In 2012, I flew across the pond from the deserts of Arizona to the shores of Lake Constance on the German/Austrian/Swiss border. I wasn’t on holiday per se, but I might as well have been. When I arrived in the tiny hamlet of Lindau, Germany, I was met with two very sweet offerings: spaghetti ice cream and hundreds of nerds swarming the island town. I couldn’t have been happier.
Guest contributor Sarah-Jane Lonsdale
The Institute of Physics ran an event in November 2015 targeted at PhD students and early career researchers on “Taking Control of your Career as a Female Physicist”. After the event, I spoke with Dr Valerie Berryman-Bousquet, R&D Manager at SHARP Laboratories, and Dr Jenny Wooldridge, Associate Programme Manager at the National Physical Laboratory, about their career paths in industry. After our first discussion, we continued our conversation.
Sarah-Jane Lonsdale
Guest contributor Helen Cammack
In my last blog post, I discussed career progression, publishing and gender equality with Professors Donald and Gibson. Here, we continue our conversation.
Did you relocate often as a postdoc?
AD: I moved around – I had a postdoc in the States, then returned to Cambridge. But at that stage I wasn’t really thinking about a career, so I wasn’t that bothered about what happened next. I didn’t intend to be an academic, so the pressure wasn’t on me. Nowadays everyone has to be calculating and publish in the right journals, and the pressure can detract from that freedom.
VG: When I was in my early career, I was just enjoying the moment, and I wasn’t thinking about my future career. The postdocs of today seem to more aware about career opportunities; they know that the majority of them won’t stay in academia; they’re looking around for what they would like to do and they’re picking up the skills they need for the future. It’s not just the academic side, it’s also the personal aspects – they’re concerned about getting on the housing ladder and potentially having families. At that stage those concerns never crossed my mind.
Guest contributor Sarah-Jane Lonsdale
The Institute of Physics ran an event in November 2015 targeted at PhD students and early career researchers on “Taking Control of your Career as a Female Physicist”. It was a rallying cry which attracted women in physics from all walks of life, working in both academia and industry.
As a first year PhD student, I attended the event hoping to explore possible career options in a supportive environment. My interest in engaging more women in science comes from several supportive female mentors that helped me through my formative years, both at school and as I honed my skills as an undergraduate. They facilitated my first steps into STEM and research, but not everyone has the same good fortune. I hoped to be able to share my experiences and support others, while hearing the inspirational stories of women who have “made it” in physics. After the event, I spoke with Dr Valerie Berryman-Bousquet, R&D manager at SHARP Laboratories, and Dr Jenny Wooldridge, associate programme manager at the National Physical Laboratory, about their career paths in industry.
Sarah-Jane Lonsdale
Guest contributor Helen Cammack
Since I entered the third year of my PhD, my future career has been increasingly on my mind. I’ve been to a few careers events with stands full of free USB pens and glossy brochures, but always came away disappointed, unable to see myself in the roles they had advertised. The IOP’s careers event was different; there, people shared my aspirations and were sympathetic to my concerns. The opening talk by Prof Athene Donald was inspirational, and there was a variety of guest speakers who had used their physics training to build successful careers. I came away from the day with a new buzz, excited about my career possibilities.
Guest contributor Emma Chapman
In November 2015, I gave a talk at the Institute of Physics’ “How to Control your Career as a Female Physicist” event for PhD students. After the talk, an attendee said she welled up hearing me recount my choice to have a child during my PhD. For this attendee, I was the first person to tell her she didn’t have to choose between a career she loved and the family she wanted to have soon. I remember that feeling.
Late, I sneak into the back of a room on the 4th floor of a conference centre in central London, where 70 young female physicists are listening to Professor Dame Athene Donald speak. I try not
to break their concentration as I find a chair. Professor Donald is relaxed and passionate, and manages to condense her advice – put into context through deeply personal, humorous anecdotes – into ten simple points to live by. Donald has had a hugely successful career (though, she admits, she is still embarrassed when people say it), making her way through the physics of metals and polymers, then the physics of food, then colloids, then starch, then proteins and
cellular biophysics, and finally ending up in her current area of the physics of biological and soft systems. She’s now the Master of Churchill College at Cambridge. It’s a quite the CV, and made all the more impressive by her achievements outside the world of academia.
Donald casually weaves her personal life into her career as she speaks. She has to leave early – her husband has been to the hospital recently for a bad leg, and still needs looking after. Her daughter did a placement when she was 17 and learnt a lot about office politics; apparently it was useful. Her message is one of pro-activity, self-confidence and overcoming failure. She’s been the gender equality champion for Cambridge University, has written for The Guardian, The Observer and The Conversation, and her blog – started in 2010 – has become enormously popular online. Somebody asks her what’s next. She says retirement. I don’t think anyone quite believes her. Continue reading
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By Leonie Mueck, Associate Editor, Physical Sciences for Nature, and Maria Maragkou, Associate Editor for Nature Materials
Quantum technology research is currently maturing towards commercialization, a development fuelled by major investments from governments and companies. The UK alone invested £270 million in the National Quantum Technologies Programme, an ambitious endeavour involving a national network of universities and companies, to explore the properties of quantum mechanics and how they can be harnessed for use in technology. It looks like we are not far from a second quantum revolution; exploiting the laws of quantum mechanics for unprecedented innovations may become reality in the not-so-distant future and it may soon be time for large-scale investment in quantum technology start-ups with global reach.
But for quantum technology start-ups to transform global business, we need one crucial ingredient: bold and brilliant quantum technology entrepreneurs.
Inspiring young quantum technology researchers to become founders
Nature is teaming up with Entrepreneur First and Innovate UK to help inspire and educate today’s young scientists in quantum physics to become tomorrow’s entrepreneurs in quantum technology. We want to train young quantum physicists to come up with ideas for quantum technology start-ups with global reach and provide them with the opportunity to discuss those ideas with investors, experienced entrepreneurs and researchers from industry.
Entrepreneur First is one of Europe’s leading early-stage investors in deep technology. They regularly help to transform technical talent into start-ups with global reach through a six-month intensive programme, where participants are selected purely based on talent and skills, and get support to conceive ideas, build teams and found companies. In the past two years, EF has helped to create 40 start-ups, which attracted over US$50 million in funding from prestigious investors like Y Combinator, Index Ventures and Octopus Ventures.
Innovate UK is the new name for the Technology Strategy Board, and is the UK’s innovation agency. It funds, supports and connects innovative businesses through a unique mix of people and programmes to accelerate sustainable economic growth.
Do you have what it takes to start a quantum technology company?
If you are a young scientist in quantum physics, this is your chance to get a better understanding of what a successful quantum technology start-up looks like and to discuss your ideas with leading figures from industry and academia.
Advised by Nature and Entrepreneur First, a selection of PhD students and postdocs in quantum physics will work out what viable ideas for quantum technology start-ups look like. Over a period of two months we will guide you through the process of conceiving and evaluating these ideas in the light of the current innovation landscape and competition.
At a presentation day on 6 May 2016, participants will get the chance to put the best ideas to an initial test, presenting them to an invited panel of investors, technology transfer experts and experienced entrepreneurs. The goal of this presentation day is not for the ideas to attract immediate funding; rather, we aspire to stimulate a fruitful discussion of the prospects and challenges of quantum-technology commercialization by facilitating a meeting of bright young minds with more experienced entrepreneurs and investors.
And who knows, this learning and networking opportunity may eventually help to bring successful quantum technology companies to fruition.
You can find all important information here and the application form here.
The application deadline is 15 January 2016.
Feel free to contact us at InnovationForum@nature.com.
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