International Women's Day - Meet some of the Science Ceilidh Team

Happy International Women’s Day!

Recently for International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we featured some of our fantastic team on social media.

The team shared their stories about how they became interested in Science Communications, and ended up working at Science Ceilidh. What became clear, with each account we read, was the passion behind each and every story, making it so hard to cut these down to make them social media friendly! So, we thought, to celebrate today, and of course to celebrate our team, we would share these features in more detail…

First up, we have…Iris!

Iris Henzel - Project Officer (She/Her)

Iris’ love for science started in high school – she enjoyed learning new and interesting facts about the world. From there she studied Neuroscience at Glasgow University and learnt that there is also a lot we do not know, and that Science is a process, rather than just a selection of facts. Iris also worked as an associate scientist in a lab checking the safety of medicine, working under a female boss and line manager!

During her time at university, Iris learned all about Science Communication, and became enthusiastic about the topic because it has such promise to bridge the gap between the research, and the people the research is relevant to (the real world, if you will).

This inspired her to go on to study a Masters in Science and Communication at the University of Edinburgh, and luckily for us, she was allocated Science Ceilidh for her placement.

“I was very interested in how observing Science Communication can be a tool in community work. Now, I work at Science Ceilidh, supporting a range of projects, and learning every day! Science for me has developed from a way to learn facts about the world, to something that allowed me to move abroad, to a process of continuing to ask questions, based in the real world’s social structures”.

Next we have Alexia…

Alexia Karageorgis - Educational Resource Editor (She/Her)

“I was always interested in how things work, and enjoyed observing the world around me (this is beginning to sound like my university application personal statement!). I enjoyed all sciences at school,but I really understood geography best as a way of observing things and describing them, and at a scale that made sense. 

I could easily picture, for example, different types of landscapes, or rivers meandering, or the way a city changes from its centre to the outskirts, unlike the forces holding atoms together or the way in which molecules move in our bodies.

When I realized I could study geography at university, and not knowing what I wanted to do afterwards, I went for it. What I hadn’t foreseen is that choosing a course that covers many things would leave me in the same position of not knowing exactly where to go with it once I was finished!”

After Alexia graduated from university, she started writing for an environmental conservation blog and proofreading environmental science articles, and later found a job editing high school science textbooks.

She realised all of this involved communicating science in various ways and to a range of audiences, and, on a whim, looked up if science communication was an official qualification! It turns out it was…

Alexia moved to Edinburgh for the Science Communication and Public Engagement MSc in 2014, at which point Science Ceilidh was still in its formative stages and not hosting any placement students yet.

Through a mutual friend who worked with a charity and was collaborating with Lewis (Science Ceilidh’s founder) on some pilot STEM programs in schools, she met Lewis in 2018 and started working with Science Ceilidh, mostly developing resources explaining scientific phenomena in innovative ways.

“I found meeting researchers and working together to adapt explanations of their research for different audiences very interesting. While living in Edinburgh, I was also involved with some in person delivery of workshops but I’m currently working on resource development and evaluation for various projects”.

Next up, Lauren from Science Ceilidh shares a little about her career path, and how she ended up working with us.

Lauren Pyott - Network Coordinator (She/Her)

“Like many others, it took me quite a while to figure out what I wanted to do when I ‘grew up’. My first dream job was that of a geologist, when my uncle took us on a fossil hunting trip in Skye, but soon aged 6, the allure of chatting to people all day (and my love of buttons and gadgets) made me decide to become a bus driver. When I was 7 I discovered the power of literature and wanted to become a writer, but learning about the human body I became fascinated with the complex systems we each hold within us and how that can dictate how we are in the world. At secondary school English, French and Biology equally jostled for first place.

Choosing what to study at University was overwhelming and throughout my five years I changed my programme multiple times, variously studying English Literature (I wanted to understand the world and always felt closest to doing so through literature); Linguistics (I wanted to understand how human language came to be the unique phenomenon it is and what goes on inside us to make that possible, or at times, impossible); Social Anthropology (I wanted to understand the role that culture plays in shaping human behaviour and how different versions of truth can co-exist); and finally Arabic (initially in response to my childhood days in Palestine, but finally as a realisation that I could explore all of these interests at once in one ‘subject’).

Photo Credit: Lauren Pyott

Having my cake and eating it was not so easy once I graduated and I oscillated between working as a literary translator, a freelance writer, an organiser of cultural events across the Middle East and Scotland, a literary editor, a researcher looking at the politics of knowledge production in Syria’s diasporas, and a community organiser focusing on bringing social justice to the local climate change movement. I always felt like something was missing. Moving back to my hometown in the north of Scotland made finding a way to weave all of these elements together even harder, where tourism is one of the biggest employers in town. That is, until I discovered Science Ceilidh and was offered a job as a network coordinator, bringing researchers and communities together across the Highlands & Islands to explore community-led research in areas of climate change and mental health.

Once again, I’m able to have my cake and eat it – satisfying my scientific curiosity for understanding how the world works and my desire to explore how humans uniquely shape it through culture, language and the arts. Through this role I can be that young girl inspired to become a geologist when discovering a fossil on the beach, nurturing others in the community to scratch their own scientific itches but to do so from a place that makes sense of their own world, whether shaped by their language, their cultural traditions, an artistic perspective or their own ‘truth’ and way of making sense of the world.

Photo Credit - Nicky Murray

Next up is Becky, who helps us with the social media side of things:

Becky Drinkwater - Marketing Freelancer (She/Her)

“Growing up on a croft in the highlands, with a passion for Biology and obsession with David Attenborough documentaries, coupled with absolutely no idea whatsoever about what I wanted to do when I 'grew up' - I decided to study Zoology at the University of St Andrews.

During my time at university, I became actively involved with the St Andrews Voluntary Service, running a volunteer scheme teaching science in support for learning departments at local schools, and another volunteer scheme organising student volunteering placements at three local animal sanctuaries. Not long after graduation I began working in the voluntary sector, eventually working in marketing and communications for various charities, and most recently working with Science Ceilidh. I’ve only been working with Science Ceilidh for a few months, but the team have made me feel so welcome, and it’s really rewarding learning about all of their fantastic projects and networks, and helping to raise awareness about their work”

Freya has also kindly shared her story below…

Freya Taylor - Scotland Fun Palaces Ambassador (She/Her)

“I’ve never been very sure about what type of work I wanted to do. The thing that I have always been certain about is that I love being around people and I love music. When I left school I didn’t know what I wanted to do so I started working as a carer, working with children, young people and adults with disabilities - I loved the variety of the work and that I never knew what my day would hold.

I was very aware that I would like to involve my love for music and art in my work which is when I started working with Fun Palaces and where I first heard about Science Ceilidh. I wanted to go to university but wanted to study a bit of everything from music to psychology, to journalism to English and to French.

I finally made a decision and am now in my second year studying Journalism and French at Strathclyde University. I am very lucky to get work with carers and young people and am able to share my love for music, learning and sharing.”

Last but not least, is team member Katie.

Katie Weldon - Project Officer and Coordinator (She/Her)

“I initially had the intention of going to university to study education and get into teaching but I really enjoyed learning about science, especially human biology. Just before I went into 6th year of high school my parents encouraged me to think about studying science at university since I enjoyed it so I started looking into different options and settled on applying for degrees in biomedical sciences.

I started out studying biomedical sciences at the University of Dundee which involved a neuroscience module and prompted me to switch my degree to neuroscience. In my final year for my honours project, I chose to do a public engagement project that involved developing an interactive stall themed around a research topic for upper primary pupils (my project was looking at the treatment of chronic pain in arthritis). It was during this project that it sparked for me that I could combine my interest in science and my interest in education and sharing knowledge outwith a typical classroom setting. This then led me to a master's degree in science communication and public engagement at the University of Edinburgh. The course involved two placements which for me was how I met Lewis and started working with Science Ceilidh.

In my role now I am primarily involved in working with youth workers and researchers to develop STEM-themed sessions and delivering our school workshops. I feel very lucky to be working in a role that lets me continue exploring both my interest in science and in education while working with lots of incredible people. I also really enjoy working with young people and exploring the diverse nature of STEM careers you can get into with them beyond working in a lab.”

If you made it to the end, thank you for reading our first blog post! Keep your eyes peeled for the next one!