Fiona Scott

PhD researcher

PhD researcher at Sussex Drug Discovery Centre

Reflecting on and reviewing my second year of PhD life

I continue to struggle with staying at my desk more often than being in the lab. Often I choose reading over writing and agonize over filling lab books. I also often write off lab tasks to “tomorrow” that could be done today rather than making stuff in the lab. But hopefully, this time next year, I'll be talking about how I've overcome this.

Why I decided to do cancer research

In my last year of high school, a family friend gave birth to a little boy called Oliver. Unfortunately, he was born with a rare and aggressive form of cancer called a Rhabdoid Tumour. While Oliver was getting cancer treatment, I was applying to different universities. I was drawn to drug discovery courses because of what was happening with Oliver at the time. Sadly, he passed away a few months later, on Christmas Day.

A day in the life of chemistry PhD student

On a typical day for me as a chemistry PhD student, I am involved with several activities and tasks both inside and outside of the lab. Juggling these things requires a lot of time management, which I have varying levels of success at doing. But I like that there’s a lot of variety in my work!