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"Equity is being fair and impartial, believing that everyone has potential and can reach their highest qualities," Mehrnoosh Sadrzadeh, Professor, UCL Computer Science
What is your job role and how long have you worked at UCL?
I am a Professor at UCL Computer Science since August 2019.
What do you do in your job role?
I do research, apply for grants, supervise PhD students (I have 6!), organise seminars, workshops and conferences.
I give talks about my work, and since Sept 2021, I am helping with the directorship of an MEng programme in Computer Science called Mathematical Computations.
What’s the best thing about working in the Computer Science department?
Programming! It is amazing how with a bit of coding one can make sense of a lot of data, often so quickly.
We make hypotheses and run programs to find out whether they are correct. It is like being a scientist in a lab, but the subject matter is more abstract.
What challenges have you had in your career and how did you overcome them?
The worst challenge is when you are working on a research problem and the solution is nowhere in the sight, or what you thought was correct, turns out to be incorrect. I try to have a few problems I work on and when one does not work, shift to the other.
Having PhD students is very helpful in overcoming challenges too. Often, they have lots of novel ideas and skills that will help move research programs forwards.
What things do you wish you’d known before starting your career?
I wish I knew that everyone gets rejected some of the times. Also I wish I knew any idea is important and worth pursuing to some extent. For a while, I was waiting for the killer idea to come along.
I also wish I knew the value of attention to details and hard work, rather than miracles and oracles.
What advice do you have for people who want to do what you do?
Don't talk yourself down or think you are not good enough. Ressilience and hard work will really get you there.
Also, it is important not to take the negative occasions (such as paper or grant proposal rejections) personally and keep a network of collaborations around you.
What’s the best thing about your job?
The freedom of pursuing ideas, that people get to work together and students want to work on ideas with me. I am so glad I get a chance to help them realize their potentials.
Teaching is quite rewarding too. Also one gets to meet many noble people in academia.
What does equity mean to you?
Being fair and impartial, believing that everyone has potential and can reach their highest qualities.
I am so glad there is so much training at hand for learning how to be fair these days.
What is the best advice you have ever been given?
In my scientific work, that one has to first convince oneself that a certain method works or a specific statement or hypothesis is true. One of my supervisors used to ask me: do YOU think it is true? Have you convinced yourself? First convince yourself, then try to convince others.
Also not to write emails when you are angry or too excited, and always wait a few hours or even days. I often forget this one though.
Who inspires you and why?
The many great people in the faculty and department and the people I work with including my PhD students. Also, the lives and stories of scientists and people who change the world.
What professional achievement are you most proud of and why?
I am so proud of getting my current job in UCL, and also about my recent Senior Research Fellowship with Royal Academy of Engineering.
UCL is one of the best universities in the UK and the world, and I always wanted to be part of it. Royal Academy of Engineering fosters such excellent research and is full of inspiring people.
They are both institutions full of kind and humane people and I am so proud to be part of both bodies.
Where would you like to be in 5 years?
I would love to have my own interdisciplinary and diverse research group, with lots of funding and great connections to industry.
I would like to see some of what we have been doing create real impact in the form of commercial or cultural value.