Miriam Gifford
What is your current role and what does a typical week look like?
I have lots of roles (but please don't say I wear a lot of hats!). I'm a lab head (PI) looking at the mechanism of how plants work with beneficial microbes in the soil to boost yield ... although it's my team of PhD students and research team that carry out the work, I mostly write grants to bring in the money! As well as lecturing, tutoring and developing new teaching methods I am Head of School, which means getting involved in both strategic planning, making sure things work day-to-day and supporting our huge community of staff and students.
Which part of your role do you enjoy the most, and what are the biggest challenges?
I love the diversity of my job with the chance to develop new scientific knowledge and teaching innovations. After recently developing a new online unit to help support students with lab practicals I'm really getting into devising new ways to teach and assess that will hopefully enable students to show more of the skills that count. The biggest challenge is to have time to do these new things - creative time - and not just 'writing emails all day' as my 10 year old thinks/knows I do!
How has your education or roles previous to joining Life Sciences, informed your interests, and why did you choose this career direction?
I always loved plant science and after my PhD I won a fellowship to work in New York University as a postdoc researcher. This not only gave me the chance to form a niche in plant root research but the international experience was fantastic! There is no training to be an academic - you need a passion for the freedom to develop ideas in teaching and research, the confidence to get involved, and the ability to have a go at things that are new to you.
What is your favourite place on campus and why?
Tocil woods are super, particularly since they are continually changing - each walk through differs because of the time of year. But its also a great place as I have spent many happy hours searching for cool mosses, ferns and flowers to use in the Royal Society of Biology's British Biology Olympiad competition that we host annually in the School.
Can you give an example of something that has made you feel part of the community while in Life Sciences, and what could be improved to enable this?
The willingness of people to help each other out is tremendous here - when I've asked for help, or asked colleagues to give up their time or ideas, there's no fuss - just action. What is hard is that not everyone is visible - this means that we are missing the opportunity to include more people, and they are missing out. Creative ideas to solve this are needed!
What are your main interests or passions, outside of work?
Much of my time outside of work is family based - whizzing around with two daughters (aged 10 and 13) - from hockey matches to homework! But I also love to bake new things, my most recent being profiteroles; 1.5 hours to make ... eaten by the family in 10 mins!
Interview October 2021