top of page
Search

Interviews - Davina Derous

Welcome back fellow STEMinists, we are so excited to be bringing you another interview! Today we have had the pleasure of interviewing Davina Derous who is a systen physiologist. You can find Davina on Twitter @DavinaDerous.


 


Cellfie: When did you first realize you wanted to do STEM?

Davina: Last year, my mom found an old school assignment, I couldn’t have been older than 8 years old, where I described what I wanted to do later when I grew up. I wanted to do something with animals or experiments or biology. I even had my own little microscope and took “samples” from our pond to look at. So younger me definitely wanted to become a scientist. Although I took a little detour to get there, hahah!


Cellfie: Aw! Our team love looking through our old school books and work from when we were little. I wonder what cool things you found in the pond? I'm guessing frogspawn and other freakishly cool things!

Who were your role models growing up?


Davina: Probably a cliché but my mom! She wanted to work in a lab but sadly never went to university. But she provided my sister and I with books on animals, we took trips to the north coast of France to look for fossils (I am from Belgium) and visited nature reserves and zoos. She was the one who bought me my microscope. Today, she is my biggest supporter and loves hearing about the things I get up to.


Cellfie: Everyone we have interviewed so far has said their mum! We don't think it's cliche, we just think there are so many fabulous, inspirational mums out there!

Did you ever want to do anything else?

Davina: Yes! When I was 16, I did a lot of sports and had set my heart on becoming a sport dietician. So when I turned 18, I started my 3 year degree to become a dietician (bachelor). But during my internships, I very quickly realised that this wasn’t the job I wanted to do. As part of my degree, we also got cell and molecular biology, lab work and physiology courses. Those were the courses I really enjoyed! I said goodbye to my dietician career and did a masters more focussed on research and that is how I got back on track of becoming a scientist! But without this little detour, I would never be doing the research I am doing today! I use my knowledge of human energy metabolism as a backbone to unravel the cellular functioning of cetaceans (dolphins and whales), how this may have changed through evolution and what the impact may be for their conservation. So I do not regret it for a minute the choices I made! Sometimes it takes a while to realise what you want to do but it is never to late to change your mind!


Cellfie: You're so lucky that you did an internship and found out that you didn't want to actually be a dietician. So many people go into degrees or a job that they think will be perfect for them when really everyone should get the opportunity to try all of their options and discover what makes them happiest.

Have you ever had any setbacks or been told you are a girl so cannot do tech?

Davina: There were a few setbacks where I doubted myself, if I even was smart enough to do a PhD. But two years after finishing my PhD, I am now head of my own lab! Sometimes it is hard to believe in yourself but don’t give up. You know more than you think . Growing up, I was lucky never been told that a girl cannot do tech. In my early 20s, I got a few comments about a girl doing a PhD and this is not how a scientist looks like. I usually find it is an “old dinosaur” professor that still thinks that a girl can’t kick ass in a STEM field!


Cellfie: We definitely agree with you there! If they don't think you "look like a scientist" it's probably because their view point should've become history long ago! Doing a PhD sounds amazing and that's definitely something our founders are so inspired by!

What’s one thing you’d like to change about the STEM community?

Davina: Openness. People sharing science and working towards a common goal. Sadly, that is not the case. The STEM community is competitive with grant applications, publications, impact cases and so on. Everybody wants to be the best person in their field and sadly that does means that people are sometimes protective of their science. I have to admit, I am as well! But the field is improving, and more and more people are sharing datasets now!


Cellfie: Wow, you may never guess that if you're not on the inside! Your work isn't something you should keep from others; the whole point of science is to use it to improve people's lives! Is there a problem with sexism in the STEM community?

Davina: Yes and no! Remember the old dinosaur :D I was talking about? Yeah those are the ones that make the community sexist. But people are working really hard to make sure that there is equality in STEM! There are men and women from every generation working together to solve gender issues!


Cellfie: Definitely! We have so much admiration for those battling against the adversity and rocking STEM fields! #OurHeroes What’s your message for young girls wanting to do STEM?

Davina: I went to international woman’s day this year and there is one quote that stayed with me: “Lack of confidence leads to inaction. Change I CAN'T to I CAN” - Dr Linda Papadopoulos. So girls, don’t ever let anybody tell you that you can’t do something!! And believe in yourself! What helped me a lot was find yourself a coach/mentor or somebody that you look up to.


Cellfie: Woohoo! We wish we were there- it certainly sounds as if there was some major girl love!

What is your favourite science joke?

Davina: Hah, I am really bad at jokes! But I like this one: A butterfly gets pulled over by the cops for speeding. He hands the cop his driver’s license with a photo of a caterpillar on it. “Sorry, it’s an old picture.”

Cellfie: Hahaha! We love that, something we can definitely relate to with passport photos! :)

What is your most embarrassing moment in your life?

Davina: Hahah, too many! Nothing science related but my favourite one is the hoover story… It was about 5 years ago and my partner and I were dating for about a year. He had to work in the afternoon for a few hours and I decided to surprise him by cleaning his flat. So I took the hoover out, and plugged it in. I tried vacuuming but it was too heavy to move around! I couldn’t figure out how it worked!! So I ended up hoover the whole place on my knees pushing the vacuuming cleaner in front of me. It was one of those upright ones. Told my partner about it and he thought it was weird and he never had issues with the “heaviness” of the hoover. Now fast forward 6 months where we went on a family holiday. My parents, my auntie and uncle plus kids and my partner and I were sharing a little house. My auntie took out the hoover and pushed down the little paddle on the side to change the angle of the hoover. That is when a little light bulb went up in my partner’s head and he realised what I’ve done… Growing up we never had an upright hoover so I had no idea I had to push that little side peddle!! I was so embarrassed as he told my family and then demonstrated how I cleaned the flat!! But now I know how to work an upright hoover!!


Cellfie: Oh no! That is definitely mortifying! We've all been there when you're convinced it just isn't working but then you're actually doing it wrong!

What is your favourite food?

Davina: Oh, hard choice between Greek food or sushi!!! Love both of them! But if I must choose probably sushi.


Cellfie: We love feta and halloumi! I've personally never tried sushi but I know it is very popular! What is your favourite shop?

Davina: Any bookshop!! I love walking through bookcases and hunting down my next read!


Cellfie: We are so happy that bookshops have been the most popular shop mentioned by our interviewees! Reading is so magical and all of our founders love it!


Once again, thank you so much to Davina for offering her time and brilliant answers. Make sure to like this post and get active on our social media @cellfiemagazine for Twitter, Instagram and TikTok. Thanks so much for reading and we're looking forward to hearing from you Steminists!





79 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All
bottom of page