Profile

Photo:

Victoria Burton

    • About Me:

      I’m a researcher at the Natural History Museum in London studying nature in educational grounds. I really like earthworms, bug hunting and trying to identify as many plants and animals as I can wherever I go.

    • Read more

      I live in London with my dog and other pets. I have a pet Blue Tongue Skink, snakes, African Bullfrog, aquariums and lots of exotic invertebrates. I’m autistic. I love UK nature, especially identifying and recording different species. I am member of many natural history societies and recording schemes and help run the Bug Club for young people interested in insects.

    • My pronouns are:

      she/her

    • My Work:

      I work with schools to find out what lives in their grounds and how to make them better for nature.

    • Read more

      I’m a post-doctoral research assistant (post-doc or PDRA) at the Natural History Museum, London, working on the National Education Nature Park. This is a big project led by the Museum with the Royal Horticultural Society and many others supporting all the nurseries, schools and colleges across England to make a positive difference to both their own and nature’s future.

      The Nature Park is a community science project – that means teachers and students are involved in the science too! My role in the Nature Park is to plan our research. This involves working together to decide the questions we want to answer, ensuring our methods are designed effectively, and analysing the data collected by children and young people in the Nature Park to uncover the answers!

      Our main goal is to understand the nature present on school sites and how the positive changes schools are making help to enhance it. I’m excited to be working with a big team of community scientists across England to explore this together! But there are many other exciting discoveries we can make too. I’m keen to learn what questions young people have about their own sites and to support them in carrying out their own investigations while bringing real science into their learning.

    • My Typical Day:

      I work from home four days a week and one day in the Museum.

    • Read more

      I get up and switch on my PC and firstly check my emails and other messages. I keep in touch with other team members in online meetings 2-3 times a week. We work together to design surveys for schools to run such as the Pollinator Count. At other times I write computer code to check and analyse data. I keep Fridays free to read what other researchers have published lately, and work on writing my own journal articles and blogs to share our research.

    CV

    • Education:

      Langstone First and Middle School, Oaklands RC School, Havant College, Open University, Manchester Metropolitan University, Imperial College London

    • Qualifications:

      GCSEs: double science, English, maths, geography, French, RE, art, graphic design, IT, business studies. A levels: Geography, Biology, Chemistry, General Studies, OCR CLAIT level 1, IBT level 2. University Certificate in Biological Recording and Species Identification. BSc Natural Sciences. MSc Taxonomy and Biodiversity. PhD soil biodiversity.

    • Work History:

      Project Officer, Project Co-ordinator, Citizen Science Facilitator and Designer, Field Assistant on a pollinator project, Administration Assistant for social services, Medical Administrator in GP surgery, Administrator in a police station, Administration Team Manager in a DIY store, Retail assistant in a video store, Retail assistant in a DIY store, Team Manager in a pet shop, Trainee microbiologist, Retail assistant in a pet shop.

    • Current Job:

      Postdoctoral Researcher, National Education Nature Park.

    • Employer:

      Natural History Museum London

    • My Interview

      • What did you want to be after you left school?

        A scientist

        Were you ever in trouble at school?

        Yes, I used to get in trouble for talking back to teachers

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

        Administration - I love organising things

        Who is your favourite singer or band?

        Rammstein

        What's your favourite food?

        Chocolate

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

        Have a permanent job, be more confident in myself, sleep better

        Tell us a joke.

        What is brown and sticky? A stick!