Recently, I received my silver shield from Nottingham Trent University to celebrate 25 volunteer hours!

My 25 hours has looked like career talks, poster judging, teaching in seminars, Bioscience Employer board meetings, lectures on networking as an early career scientist, mentoring, sharing my journey as a disabled scientist, and so much more!

I have enjoyed being able to give career talks, and share my unique career journey with students. Sharing my success after a substantial gap in my CV is important to me, as I felt a lot of unnecessary shame in it. I was made to feel like it was my fault for facing barriers and inaccessibility, when in fact, it was a problem of the industry. Students often get told that they will walk straight into a job once they have a degree, but it’s not always the case. Sharing my tips for being resilient, and taking care of yourself, hopefully provides additional tools to the next generation of scientists.

I have lots planned for the next 25 hours of alumni fellowship, including going back to be a judge for the bioscience degree showcase. I love talking to students about their work. It’s amazing to see the range of topics they cover, and to see them talk excitedly about something they are passionate about. I think I’ll be showcasing my own poster that I took to a conference recently, watch this space…