Profile

My CV

• Education:

  Fairfield High School for Girls, Droylsden, Manchester

  Ashton-under-Lyne IV Form College

  Keele University, Staffordshire

  Manchester Metroplitan University

• Qualifications:

  8 GCSEs  – Maths, English Lit, English Lang, Biology, Chemistry, Geography, French, History of Music

  4 A-levels – Geography, Biology, Chemistry, General Studies

  BSc (Hons) – Chemistry & Biology

  MSc – Applied Environmental Investigation

• Work History:

  I started at Unilever straight from University after completing my degree. At first I worked as a research assistant making and testing shower gels. After a couple of years, I moved to the Environmental Safety team were I stayed in the lab conducting tests to determine the toxicity and biodegradability of chemicals in the environment. Around this time I decided that I wanted to get some extra qualifications and decided to go back to studying on a part-time basis. I completed my MSc qualification over two years, attending evening classes once a week after work. These days I have more a desk based role although I do still miss getting my hands dirty in the lab!

• Current Job:

  After many years of working in a laboratory, my job is more desk based now. I work as part of a small team of around 18 people and between us we are responsible for the environmental safety of all Unilever products across the globe. My main responsibility is to conduct environmental risk assessments for the ingredients in our products and ensure that we are not causing any harm to the environment. I am also involved in developing new computational methods to predict the properties of new ingredients and how they might behave in the environment. I am fortunate that I have been able to stay in the same job for a long time (26 yrs now) and that I still love what I do. Seeing our products on the supermarket shelves and knowing that I played a small part in getting it there makes me feel very proud of what I do.