CRH researchers encourage young scientists

A group from MRC Centre for Reproductive Health visited Preston Lodge High School in East Lothian to take part in a Careers Exploration Day, to encourage an interest in scientific research as a future career path.

The school, which has more than 1,000 pupils, created this event to enable students of all ages to explore a wide variety of different career options and the best ways to access opportunities.

A wide range of sectors were represented at this Careers Day, which took place on 24 October 2018, including science, the food and drink industry, tourism and business services.

Melissa Tharmalingam and Gabriele Matilionyte (PhD students from Mitchell lab) and Jingang Huang (Postdoc from Qian lab) ran an interactive workshop to showcase the improvements that are being made to cancer treatment and fertility preservation thanks to the research carried out at CRH.

The fabulous trio presented passionately about their research fields and offered vital encouragement and advice to students who were eager to enter careers in research, science, and medicine.

They also flagged the many different jobs that can be accessed after the completion of a PhD and gave examples of their own career progression from their school years onwards.

Students were encouraged to engage with our researchers by asking questions and were invited to dabble in research by identifying images of cancerous cells.

Around 60 students took part in the fun and interactive workshop and we received really positive feedback from the school. The CRH team thoroughly enjoyed this public engagement experience.