Ceri Harrop…PhD Student at University of Manchester
Background Information…
I am very
inquisitive by nature, and always found science helped to explain the
what, why, where, when and how of all kinds of things. So I studied
science through school, and thought I’d choose science A-levels because
I knew that science would give me lots of opportunities in the future.
I couldn’t decide what to do for my degree, but I knew I wanted to go
to University and study something medical-based, so I chose Biomedical
Science which gave me experience in lots of different areas of medical
science…including anatomy and dissection which I wasn’t so keen on!
For the 3rd Year of my degree, I lived and worked for a
research company in the south of Germany, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I
returned to England to finish my degree and then decided I would like
to stay in research so I opted for a PhD. Having grown up with a cousin
who suffers terribly with asthma and having learnt that there is still
very little out there to help people with breathing problems lead
normal and active lives, I decided that this was an area I would like
to work in. Working towards a PhD wasn’t something I ever thought I’d
do, and I have never had any great plan for my life. I take
opportunities as they come up, and follow my instincts, and so far so
good!
A day in the life...
I am a bit of an
early bird and am up by 6am every day. I live about an hour away from
work, so have an hour every morning in my car, thinking about what I
will do that day and having a sing-along to the radio! I am usually in
work by 8am, and I check my emails and write a plan for that day...
Research tends to be very flexible, and we all manage our own time to fit in what we need to do. I then set up any experiments I am doing that day, as well as making sure the cells I am growing in the lab are healthy and have enough nutrients to grow and do what they are meant to! We have a group meeting every Monday where we take it in turns to report back to our team on what has (and hasn’t!) worked and where we plan to go from there. Discussions with friends and colleagues are an important part of my job, and it is great to have so many opportunities to learn new skills and meet lots of people. I usually have lunch with friends about 12.30 in our coffee area at work (the building I work in is new and all open-plan, so it’s a nice place to be). I then tend to be in the lab most of the afternoon, finishing off things from the morning and setting up any overnight experiments to run while I am at home. I usually finish work by 5pm unless something comes up. Most Fridays we all sneak off to the pub for a drink before the weekend. I try to go to the gym two evenings a week, and work on Thursday nights as a waitress in my local restaurant. Then maybe one night a week, I chill out at home with a glass of wine and a hot bath. Weeks fly by as I am so busy, but no two days are the same and I thoroughly enjoy what I do.
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