About Me

Nerd. Geek. Physicist. Trainer. Coach. Mum. Chicken keeper. Dissectologist (not what you think!).

We and others give ourselves lots of labels, don’t we? Sometimes these can be good, sometimes limiting.

I prefer stories.

Once upon a time there was a little girl who loved jigsaws and dinosaurs. When she was 4 or 5 she asked her parents for an electron microscope because she wanted to be a scientist. I didn’t get the microscope but by the time I was 28, I had a physics degree, a medical physics PhD (both from the ‘bridge’ part of Oxbridge) and 3 years postdoctoral research at The Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre. 

A career break for son number one (I now have three, two of whom are taller than me) didn’t force a career rethink but it did allow one. I decided to stay at home for a while and play Lego (sorry, look after my son).

Opportunist. Optimist. (oops more labels) I saw an advert to be an ad-hoc trainer for The University of Cambridge. It combined all the things I had done and enjoyed, wrapped them all up into a package and sent me off into a new career direction.

I worked with a great team to develop a transferable skills programme for PhD students and postdocs. In 2009 I was co-head of Academic Staff Development. But I was missing what I loved – working at the coal face (bench? desktop?) with the people I loved – early career researchers.

So EJW Solutions Limited was born and I became an entreprenuer. I now work in the UK and overseas with scientist and technical people. I love it.

Happily ever after? I hope so …