I was appointed a lecturer in Inorganic Chemistry at Queen’s University in 2001 and I currently act as SAWN champion for the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. I decided to come to Belfast for both personal and professional reasons, and it has been a very positive experience from the start.

My fascination for science and discovering new things started when I watched an old film about Marie Curie when I was around 10-12 years old. That, together with a very good chemistry teacher in secondary school, set me off towards a Chemistry Degree; which I did in the University of Murcia (Spain) close to where I grew up. As an undergraduate, I was truly inspired by my final year project supervisors and I stayed on for a PhD in their group. Choosing to pursue an academic career afterwards has allowed me to fulfil that early fascination, and at the same time I have been able to do things I probably wouldn’t have done otherwise, such as living in three different countries, travel the world and have a truly international group of friends (now living all over the place – I’m so grateful for low-cost airlines). Through these travels, I also met my husband. We have a 3-year old daughter and I highly value the University work-life balance policies, which have allowed me to work flexibly without jeopardising my academic career.

Cristina Lagunas

 

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Hi, my name is Kimberlee and I’m a 4th year undergrad here at Queen’s. It’s my final year and it’s a little scary that time has flown by so quickly! This has been my favourite year, a lot of the ‘stuff’ we have been taught over the years is coming together and everything is fitting together nicely. A research project during the year has given me a lot more confidence and enthusiasm in doing more research. I’m currently applying for PhD’s, mostly in the area that my project has been because I found the research and lab work I was carrying out really interesting. If I ever discovered an element I would call it Kimberleium.

This year I became the president of the chemistry society. That was a bit of a scary task at first but with a great committee, this year has been really successful. We held a lecture hosted by the head of school, Professor Chris Hardacre and Dr Migaud. About 20 local schools turned up for the ‘Flashes and Bangs’ demonstration –and don’t worry no one lost an eye or a finger! There are plenty more thing in the pipelines, hopefully everyone will get home from the formal.

Outside of university I teach swimming (no lie-ins for me on a Saturday morning) and work in a golf club (even though I have no idea about golf!). I love milk, smashing glass, the pop sound of a new jar, music, screaming at rugby players when I don’t even know why I’m screaming at them, travelling and snuggling into my pyjamas with a cup of tea! I hate the feel and sound of cotton wool, that screeching sound that your tyres make when you brake too fast, the general cold, I don’t like chocolate and detest ‘sniffers’.

Kimberlee Willis