Interviews - Heidi Gardner

Hi again everyone! We are back at it again with another interview from a fabulous #WomanInSTEM, Heidi Gardner. Heidi is the owner of Science on a Postcard which is such a fabulous business and initiative! Her products range from badges, to notebooks and much more! You can find Heidi on Twitter @heidirgardner and Science on a Postcard @ScienceOnA. Thanks Heidi for getting involved!

Cellfie: What is your job?

Heidi: My job title is ‘Research Fellow in Clinical Trials Methodology’,

but what that actually means is that I carry out research that

aims to improve the way that clinical trials are designed,

conducted and reported. At the moment I’m working on a

project focused on how much time it takes for researchers to

collect data from participants enrolled in clinical trials.

Cellfie: Amazing! That sounds fascinating. Drug trials are so vital to medicine and it must be so cool to know how much of a difference you are making to people's lives.

When did you first realize you wanted to do STEM?

Heidi: I realised quite late compared to a lot of people – I think it was

probably in the last year of my GCSEs. I was naturally quite

good at science subjects, biology in particular, but one of the

modules that we did really inspired me and got me interested

in a career in STEM. The module was about medicines and how

they work within the body, and I was fascinated by it. In the

end I actually went on to study Pharmacology for my

undergraduate degree so that module really had a big impact

on me.

Cellfie: We think it is such a myth in the STEM community that everyone is born knowing they want to study a scientific subject. Most of the time, a certain topic in a subject will inspire you or an experience which enlightened you about a certain career or field. Pharmacology is amazing and definitely a topic we want to write some blog posts about!

Who were your role models growing up?

Heidi: Is it cheesy to say my parents?! My Mum and Dad are both

creative people, neither are involved in science at all, but they

both helped me to explore different options to figure out what I

wanted to do. They pushed me without putting too much

pressure on me, and made a real effort to support me

throughout exams, assessments, and interviews – both the

successes and failures. I also had a Maths teacher that I really

didn’t like, she always told me that I wouldn’t get good grades,

and once she even wrote that I was ‘Mrs Underachiever’ on a

test paper! She definitely wasn’t a role model, but knowing that

she didn’t think I could do well made me try even harder just to

prove her wrong.

Cellfie: Mrs Underachiever?! I bet if she saw you now you would definitely make it to Mrs Overachiever! :)

Did you ever want to do anything else?

Heidi: Yes, absolutely. I wanted to be a graphic designer for a long

time. My Dad’s a graphic designer and I used to work as his

Studio Assistant, and honestly that made me realise that just

wasn’t the full time job that I wanted to do. Being creative

under pressure is so difficult! I found my GCSE Art and Design

exam hard enough but working in that industry just wasn’t for

me.

Cellfie: Definitely! We think that a lot of GCSEs actually stifle creativity, even art and DT!

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

Heidi: I think I’ve been quite lucky with this – I’ve only once had a

comment about being a girl in STEM. When I was doing the

research project part of my undergraduate degree I was based

in a lab doing research on Alzheimer’s disease, and one of the

PhD students that was also working there made a comment

about the fact I wore make up. Honestly, I thought he was a bit

of an idiot anyway so I didn’t pay much attention to what he’d

said, but it annoyed me that he thought make-up had any

impact on my lab skills.

Cellfie: Well if he couldn't see your aptitude for STEM, he must be an idiot! We bet the research on Alzheimer's was really interesting- definitely a topic we would like to look further into.

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

Heidi: I work in academia, and it’s almost impossible to find jobs that

are permanent. I’m employed on a contract that lasts until May

2021, so I’ll need to start planning what to do next much longer

before then. I understand that universities rely on researchers

bringing in money through grants, but it’s a really inefficient

way to work. We end up spending lots of time and effort on

writing grants, and lots of them don’t get funded anyway. It can

be stressful, and it makes long-term planning really difficult

because lots of early-career researchers like me need to move

around a lot to find work. Research has shown that fixed term

and casual contracts are disproportionately held by women and

BAME researchers, which means that this plays a part in

diversity issues too.

Cellfie: Totally! This is definitely something that needs to change.

Is there a problem with sexism in the STEM community?

Heidi: Big question! I think there is, but there are lots of different

factors that contribute to the problem and it’s very difficult to

pinpoint what needs to change. I am lucky to work in an

environment that is mostly women, so I see high-achieving,

talented women working every day. That makes me believe

that maybe I could be one of those high-achievers one day. It’s

important that we expand that culture to every corner of STEM

fields – I know lots of women, young women at the start of

their careers in particular, that experience sexism at work all

the time. Eventually I think that they’ll leave STEM and find

work elsewhere. I think sexism is one of the reasons why

women don’t stay in STEM careers long-term.

Cellfie: It is so heartwarming that you are surrounded by other strong, talented women!

What’s your message for young girls wanting to do STEM?

Heidi: Find a mentor! I’ve found it so inspiring to have someone

further along in their career on the side-lines cheering me on.

They don’t have to be an official mentor, they can just be

someone that you get on with that you meet for coffee every

so often to chat about how things are going. I found that right

at the beginning of my STEM career I worked best with a

mentor that was a woman – they knew what hurdles I might

face and how to handle them. Now though, I have lots of

unofficial mentors (some probably don’t even know that’s how

I view them!), and they’re a mix of genders. It’s just about

finding people that you click with and feel comfortable talking

to.

Cellfie: Wow, that's amazing advice. It is something that most people would never think of but it sounds incredibly helpful!

What is your favourite science joke?

Heidi: What’s a physicist’s favourite food? Fission chips.

As with most science jokes, it is usually met with a groan, but

it’s a simple one that works!

Cellfie: We absolutely love that! No matter how much people groan, it is always worth it!

What is your most embarrassing moment in your life?

Heidi: I do stupid stuff all the time, but I don’t get hugely embarrassed

anymore because it happens so often! A few examples..

1) I once fell asleep at school and was only woken up by my

teacher when everyone had gone home and my Mum was

there to take me home.

2) I went to hold my Mum’s hand in a supermarket when I was

little, and then realised that it wasn’t my Mum.

3) I’ve tried to get into a car thinking it was mine – it wasn’t and

there was someone sitting in the driver’s seat.

All my daft moments make me laugh so it’s all fine!

Cellfie: Oh no! Some of those sound really awful- I'm sure stuff like this has happened to everyone!

What is your favourite food?

Heidi: Oh this is a hard question! I think my favourite type of food is

probably Mexican. I went to Mexico a few years ago with my

partner and we basically lived off different types of tacos, it was

so good.

Cellfie: We love Mexican food! It is so underrated and we wish there was a major chain of nice Mexican restaurants.

What is your favourite shop?

Heidi: For clothes I basically live in dungarees – they’re so comfy! I get

all my dungas from Lucy & Yak, and I love supporting them

because they’re an ethical company. They are a small family

business with transparent supply chain, and everyone at the

company is paid above the living wage.

Cellfie: Dungarees are perfect- comfy and practical!

Thank you so much Heidi for taking part in our interview. Your work for the STEM community and improving diversity in it is just incredible! We admire you so much and I'm sure all of our readers will have loved reading your insightful answers. Make sure to get active on our social media @cellfiemagazine on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok. As always, leave a like and let us know that you've read this!