Profile

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Mehul Jesani

    • About Me:

      Hey, I’m Mehul! I’m a forensic investigator 🔍 based in London. In my free time, I like to cook nice food 🍲🧑‍🍳 and enjoy watching Formula 1 🏎️.

    • My pronouns are:

      he/him

    • How I use Science in my work:

      I use my understanding of chemistry and physics to figure out how a fire was started and how it spreads.

    • My Work:

      I’m a forensic investigator, and mostly investigate fires. That means my job is to work out where a fire started and how it was caused.

    • My Typical Day:

      Every day is different!

      It might be that in the morning, I go to where a fire has happened, after the fire service have extinguished it. This could have been a small fire in someone’s kitchen or a large fire in a warehouse or factory. I take photos, make notes, and look at the fire debris. This helps me work out where the fire started, and think about what might have caused it – was it an electrical problem, did someone leave a candle next to something that can burn easily, or did someone deliberately start the fire?

      I then go to the office, where I have lunch with my co-workers. For the rest of the day, I write a report about the fire – I think about what evidence I have about where the fire started and how it was caused? I go home around 5:30pm.

    • What I'd do with the prize money:

      I want to hold an experience day where pupils from local schools can learn about forensic investigation.

    CV

    • Education:

      School: Queen Elizabeth’s School, Barnet

      University (undergraduate): University of Cambridge

      University (PhD): University of Bristol

    • Qualifications:

      GCSEs

      A-levels – Maths, Chemistry, Physics, German

      Undergraduate degree (Bachelor’s & Master’s) – Natural Sciences

      PhD – Synthetic Chemistry

    • Work History:

      • Global Graduate Scientist, AstraZeneca
        • I worked in large teams that aimed to discover new medicines
      • PhD Researcher, University of Bristol
        • I studied for my PhD in synthetic chemistry, which is the part of chemistry that involves making new, complex substances from simpler molecules
      • Senior Scientist, Domainex
        • I returned to another company that does research for finding new medicines

    • Current Job:

      Associate Forensic Investigator

    • Employer:

      Hawkins & Associates

    • My Interview

      • How would you describe yourself in 3 words?

        Budding forensic investigator

        What did you want to be after you left school?

        I honestly had no idea...

        Were you ever in trouble at school?

        Not often

        If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?

        No idea, just like when I was at school

        Who is your favourite singer or band?

        I like the rapper, Dave

        What's your favourite food?

        I am sure that I could eat pizza every day for the rest of my life

        If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!

        I'd wish for some cool superpowers - to be able to fly, to be able to control time, and to be able to speak any language

        Tell us a joke.

        A windmill asked another windmill, "what's your favourite type of music?". The first windmill replied, "I'm a big metal fan!"