I'm Francia Allabush.
I'm a second year PhD student currently studying
at the School of Chemistry and the School
of Chemical Engineering, and my research involves
using DNA aptamers for sensor applications.
I chose Birmingham for my research degree
because I live in Coventry, so it’s convenient
location wise, and Birmingham is a world respected
university.
It’s part of the Russell Group and it’s
quite high up on the league tables, so I thought
I’d give it a try, and surprisingly they
managed to accept me so here I am.
You’ve got a lot of freedom in terms of
what you actually do because before I started
my PhD I actually worked in industry, and
it’s sort of stricter, regimented, you have
to be in at a certain time, you have to leave
by a certain time, you have to do so much
work, whereas doing a PhD you like organise
your own time, you decide what time you come
in, what time you leave, you decide what experiments
you're going to run that day, and it’s all
down to you.
It’s all your ideas as well, so if you have
an idea you can actually try and do experiments.
You're not dictated by what someone is telling
you to do.
The postgraduate community at the School of
Chemistry and Birmingham is very close because
there's not many of us.
I’d say I think a hundred, up to a hundred
– no about fifty in total, and we’re split
up onto different floors.
So I probably chat to most people on the same
floor, so in the same lab as me or same office
as me, and I do speak to people on other floors
if the equipment’s on the other floors that
I need to use, but I tend to know most people
in the department for various things, so I
can liaise with them.
My favourite thing about being a researcher
at Birmingham has been the fact that I can
sort of organise my experiments in my own
time and the social aspects.
I've made so many friends since I started
so from the first day I've got quite a close-knit
group of friends that I always socialise with
outside of the lab, and because they're chemists
as well I can talk to them about any troubles
I'm having with my experiments and in the
past they have been able to solve them for
me, so it’s been great.
Before I started this PhD I was working for
a chemical company and I realised that I don’t
think I want to pursue chemistry in industry,
but I'm just seeing how my PhD goes, and depending
on whether I really enjoy my project I might
hope to do something industrial with it.
I don’t know if my work can get patented
and may be look into businesses or doing a
postdoc if not, but I don’t want to become
an academic.
So a postdoc would probably be prolonging
the time I need to choose my career.
I have gained teaching experience at the University
of Birmingham via demonstrating.
So I've been demonstrating undergrads in the
lab, helping them with their undergraduate
experiments, and just coaching them, showing
them the right way to do certain techniques,
telling them off sometimes – actually most
of the time.
So the facilities at the School of Chemistry
are really good.
The analytical facility with mass spec and
NMR, and the team are very, very helpful if
I come across any problems with using the
equipment – they’re there on hand within
a couple of minutes if they're not off that
day.
In terms of equipment I use for my research
and any expertise I need, it’s readily available
at the School of Chemistry at Birmingham.
My research is funded by the School of Chemistry
100% tuition fees and some maintenance for
accommodation and travel.
My top tip for a prospective student wanting
to study a PhD in research is keep a very
up to date and very detailed lab book because
when it comes to writing your thesis, if there
are gaps in the lab book then it will be a
nightmare to try and figure out what you wrote,
say two years ago.
That would be my top tip.
