Biographies
Claire Grills
I undertook a four year MSci degree in Mathematics at Queens University, Belfast. I followed this with a PhD in Bioinformatics which involved collaborating with oncologists and medical researchers. I was well supported throughout the PhD and found it to be both interesting and challenging. If I had the opportunity to do it all again I would still chose the path I did because a maths degree opens a lot of doors and it is something employers are very receptive to. It leaves you equipped for a wide choice of careers, the logical thinking and problem solving skills you develop during the course of the degree are qualities you need for many jobs. Before going to university I believed the stereotype that males were more likely to undertake maths or science degrees but after I arrived I realised this was very far from the truth and gender was not a noticeable divide in any of the modules I sat. Currently I am working as a maths teacher. I teach maths to students aged 11 - 18 and I absolutely love it. I spend the majority of the day delivering lessons and I find the enthusiasm I have for my subject helps me to engage the students.
Orla Kelly
I did the four year MSci in Physics and Applied Maths at Queens University Belfast. I favoured the Atomic, Molecular and Optical modules, and the final year of the MSci programme was by far my favourite. In this year, you work on a real research project in your chosen field. This is led by one of the Professors and you get to work with PhD students and research staff in the university. I loved this so much, I continued on to do a PhD for three years with the same research team. During my PhD, not only was I doing state-of-the-art research, but I got to travel the world, going to different conferences and meeting fascinating people. I am now working as a Design Engineer for a company in England, where I model and design specialist spectrometers for physics and chemistry experiments. It’s such a fascinating job, like no other job I know, and this is what I love about science. I wouldn’t be here without the experience I acquired at Queen’s. I didn’t notice the gender divide among the students at Queen’s, it just wasn’t an issue. However, now I am in employment, I can really see a lack of strong female researchers and engineers - I hope the next generation of physicists and mathematicians can change that!
Lisa McCrink
I am currently finishing my PhD in Statistics at Queen’s University Belfast and am about to start a position with Exploristics, a statistics company based in Belfast who focus on innovative analysis of clinical data. Prior to commencing my PhD, I completed a four year MSci degree in Mathematics and Statistics & Operational Research. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Queen’s and feel that it has given me great opportunities to expand my knowledge, build my confidence and fully prepare me for my future career. In particular, I have been fortunate to be given the opportunity to lecture the third year ‘Survival Analysis for Medicine’ module for the previous two years, an unforgettable experience that has strengthened even further my enthusiasm for statistics. In addition to this, I have also supervised an MSci student, presented at several international conferences and collaborated with both Belfast City Hospital and the UK Renal Registry. I believe that Queen’s not only gives you great opportunities to develop but does so with great support from all of the lecturers within the department.
Vicky Moulds
I graduated from Queen's University Belfast in 2007 with an MSci in Physics and Astrophysics. I enjoyed my time as an undergraduate at Queen's so much that I applied for a PhD position in Astrophysics also at Queen's. I was lucky enough to get accepted and so I spent another 3 years studying for my doctorate. The people I worked with at Queen's made everyday enjoyable and I have left with lots of new friends. I am currently employed in a local software company called LibertyIT where I help maintain and develop software for the Liberty Mutual insurance company. The skills I gained through my research and time at Queen's have helped me to succeed in my current job.
Helen McAneney
I graduated with an MSci in Mathematics from Queen’s University Belfast in 2001. Following this, I completed a PhD in Theoretical Physics within the research field of Quantum Information Theory in 2005. Since then I have been working as a Research Fellow and applying my mathematical skills to modelling within Medicine. This involved developing mathematical models of radiation treatments for cancer and more recently social network analysis and agent-based models being applied to Public Health. During this time, I gave birth to my first daughter, following which I returned to work in 2008 within the Centre for Health Improvement. In 2010, I was awarded a personal MRC Methodology Research Fellowship, which I commenced in 2011 after the birth of my second daughter in 2010. I am currently helping to supervise two PhD students and two MSci students, as well as publishing in peer reviewed journals, attending and presenting at national and international conferences. Although STEM subjects are often seen as male dominated, I have never found gender to be an issue, which in many ways is a measure of the success of Queens and the staff who have gone before me. In addition to this, the flexibility and understanding I have experienced at Queens has meant that I am able to achieve the kind of work life balance I require in terms of balancing my role as a researcher, mother and wife.
Alina Schilling
I completed both my BSc and MSc in Physics at the University of Bucharest, Romania. I then moved to Germany for my PhD and worked for 3 years at the Max Planck Institute in Halle. For my first postdoctoral appointment I decided to go to the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA. I then joined the School of Mathematics and Physics in Queen’s University Belfast in 2004 at first on a postdoctoral position and later on as a Senior Research Fellow. My work has been focused on studying functional materials with emphasis on ferroelectric and multiferroic materials which are to date used for data storage applications (especially for memory devices). My research has benefited from a large number of on-going international collaborations. In 2007 I was named researcher on a £1M grant financed by EPSRC. In addition to this, I was a co-investigator on the Alliance grant financed by the British Council to bring together academics from QUB, University of Cambridge and University of Amiens, France. With the enormous support I received from all grades of academic staff my research developed and in 2009 I was awarded a prestigious Career Acceleration Fellowship from the EPSRC. I am now Principal Investigator on a $460 k grant financed by EPSRC. In 2010 I had the opportunity to design and lecture a completely new course for master students in Physics which included 18 lectures, exam and assessment of students. This course was based on my research subject – Advanced Functional Materials. In addition to being in a great research and academic environment I have benefited from a wide range of support from Queens University to help balance both my career and family life such as maternity leave for both my kids, childcare vouchers, places in the nursery, to name just a few.
Clara Cassidy
I undertook a four year MSci Mathematics degree at Queen’s University Belfast, graduating in July 2007. Mathematics is a very broad subject and the large variety of well-taught modules available in Applied Mathematics, Pure Mathematics and Statistics offered the opportunity to discover in which area my interest lay. After studying modules in all three areas, I chose to focus on Applied Mathematics. After completing my degree I was keen to further explore applied mathematical concepts in a different setting to taught courses, so I embarked upon a PhD in Theoretical Physics graduating in July 2011. I thoroughly enjoyed both my degree and PhD experiences. They enabled me to develop a valuable and diverse skill set which would prove to be an asset in my future career. I currently work in the world of Software Engineering. I continue to use the problem-solving and logical thinking capabilities that I developed through my university study on a daily basis to assist in the development of technical solutions for a global company.
Rubina Kotak
Rubina Kotak did her MPhys (Astrophysics/French) degree at the University of Kent at Canterbury, and obtained her PhD in Astronomy from Lund Observatory (Sweden). Since then, she has held postdoctoral fellowships awarded by the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, hosted at Imperial College London, and a European Southern Observatory fellowship held at ESO headquarters in Garching, Germany. She joined the Astrophysics Research Centre as a staff member in 2007.Her main research interests lie in the physics of exploding stars and their use as probes of the early Universe.
Francesca Shearer
I completed my PhD in Theoretical Physics in July 1991 at Queen’s University of Belfast. In August 1991 I was awarded a prestigious international fellowship from the Centre National des Oeuvres Universitaires et Scolaires (CNOUS) in France to undertake research in ion-atom collisions at the Université Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris. My next research job in atomic and molecular physics took me to Japan in 1993 to work at RIKEN, an Atomic Physics laboratory based close to Tokyo. In November 1993 I was appointed as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Texas A & M University in the USA. I returned to Queen’s University Belfast in October 1994 having been the first person in Northern Ireland to have been awarded a prestigious Royal Society University Research Fellowship. I obtained a permanent lectureship at Queen’s University in October 2000 and later became a Senior Lecturer in October 2005. My career has been very rewarding and I have been very privileged to work among talented students, post-docs and colleagues. I have managed to combine a great career with family life which includes two children, by having a supportive husband who shares family commitments equally. This has been achieved in the early years with top-quality child care facilities and later by local schools close to the university with excellent after school clubs, all of which have made it possible to work full-time. My current area of research interest is the study of multiphoton detachment of electrons from negative ions.
Roisin Mackle
I graduated with a BSc in Mathematics, Statistics & Operational Research from Queens University Belfast in 2012. After my first year I realised I had a love for Statistics and decided to focus mostly in that area. I found my time at Queens to be very positive, it was challenging, but it helped me to become more confident, independent and motivated. I was involved with the maths mentor scheme and found it to be a fantastic experience. It provides all round support for students, whether it’s personal or academic, meaning you get constant encouragement and support from people who have went through the exact same things as you. For me graduating with a Maths degree opened up so many career opportunities; the analytical, logical and problem solving skills developed throughout the degree, are exactly what employers are looking for. When I applied to do Maths at Queens, I automatically assumed the majority of my class would be male, but I was immediately proved wrong; there was a good balance of both genders. I am currently working for First Derivatives PLC as a Financial Engineer. At present, I am training on trading systems used by some of the world’s leading financial institutions.
