Profile

Although I’m a scientist/engineer, I also really enjoy being creative. I love playing and listening to music, and I sew and bake in my free time as well.

I think being creative is just important in a STEM career as being good at maths or science, so I try and have as many creative hobbies as possible!

I didn’t always want to be a physicist- when I was younger I wanted to be an actress or an artist. When I was at highschool I also did lots of hacking competitions. It wasn’t until sixth form that I decided I wanted to be a physicist!

I’m a diagnostics engineer/experimental scientist, which means I sort of do two jobs in one!

I design and build diagnostic instruments for the particle accelerator at my lab. A particle accelerator is a machine which speeds up particles so they have very high energies, and a diagnostic instrument or ‘diagnostic’ is a piece of equipment that measures those particles in some way. This means that the equipment I build is needed for answering questions about the particles, e.g. “How much energy do the particles have?”, “Are they travelling in the right direction”, “Are they close together or far apart?”.

The science half of my job is mostly physics-based. I might do some calculations, or look at other physics research, to help plan future experiments. I also use physics to help create new diagnostics instruments that haven’t been invented yet, so that we have new ways of measuring the particles.

The engineering side of my job involves designing and building diagnostics for the accelerator. I might plan a project using 3D modelling software, then build it and test it in an optics lab. I’ll then install it on the accelerator so other physicists can use it to measure the particle beam. Sometimes this involves squeezing into some very tight spaces to install cameras and other optics!

When the accelerator is turned on, that means the particle beam is being used for experiments. I help the scientists that come to our lab with their experiments, since they aren’t familiar with our equipment. This might involve doing some calculations, designing and 3D-printing a part, or focusing some optics.

When the accelerator is turned off, I’m usually doing maintenance on the machine or planning for future experiments. I might do some computer modelling in python, or design a part using 3D CAD (computer-aided design) software.