What were you doing before joining the Centre?
I spent a year working as a Research Assistant with my PhD supervisor before finishing my MSc in 2016-2017. After finishing my MSc in late 2018, I got a position with my PhD supervisor to work as a Teaching Fellow for a year. I was awarded the PhD studentship in 2019 and could start my PhD in late 2019.

Why did you choose the Centre and how did involvement with the Centre contribute to your project?
During my time as Research Assistant and Teaching Fellow at Imperial College, I became familiar with the research conducted at the MRC Centre and was involved in some of their projects (on the Exposome). The research conducted within the Centre contributes both to methodological developments and applications in the field of Health and Environment, which was perfectly in line with what I wanted to do for my PhD. It also constitutes a great opportunity to interact with leading scientists in the field and develop a broader culture by getting to know more about other projects.

What do you enjoy most about your day to day work and the people you work with?
What I enjoy the most is constantly having new challenges, not a single day is the same. I have already learnt a lot by interacting with other researchers, seeing how they would go about a problem or what they take out of the statistical analyses is very instructive.

What are your plans after graduating?
I would like to stay in academia after my PhD, I would probably look for a post-doctoral position in the field of Biostatistics or Health Data Analytics in general.

What opportunities have you benefitted from outside your PhD?
I have been doing some teaching for the MSc Health Data Analytics and Machine Learning at Imperial College, which helped me a lot in developing my presentation skills and yielded very interesting discussions with students from different backgrounds. I have also been involved in other projects outside of my PhD (IDlung, Expanse), which is a great opportunity to work with collaborators from other institutes.

Do you have any tips for future MRC Centre Studentship applicants?
I would recommend taking advantage of the extra layer of community that arises from involvement in the Centre. In addition to the interactions in the everyday research environment with supervisors and colleagues, attending the events (socials, courses and seminars) organised by the Centre is a great opportunity to meet other researchers and engage in fruitful discussions.