and trying to work out what they meant. It felt like being a detective!

  After that, I did A-levels in Maths, Further Maths, Physics, and Economics. I really liked Economics. It was interesting to learn why people make certain choices and why politicians or big organisations like the Bank of England make the decisions they do.

  In the end, I chose to study Maths at university because it could lead to many different jobs.

  I studied Maths for 4 years at Emmanuel College, which is part of Cambridge University. Then I spent another 4 and a half years at the University of Bath doing a PhD (an advanced degree).

• Work History:

  While I was at school, I worked in a library that lent books to other schools – I did a lot of lifting and sorting children’s books! I continued working in the library during university holidays. In later university holidays, I did short research internships, one at the University of Cambridge and one at GlaxoSmithKline. This is where I first learned about inverse problems and imaging.

  I did a PhD at the Unviersity of Bath in Mathematics. Doing a PhD, I was still a student, but it was more like a job: I got paid, had holiday days and worked in an office. In order to earn some extra money, and because I enjoyed it, I also worked for the university as a tutor: teaching groups of students different areas of maths and running drop-in sessions for students. I also supported students in exams, reading and writing for them if needed.

  After my PhD, I started working at the Science and Techhology Facilities Council.

• Employer:

  The Science and Technology Facilities Council supports some of the UK’s largest science equipment and experiments. These include:

  • Particle accelerators – machines that speed up tiny particles used in experiments
  • Powerful lasers – used for advanced experiments
  • The National Satellite Test Facility – where satellites are tested before going into space
  • The Boulby Underground Laboratory – a lab deep underground used for special science research

  I work in the Scientific Computing Department. We help these facilities by:

  • Providing computer systems and data storage
  • Writing software and algorithms to help understand the data from experiments
  • Researching new techniques and ideas