From Biomedical Science to Science Communication

I was attracted to biomedical science at Sheffield due to the diversity of topics covered on the course and the opportunity to perform full cadaver dissections. I felt being able to investigate the body more practically would create a fuller learning experience.

Whilst at Sheffield I was intrigued by the opportunity to get involved in academic research as part of the university’s Sheffield Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) scheme, however none of the projects felt quite right.

The department offered a separate scheme where you could get directly in contact with the researcher you were interested in working with and ask if it would be possible to do a summer placement with them.

Since leaving Sheffield I have started working at the Science Museum, London as a science communicator. Many of the experiences I had at Sheffield helped me get there. Studying Biomedical Science helped me increase my knowledge and confidence in science.

Eira Watts Moore

BSc Biomedical Science

I contacted Dr Nikolaev about working in his lab. He had already offered the placement to another student but said I could do a project with him over the summer anyway. My project was looking at learning and memory in zebrafish.

Then when starting our final year projects in third year I had the opportunity to work in Dr Nikolaev’s lab again, this time looking at calcium dynamics to understand the diversity of cancer cells. The data collected from this project contributed in part to his paper ‘Imaging of calcium dynamics using genetically encoded calcium indicators and automatic tracking of cultured cells’.

Being involved in work that lead to a published paper was an incredibly exciting experience and I am so grateful that I was given that opportunity.

Since leaving Sheffield I have started working at the Science Museum, London as a science communicator. Many of the experiences I had at Sheffield helped me get there. Studying Biomedical Science helped me increase my knowledge and confidence in science.

Whilst studying I also volunteered at Festival of the Mind. This was a collaboration between the university and artists around Sheffield to increase awareness and engagement with the research going on in Sheffield.

This increased my confidence in communicating science to a variety of different people and helped me to understand of the importance of creating engagement with and around science.