Throughout the year I decided to go to seminars on a range of topics in order to broaden my knowledge so I could ultimately decide on which direction I want my career to go. By doing this I managed to gain an appreciation for the broadness of biology and the number of possible career paths that the degree I chose encompasses.
Some of the seminars I attended such as those by Richard Pierce and Ian Hawkins I found to be less relevant to my career path as I quickly realised that working in conservation and with large mammals is not something I want to pursue in the future. I did however recognise the importance of these fields in biology and their usefulness for preserving the global diversity in the future.
On the other hand talks such as those by Professor Chris van der Gast and Gary Porter Jones I found to be essential to me deciding on the area of biology that I wanted to work on, this is because they further increased my interest in microorganisms. This has clarified the area that I would like to work in in the future.
During this module there were also workshop sessions. I would not normally attend sessions like these as previously I thought that they would not be beneficial to me. However, I did find that these helped me to increase my skills in a number of different areas that are essential to securing a job in the future such as CV writing, answering interview questions and working in pressurised situations. Answering questions in an interview style scenario showed me that I often worry unnecessarily, and I am competent at talking about subjects I am studying e.g. my dissertation and in turn I have gained a little more confidence in these situations.
Through attending seminars, I gained an appreciation for the importance of research and how results can be applied and improve every day life. Because of this I have decided that I would like to pursue a career in research starting with a masters next year and then going on to a PhD. I went into my degree wanting to specialise in pathogens in animals and was particularly interested in viruses that incorporate their DNA or RNA into the host cell such as murine leukaemia virus, which is thought to cause cancer in mice. After studying in my third year and attending various seminars I have decided that for my masters I would like to focus on extremophile microorganisms, specifically the isolation of new archaea.
After my master’s degree I hope to continue in my research on extremophile microorganisms by studying for a PhD on this topic. I believe this will stand me in good stead for a career in research.
Another important skill I have improved on during this module is using social media. Previously I have not kept up with any of my social media accounts having both a twitter and an Instagram that I rarely used. I feel that through learning how to write formative posts in blog format I have will now have the confidence to post more often on other social media platforms in a formative way to relay knowledge I have learnt through my study to others.
Bethan's Blog 