International Women’s Day - Smart Nano NI
During this week, we will share profiles of our women colleagues from Consortium partners bringing their perspectives on the importance of International Women’s Day, their career journey and what they have learned along the way. Our first conversation is with Dr Jade Scott.
Dr Jade Scott, QUB CNM
Smart Nano NI Conversation with Dr Jade Scott. Jade is a postdoctoral researcher at Queen’s University Belfast’s Centre for Nanostructured Media.
What’s your career background?
I was one of the first postgraduate students to start at the Centre for Doctoral Training in Photonic Integration and Advanced Data Storage (PIADS) in 2015 after completing a degree in Physics at the University of Liverpool. Now, after completing my PhD, I’m researching magnetic multi layers and synthetic ferrimagnets at Queen’s. I’m looking at the potential of these structures for all optical switching and their future applications in data storage.
Why is International Women’s Day important?
I think barriers still exist for women in my field, perhaps in more subtle ways than you might expect and usually to do with outdated attitudes about women and their capabilities. So, initiatives like International Women’s Day are important to challenge those attitudes, celebrate women’s achievements and encourage young women into careers that were traditionally quite male-dominated.
Which woman has most inspired you and why?
My grandmother was a force of nature. We were quite young when she died and it wasn’t until many years later that I learnt that everything she had done for us as kids had also been done while she was terminally ill. Right from the very start I’ve had examples of just what a determined woman can do, even against all the odds.
What would you say to your younger self?
Be confident enough to study something that you think you will enjoy and don’t worry about setting your career path in stone as things can change. There will always be opportunities if you find something you are passionate about.
Working through the pandemic has brought its unique challenges and opportunities - what are your hopes for the future?
It’s really affected how we research as we’ve lost the ease with which we made connections and find inspiration in the lab. I also miss travelling and hands-on experiments, but there are positives too. We’ve had to learn to be more flexible, more efficient with our time and recognise the need for a better work/life balance and I hope in the next year we work all of that into something new. It would be a shame if we didn’t take this as an opportunity to change and grow into something better.