I’m a research project officer at The Open University’s School of Environment, Earth and Ecosystem Sciences. I work in the geochemistry lab with an instrument called a Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (LA-ICP-MS). Quite a mouthful! With this machine we can analyse the trace element composition of solid materials by drilling tiny holes with the laser, extracting and transporting the material into the mass spectrometer to be analysed.
At the moment I mainly work on a Natural Environment Research Council project called FAMOS – short for From Arc Magmas to Ore Systems. The aim of this project is to unravel why some volcanoes form metal deposits and others don’t. Additionally I help run and maintain our lab, teach and support PhD students with their analytical requirements and when time allows – do a bit of my own research.
When did you become a technician? What motivated you?
I’m not sure there is a point in time where I made the conscious choice to become a technician. Thinking back I guess it was a gradual process. My first encounter with being a technician was during my undergrad. I was a student research assistant doing trace element analysis with a LA-ICP-MS. Throughout my PhD I continued to work with this kind of instrument and did a lot of method development and optimisation to analyse my PhD samples. I enjoyed this kind of work, which I guess can be considered that of a technician.
After I finished my PhD, I saw a job advert (my current job) for a research project officer at The Open University. The role involved working on a project and within a lab doing trace element analysis. The idea of working at a university where I would be involved in analytical work appealed to me a lot. At the time I don’t think I thought it in the terms of a technician. It was a job doing what I liked in the field I trained in. I think once I arrived at the OU and became part of the technical support staff team, I started to see myself as more of a technician.
What has been your career highlight to date?
There’re a couple of things that could be considered highlights. Finishing my PhD is definitely high on that list. The journey through my PhD wasn’t always smooth and easy. Having the mental strength and resilience to finish my thesis despite all of that is a big achievement for me.
I definitely also consider winning the THE Award as a highlight! I really didn’t expect to win, especially after seeing the other shortlisted candidates. They’re all awesome technicians, doing fantastic work. I’m really honoured to have won. Those two things I guess are the big achievements and highlights in term of successes and recognition in my career.
There’re also many smaller things that I see as highlights, such as solving analytical challenges especially when it takes weeks or months to figure out and might have seem very difficult or impossible at the beginning. Or for example when I work with a student in the lab and they become independent and successful lab users.
Who nominated you for THE Awards?
The head of the STEM laboratory facilities here at the OU circulated an email last May inviting nominations for THE Award’s Outstanding Technician of the Year. Earlier that year I saw several posts on Twitter about inequalities when it comes to winning awards. After reading and discussing with friends and colleagues, the conclusion seem to be that you have to sometimes ask people to nominate you. Otherwise they might not be aware of the award or might not know that you qualify or would be suitable. It felt very strange to put oneself forward like that, which might be influenced by gender or culture. But a friend of mine said it’s not for me to decide if I deserve to win or not. That’s what the selection committee is for. They will base their judgement on the selection criteria and if I was deserving of the award or not. I didn’t have to make that judgment for myself.
So, when I saw the emails I thought “I’m a technician and if I get feedback from my colleagues saying I’m doing a good job, why not?”. To be honest at that point I wasn’t fully aware of the prestige of the award, which I guess gave me the confidence to ask people in my department to nominate me. My line manager agreed to nominate me, with input from colleagues and two reference letters from collaborators.
How did it feel to win Outstanding Technician of the Year?
As I said before I didn’t think I had a chance of winning so didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about it before hand. I thought I would just have a nice evening out and a rare opportunity to dress up! When they announced the award winner and I suddenly heard my name I thought, “Wait, what…? This can’t be…”. I looked at the screen and indeed there was my name. It was pretty overwhelming but absolutely fantastic when I realised that not only my colleagues think that I’m doing a fantastic job, but also people who don’t know me at all. It’s an honour to be the first person to receive this award and be able to draw attention to the absolutely brilliant job technicians do – which isn’t always properly recognised within academia.
What's next for 2020?
Good question! My diary is filling up quickly and there’re always more things I want to do than there is time. I will attend a few conferences and meetings this year to network and stay up to date with developments in my field. After being a participant last year in Soapbox Science in Milton Keynes, this year I’m a committee member and will help to organise the event on the 27th June 2020. On top of that I will spend many days in the lab to run the instrument I am working with, teach students and produce data.
What advice would you give your younger self?
I guess there could be a very very long list with all the things I know now. But actually when I look at my career and path in life so far I think I’ve done pretty well for myself. All the mistakes, dead-ends, struggles and successes have brought me to where I am now and I don’t think I want to change that. Maybe the only advice I would give others and myself is to be more kind to oneself and others. This is a great article championing that ethos https://www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/ten-rules-possibly-succeeding-academia-through-upward-kindness.
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