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Science is for

Everyone

Aberdeen Science Grrl

Agenda

19:00-19:15 Welcome and Introduction

19:15-19:30 Bethany Graves

19:30-19:45 Gabriella Thomas

19:45-20:00 Mairead Black

20:00-20:15 Break

20:15-20:30 Heather Morgan

20:30-20:45 Dafne Eerkes-Medrano

20:45-21:00 Lynda Blackadder

21:00-21:30 Open Session – Q and A

Tweet your questions @sciencequines #sci_foreveryone

About Science Grrl

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Science Grrl is a network of (mostly) women working

in Science, Engineering, and Technology And Maths.

We are a group of people who are passionate about

celebrating women in science and passing on our love

of science to the next generation. Our national

campaign is aimed at improving equality for women

working in STEM fields. By developing local networks

of women working in STEM fields, Science Grrl can

show the real face of female scientists.

Today Science Grrl from the Aberdeen Chapter are

here to talk to you about their work. We hope that by

listening to these stories you will be inspired to follow

a STEM career. The talks that you will here are going

to cover a number of different disciplines and subject

areas. Each of these jobs is very different but we think

you will pick up some common themes.

The European Union, in their Women in Research

and Innovation project have set out some reasons why

science and engineering can offer a great career and

some of the societal challenges that science and

engineering can address

Reasons why you will love science1

You can really improve people’s lives:

Getting involved in science means making a “world of

difference”. If you want to prevent the spread of disease,

improve the quality of life for people, protect the fragile

natural environment, put food into people’s hands and combat

1 http://science-girl-thing.eu/en

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poverty, then science is for you

Use your imagination and creativity

Great science is about creating, seeing connections, asking

questions, understanding how and why things work. If you

want to find out answers to “Why? How? When? What happens

if…?” and you want to invent something that no one else has

ever thought of, then you are in the right place.

Science is exciting

Want to learn to understand how animals

communicate? Study the planets? How about getting into the

social media field? Will today be the day you get the answers

to the questions you’ve been asking? Science is fun and exciting

– wake up curious.

You work as part of a team and can travel the world

Interested in an international job? A research career can open

doors to the world: work with local people and members of

your research team who can be in different countries all over

the world. Science means meeting people and learning with

and from them.

6 reasons that science and engineering needs

you.

The challenges our world faces need to be tackled by

all of us. Here you’ll find the key ideas we need to

work on together and you’ll be able to see if any of

them fire up your inner scientist!

Health, demographic change and wellbeing: You can help

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us all lead longer and healthier lives

Food security, sustainable agriculture and the bio-

economy: You can help to feed the world

Secure, clean and efficient energy: You can help find

sources of energy

Smart and clean transport: You can design cleaner and

more efficient transport

Climate action, resource efficiency and raw materials:

You can help efforts to use our planet’s natural resources

carefully and take action on global warming

Innovative and secure societies: You can make the most

out of great ideas to create a safe society

Speakers

Heather Morgan Social Scientist at Aberdeen

University

Heather is a social scientist and qualitative researcher

at the Health Services Research Unit, University of

Aberdeen. Heather specialises in research where

surveillance/monitoring, ‘deviance’ and gender

intersect. She uses observational and interview

methods to gather data from people in a range of

settings. Heather is currently exploring people’s uses of

health monitoring technologies (apps, wearables, etc.)

independently of health care. What kinds of things

make them popular? Do they improve health – for

who? Could the health service learn from positive

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views and experiences to revamp mainstream health

care? Previous work has looked at self-management of

long term health conditions, interventions for

smoking in pregnancy and breastfeeding, and gender

in police CCTV.

Heather has studied at the University of Aberdeen

since 2001 and received her first degree in Law -

with French Language and Forensic Medicine - (LLB

(Hons)) in 2005, a Certificate (CertHE) in Gender

Studies and Philosophy in 2006, a Masters (MRes)

degree in Social Research in 2007 and her Doctorate

(PhD) in 2013. She was awarded Fellowship of the

Higher Education Academy (FHEA) in 2011.

Bethany Graves Marine Zoologist – Offshore

Industries Advisor at Joint Nature Conservation

Committee

Bethany started scuba diving at the age of 15 as part

of her Duke of Edinburgh skills training. A love of

the sea paired with a fondness for biology at school

meant she chose to study Marine Zoology at Newcastle

University. After graduating, she then went straight

into a Masters degree in Marine Resource Development

and Protection at Heriot Watt University in

Edinburgh. Bethany started working for the

Edinburgh International Science Festival as a Science

Communicator, at both the Edinburgh festival and

the Abu Dhabi festival. She then secured a job with

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the company on their touring roadshow, delivering

science workshops to schools all over the country in

an attempt to engage and inspire teachers and pupils.

Bethany now works for the Joint Nature Conservation

Committee as an Offshore Industries Advisor. This

involves advising the government on nature

conservation issues relating to offshore industries – oil

and gas, dredging, windfarms and even things such as

TV companies filming whales and dolphins. Bethany’s

interest in marine conservation has taken her to far

flung places such as Indonesia and Bermuda on

volunteer projects.

Gabriella Thomas Completion Engineer (Clair Field)

at BP.

In 2013 Gabriella graduated from Manchester

University with an MEng in chemical engineering.

She chose chemical engineering because it was a

challenging degree which offers a range of options

upon graduation. Gabriella has been able to gain a

breadth of experience in chemical manufacturing

(Sunchemical), Refining& Supply (ExxonMobil) and

Well operations (BP).

There are a wide range of opportunities in the energy

sector, one of these areas is Well engineering. This

essentially encompasses designing and maintaining a

conduit between the oil and gas in the subsurface

reservoir and the processing equipment at surface.

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Well engineering offers many links for those who have

ambitions to take a STEM subject.

In her final year of university Gabriella was offered a

summer internship working as a well engineer in the

BP's Global Wells Organisation. Gabriella has worked

offshore in the North Sea and has the chance to work

offshore and gain experience of well interventions,

abandonments and drilling operations. She has

visited a variety of installation, semi-subs, jack ups

and oil platforms. Gabriella feels that the energy

industry has a lot to offer engineering graduates with

upcoming challenges to meet growing energy demands

alongside an ever-quickening pace of technological

development. If this interests you, definitely consider

it.

Lynda Blackadder Data Analyst - Coastal and

Offshore Fisheries at Marine Scotland

Lynda Blackadder (nee Allan) graduated from

Aberdeen University in 2006 after completing her BSc

Hons Marine Biology and a MRes Marine and

Fisheries Science. She currently works as a Data

Analyst in the Coastal and Offshore Fisheries group

(previously known as Inshore Fisheries) for Marine

Scotland Science. Lynda has worked at the Marine

Laboratory in Aberdeen for 8 years and has been

involved in various aspects of work including;

research vessel trips, market sampling and fieldwork,

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data analysis, attending international meetings and

providing scientific advice to policy and stakeholders

on inshore fisheries and Marine Protected Areas

(MPAs).

Lynda has only recently returned to work after

maternity leave and admits that juggling home life

and work is a bit of a challenge! Her current role

involves work on the Nephrops stock assessments to

advise on the status and management of stocks in the

waters around Scotland. She has been a STEM

ambassador for 4 years and enjoys speaking to young

people about the importance of science and

mathematics in the workplace.

Mairead Black Maternity Doctor and Obstetrics

researcher

Mairead Black is a doctor in Aberdeen Maternity

Hospital. She went to Harlaw Academy then

graduated from medical school in Glasgow in 2004.

Since then she has spent nearly seven years training

to be an obstetrician (maternity hospital doctor),

while also completing a Masters degree in Public

Health and Health Services Research and having two

babies. She is researching pregnancy problems (eg.

stillbirth) and why children born by caesarean

section are more likely to develop illness (eg. asthma

and obesity). She spends part of her week doing

research, working towards a PhD, and the remaining

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time doing caesarean sections or looking after

pregnant women before and during their birth

Dafne Eerkes-Medrano Zooplankton Ecologist -

Marine Scotland Science

Dafne works as a zooplankton ecologist at the Marine

Laboratory in Aberdeen. She studies patterns, in

space and time, in the populations and communities

of coastal zooplankton. Dafne came to Scotland from

Canada two years ago. She has studied and done

scientific research in various places, including the

west coast of Canada and the United States, New

Zealand, Australia and even Antarctica.

In secondary school Dafne focused on sciences and

took chemistry, physics, math and biology. She did

her Bachelor degree in Biology at the University of

Victoria, Canada, and her PhD in marine ecology at

Oregon State University, USA. In her studies and

research she’s worked with a variety of animals

ranging in habitats from the deep sea, intertidal,

open ocean, and Antarctic. She’s done research

focused from the organism level to the community

level, and this research has covered topics ranging

from animal development and behaviour to impacts

of changing environmental conditions on animal

communities. Dafne enjoys her job at the Marine

Laboratory in Aberdeen because zooplankton are an

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important part of the North Sea food web and it’s

always interesting to participate in research cruises

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Find out more:

Follow our national campaign on twitter

@Science_Grrl or go to the website

www.sciencegrrl.co.uk.

If you are over 16, you can become a member for only

£5. http://sciencegrrl.co.uk/join/.

You can find out more about the local group on

twitter by following @sciencequines

This event has been organised as part of British

Science Week. The programme of events has been co-

ordinated by the Aberdeen Branch of the British

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Science Association, working in partnership with the

University of Aberdeen and other partners, and with

support from BP and the Scottish Government.

You can follow all the events and keep up to date via

the British Science Association Aberdeen Facebook

page.

https://www.facebook.com/britishscienceassociationab

erdeen

The programme has events for people of all ages and

interests. There is still time to book one of the other

events – the full programme can be found here:

http://www.abdn.ac.uk/engage/content-

images/BritishScienceWeek2015webs.pdf

Marine Scotland Science are kindly supporting the

event by offering a venue. Refreshments have been

provided courtesy of fundraising from our Science

Ceilidh, which was also supported by local Ceilidh

band Tir-na-Nog and the Science Ceilidh Band in

Edinburgh

Feedback Form:

Event: Science is for Everyone, Aberdeen

Science Grrl

Date: 19th March 2015 Location:

Marine Scotland

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