International Women’s Day 2020

For International Women's Day, we looked internally and decided to celebrate some of the women who have been significantly influential to our team's life decisions. Please find below a selection of stories from our team members about the inspirational women in their lives….

Mrs Blackburn – Chemistry Teacher

An influential woman from my life would be my Chemistry teacher during high school, Mrs Blackburn.

She was the first person to make science, and in particular the subject of Chemistry, interesting and accessible to me. The theory and processes she taught me inspired me to learn more about Chemistry outside of school which subsequently made it easier for me to learn new theories and knowledge later in my school education and university career.

I would credit her with being a major factor in me choosing to do Chemistry at university.

Written by Simon England – Principal Recruitment Consultant

Grace Quigley – Sister

Grace is my older sister by 4 years. She has always been a very influential women to me in a great many ways.

Grace from a young age was very determined and hardworking. She set a very clear pathway for her career. She chose what she enjoyed doing and is now a successful Solicitor in Commercial Litigation!

As I went into my GCSEs & A levels I found I enjoyed Biology, Chemistry and Maths interesting, a far cry from my family, who were novelists, business people and teachers.

Grace was my first point of call for advice, asking her what I should focus on academically. Despite her lack of interest in the Sciences, Grace did not try and sway me to follow in her Humanities footsteps but instead supported and gave me confidence to create a new path for myself and mainly TO DO WHAT I ENJOYED!

I went on to complete a BSc in Biology and a MSc in Psychology afterwards.

This is just one of the MANY ways my sister has inspired me. Though not a scientist herself she inspired me to be a Scientist!

Written by Hanna Quigley – Recruitment Consultant

Mrs. Custard - High School Physics Teacher

She always pushed me to the best of my abilities and supported me in my school work.

At school I had two female Physics teachers who both inspired me to pursue Physics after high school.

I was the only girl in my school to go on and study Physics at University level, and Mrs Custard supported me every step of the way. To the point where she tutored me at my home on topics I found particularly difficult.

Written by Eleanor Mason – Scientific Recruiter; Software & Engineering Specialist

Angela Fynn – VRS’ very own Administrator

Ange - as we call her in the office - is by far the loveliest woman I know! She is always so nice and positive, asking about you, how things are and have been – with a smile on her face.

She does so much to help in the office, making everyone’s lives at work easier and still finds time to make a round of brews (to go with the biscuits she regularly brings in)!

Although she mainly works remotely, she does a sterling job and remains an essential part of VRS; I really don’t know what we would do without her!

Thanks for your kindness, generosity and positivity Ange, it is extremely appreciated!

Written by Franck Peron – Senior Recruitment Consultant

Mrs Hackney – Primary School Teacher

It’s quite likely I did science during primary school before the age of 10, but it’s was Mrs Hackney who really made it fun & formal.

By that I mean, we wrote & produced an experiment report stating; Aim, Equipment, Diagram, Method and Conclusion, having never approached any school work I like that before, I instantly found it fascinating.

It felt achievable to succeed in, because by year 5 children already have some preconceived ideas of what girls and boys are better at, and this felt brand new, with no bias!

I can hole heartily say Mrs Hackney is responsible for starting my lifelong interest in science!

Written by Kim Fairbrother – Marketing

Karolina Baliūnienė – Analyst

Karolina drew the short straw and was tasked with being my trainer when I started my first job as an Extraction Technician.

She taught me many organic extraction techniques and how to work efficiently in a lab, whilst maintaining Quality standards. Additionally, it was Karolina who taught me my basic knowledge of GC-MS and chromatography (as coming from a biology background I really had no clue) and she taught me everything I needed to know in order to progress.

I ended up getting the promotion, which led to me spending a further 2 years working with GC-MS across a couple of roles before joining VRS.

In turn, thanks to Karolina I wouldn’t be where I am today!

Written by Ross Shaw – Recruitment Consultant

Frances H. Arnold – Nobel Laureate for Chemistry

Prof. Arnold is credited with pioneering the use of directed evolution to improve and/or modify the activities of enzymes. My PhD at University of Leeds (applying directed evolution to the enzyme Galactose Oxidase) was based upon her work and building on my undergraduate knowledge I developed a passion for the incredibly cool potential that enzymes have in so many areas of life and industry!

I was dismayed that Prof. Arnold was keynote speaker at the Biocatalysis Gordon Conference a year after I completed my PhD so I was unable to meet her in person (to be fair I probably would have been pretty star-struck and unable to string a sentence together!).

According to Wikipedia her hobbies include traveling, scuba diving, skiing, dirt-bike riding, and hiking – she is undoubtably an incredibly cool person and truly inspirational!

Written by Lucy Colgan – Senior Recruitment Consultant

Mrs Lees –6^th Year Biology Teacher

Funnily enough I didn’t enjoy Biology until later in my school education.

Struggling for subjects to pick in my final year, I decided to take ‘crash’ Higher Biology (essentially studying Higher level without having undertaken Standard Grade level).

Realising I was behind the rest of the class who had already studied for 2 years, Mrs Lees encouraged and inspired me to work hard to get up to speed, and helped me discover a passion for Human Biology – which in turn sparked my motivation to study Neuroscience at University.

Written by Ailsa Watt – Scotland Territory Manager