Profile

My CV

• Education:

  I went to school in Stoke-on-Trent where china plates are manufactured. My school was for girls and it was run by nuns. Nuns are women who want to do something different and deviate from the pathway expected by society, similar to how women like me choose to do science and engineering. My nuns were enthusiastic that girls should have a great education and go to University, to have careers in Medicine and Engineering. Some of them were also doing external degrees and research.

• Qualifications:

  9 O-levels, 4 A-levels.
  I chose to study Physics at The University of Manchester because of seeing the giant telescope at Jodrell Bank. I chose astrophysics options because I was fascinated by science fiction and space travel, but found I was better at practical subjects such as instrumentation and measuring things, rather than writing thermodynamic equations about star evolution.
  Then I did a Masters in Instrumentation and Analytical Science, and found that there was a huge industrial and environmental need for instruments and analysis of materials and chemicals. I was introduced to using optical fibre sensors for measurement and sensing.

  Then I did PhD in Engineering at Liverpool University, specialising in optical fibre sensors for physiological monitoring. I made optical fibre sensors for measuring vital signs in nuclear magnetic resonance scanners.

• Work History:

  After my Masters I worked for a few months at GEC Industrial Controls at Kidsgrove in Staffordshire as a Graduate Trainee Engineer, but decided to go back to University to do a PhD in Engineering, specifically Optical Fibre Sensors for Physiological Monitoring. I was the only girl for a while. While there, I applied to be an astronaut to be the first Briton in space, but Helen Sharman got that job. I got a T-shirt with “I applied to ride” printed on it. Then I got a lectureship in Applied Physics at a University as the first female in Physics and Engineering. I was promoted to Reader and then got a job in my old department as a Senior Lecturer in Sensor Instrumentation at the University of Manchester. I ended up in Chemical Engineering after a re-organisation, which wasn’t my subject area but it was fun to learn about, since it involves production engineering and processes.

• Current Job:

  I returned to my old subject of Physics at the National University of Ireland in Galway, where there was a specialism in lasers and photonics. Now I am interested in laser manufacturing technologies and new carbon nanomaterials for sensors and devices, with applications in healthcare and sensing.