UCL FACULTY OF LIFE SCIENCES

As a fundamental and unique process, photosynthesis has always fascinated me. This fascination inspired me to complete a BSc in Biochemistry at Bristol University and a PhD in the Photosynthesis Research group at UCL in 2000. Under the conscientious supervision of Dr. Conrad Mullineaux (now Professor at Queen Mary, University of London), I pursued research into the molecular mechanism of the regulation of light harvesting in a cyanobacterium. When I wasn't in the lab doing exciting research, I had the wonderful experience of singing in the London Philharmonic choir under some of the greatest of the world’s conductors.

In 2000, I moved to the Molecular Plant Physiology Group at the Australian National University in Canberra, where I started postdoctoral research on the carbon-fixing enzyme Rubisco, the enzyme which catalyses the rate limiting step of photosynthesis. As well as the research, I am also very much involved in the life of Burgmann College at the Australian National University. Australia is a fantastic place to live and work and I will be very proud to receive Australian citizenship early next year.

Whether I choose to pursue a long term career in research I am not sure, but I am sure that the time I spent doing research at UCL has given me invaluable intellectual and practical skills, many of them transferable. I also feel that research has helped me to develop as a person, not least through the many wonderful relationships I've developed with friends and colleagues.

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