Dashboard – I'm a Scientist 2024

About Me:

I’m a PhD student in Cork based in UCC. In my spare time I love to bake, listen to music and meet up with friends.
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I just started my third year of my PhD program in UCC. I’m based in the school of microbiology but really I’m a data scientist. My days generally involve spending a lot of time at my computer. In the evening though, I love to cook and my weekends are generally spent meeting up with friends or going for walks!
My pronouns are:

she/her
My Work:

I’m a PhD student and my work involves analyzing data which has been generated from the different bacteria present in our gut!
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My research looks at improving how we analyze biological data particularly data from the human microbiome. Our microbiomes are made up of all the bacteria that live in our body as well as their genetic information. In my work, I use methods from statistics and computer science to see if we can get a better understanding of biological data generated by scientists in the lab. For example, we can see if there are any differences in the type or number of bacteria present in the bodies of healthy people compared to people with a certain disease through statistics. Or we could potentially use methods like machine learning to identify patterns in the data and then based on what the computer learnt it may be able to make predictions on new data in the future.
My Typical Day:

I usually wake up around 7am and have breakfast (ham and cheese toastie usually). Some days I head to the office for around 8am but since my work is computer based I also have the option of working from home. I have lunch around 12:30 and then head back to my computer for the rest of the day. There’s also the odd tea break with my friends during the day too! Then I go home around 5pm.
What I'd do with the prize money:

I’d like to develop a workshop for school students to give them an introduction to bioinformatics. I’m hoping this will show those students that are interested in science but don’t think they’d like to work in a lab, that there are other options.

Curriculum Vitae

Education:

I went to Ballincollig Community School and studied Financial Maths in UCC. I then went on to do a Masters in Bioinformatics in UCC.
Qualifications:

I completed my leaving cert in 2014. Did an undergraduate and masters degree and now I’m working on my PhD.
Work History:

I used to work in an accountants office and I did an statistics research internship during my undergrad.
Current Job:

PhD Student and bioinformatics tutor.
Employer

I work in the School of Microbiology in UCC and I’m also part of the SFI CRT in Genomics Data Science.

My Interview
- What did you want to be after you left school?
  
  I wanted to be a secondary school maths teacher.
  
  Were you ever in trouble at school?
  
  No
  
  If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?
  
  I would have my own bakery!
  
  What's your favourite food?
  
  I absolutely love roast dinners!
  
  What is the most fun thing you've done?
  
  I went interrailing around Europe