Category: STEM success

There are loads of things I wish I was told before starting this PhD. The list is so long that I am not even sure where to start with. Apart from the obvious things, like making sure to find a supporting and understanding advisor (really learned this the hard way), familiarising with the wellbeing facilities like the health centre, gym etc, or finding your community of people, either by joining societies, book clubs, becoming member of sport and more professional clubs (will talk about this later on this month).

Continue reading “You will not win the Nobel Prize for your PhD thesis.”

You are about to finish your degree, master or PhD, and you are panicking because you have to apply for jobs but none tells you how to do it? After my last post on how to structure your CV (if you haven’t read it yet, please, check here), I was involved in loads of conversation about transferrable skills and what universities do or, most likely, don’t do to help the transition from academia to industry. I honestly don’t believe this is fair at all as, in many countries, students end up with an eternal mortgage to get an education.

Continue reading “#altac – How to look for jobs outside academia”

This article has been republished by the website sisterstem.org and can be found here.

The other day I came across an article published on Science Career with the title You have accomplished more than you think! It was written by my friend Karin, scientist and author of the book You Must Be Very Intelligent – The PhD Delusion. The article starts with the story of a postdoc who wants to leave academia but believes that the skills she gained during her academic research won’t grant her any job! Unfortunately, I hear this story over and over again and as I am approaching the end of my PhD, many people ask me “Are you gonna do a postdoc after this? Is there any chemical industry that will hire you after your PhD degree?” When I tell people that you can also work either in science communication, scientific affairs, as a medical writer, get an editorial job, patent attorney with a science degree, they stare at me with their mouth open. “I didn’t know that you could do that with a PhD!

Continue reading “Are you aware of your potential? How to structure you CV!”

I just want to start off with apologising for the long hiatus from blogging. The last 2 months have been hectic. I finished off my labwork, I am almost done with my thesis, I presented my research at the European Symposium on Organic Chemistry and I am applying for jobs. I also had a two-week vacation to visit my family in Italy because I needed a break from everything so badly.

Continue reading “How to deal with lack of motivation”

All right folks, long overdue post on how I am getting along with preparing my thesis defence. I know that this process isn’t the same for everyone and different universities adopt different criteria and requirement to earn a PhD degree. In my university and pretty much in many UK institutions, you have an oral exam with a professor from your university and another one from elsewhere. They question you about your work and assess your general knowledge on your field of research and your subject of study overall.

Continue reading “How to prepare for your PhD oral defence”

The right job is like the wedding dress, when you see the right one, you feel it!

I have been jumping around for the past 3 days because I got a job offer for a position as a scientist in a pharmaceutical company. I am beyond ecstatic to keep working in research and use my knowledge and silks to promote innovation in the field of drug discovery. Honestly, it sounds incredible!
Continue reading “How I got my dream job! – A personal perspective”

Science has been and, sadly continues to be, grossly racist and discriminatory. It might seem a long distant past where black bodies were inappropriately used for science, see the story of Henrietta Lacks for example. Unfortunately, some well-known and influential individuals in the science arena continues to feed the narrative of differences between races,  despite the American Society of Human Genetics states that any attempt to use genetics as scientific evidence and set differences between races shows a profound misunderstanding of the discipline.

Continue reading “PoC in STEM – Ebony in the Ivory Tower”

I mean there’s no secret about that, we’re in the year of the Lord 2022, the world just been turned upside down by a global pandemic and guess what? Women and other traditionally not represented groups of people are still likelt to be paid less than men to do the same job! Let’s celebrate! DISCLAIMER: This article was originally published on 7th Feb 2022.