Profile

Candidate CV questions (extra)

• Education:

  My senior school years were split between a French state school, followed by a British school (still in France!) where I did my GCSEs and A-levels. I then went to the University of Cambridge for 4 years to study Natural Sciences (because I couldn’t make up my mind about which science I liked best!), eventually specialising in Chemistry.

  After that I did a masters in Security Science, doing a lab-based project in the Radiation Physics group (part of Medical Physics) at UCL, as a bit of a change! I then started a PhD in Chemistry at UCL, but stopped that for various reasons and started a fresh PhD in the Radiation Physics group, which I completed in 2017.

• Qualifications:

  GCSEs: Double Award Science, Mathematics, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Geography, English Literature, English Language, Fine Art, French, Japanese

  AS levels: French, Japanese

  A levels: Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics

  BA Hons & MSci: Natural Sciences (Chemistry), University of Cambridge

  MRes: Security Science, University College London

  PhD: Radiation Physics, University College London

• Work History:

  My first unofficial ‘job’ was as a babysitter for local families, whilst I was doing my A-levels. Once I went to university, I found a job to do every summer holiday (we weren’t meant to take on part-time work during term time, as it was considered a distraction from studying!): the first summer I waitressed at a fancy hotel restaurant as well as occasionally working as a bellboy for the hotel (in Japan); the next summer I taught English at a school in the Basque region of Spain; and the third summer I did an internship at a Cambridge University department (the BP Institute) — my first real experience of doing proper scientific research, as I had to design the experiment and try things out… very different to the teaching labs (where you know what result you’re meant to get!).

  After graduating from Cambridge I worked as a waitress again, pretty much full time, for most of my gap year. I also spent one month living in Moscow to teach English.

  Then once I went back to university – this time in London – to get my further degrees, I was thankfully paid by a scholarship and didn’t need to take on any extra jobs.

  My first research job actually came before I finished my PhD (doctorate), in the same group but working on something completely different. The aim was to detect any defects like cracks hidden within carbon-fibre composite aircraft parts.