Profile

Candidate CV questions (extra)

• Education:

  I went to a small primary school before moving to Eastwood High School near Glasgow. I stayed in school until S6 when I was offered a place on the Biomedical Science course at the University of Strathclyde. I accepted this offer and did this course for 2 years. When I was told my career options would be testing urine or blood in an NHS lab, I decided to have a look around for other options. Strathclyde had just begun to offer a course called Biomedical Engineering, so after enquiring within the department, I changed to this course. It meant starting again, but I feel like this course suited me better. I finished with my honours degree in 2017, and the opportunity to apply for a doctorate in medical devices came up. I decided I wasn’t done with studying so applied and got in! It was a long slog doing the doctorate for 4 years and writing up for another couple, but I graduated with my EngD in 2023. Ironically, I have ended up testing urine anyway!

• Qualifications:

  I did Intermediate 2 maths, english, physics, chemistry, biology, art, etc. then took maths, english, physics, chemistry and biology to higher. In sixth year I did advanced higher chemistry, advanced higher biology and higher art.

  I have an honours degree in Biomedical Engineering and an EngD (engineering doctorate) in Medical Devices.

• Work History:

  I started working in McDonald’s when I was 16 and still in school. I was a part time crew member and worked in a city centre restaurant that was always busy! I actually really enjoyed the pace of the job, and I learned a lot about food safety and hygiene, and customer service. I got the chance to work in the largest McDonald’s in the world at the 2012 Olympics in London, which was a unique experience I didn’t think I would get from a simple job selling burgers. I was also then given the opportunity to become a shift manager. I gained a lot of valuable skills such as money handling, management experience, and training other staff. I also got the opportunity to learn first aid.

  

  After I worked in McDonald’s for 5 years, I felt like a change of scenery, so I applied for a job with Three, the mobile phone company. This was a sales role, so a little different in terms of pace. I learned about contract handling and data protection, sales tactics, and of course I had to learn about all the new phones coming to the market. I loved getting to play with new technology all day.

  When I started my doctorate, I was able to receive a stipend which meant that I no longer needed part time work to survive. University and studying became my full time job and I got paid for it! My research was looking into silk and how we could use it for wound dressings in different ways. I learned a lot from this role, like how to plan an experiment, how to write scientifically, how to analyse different datasets, how to work lots of different machines, and how to communicate my research to other people. I am shy so it has been really good to see how much more confident I am with standing up in front of crowds of people to talk about my work.

• Current Job:

  As my doctorate was coming to an end, I got the opportunity to start work as a research assistant on a project that was different to the research I had been doing. I use a technique called electrical impedance spectroscopy to learn about how bacteria and cells interact with their environment. I have used this method to test urine (pee) for infections, and most recently, stool (poo). I am also developing this technique to find cancer cells and see how they are different from healthy cells. Although I don’t handle money every day now, the skills I learned from as far back as McDonald’s are still useful, as I now manage my own work and I am responsible for my day to day tasks.

• Employer:

  University of Strathclyde, Glasgow