Annabelle's Story
Annabelle Nicholson is a graduate scientist at Victrex and leads the innovation and sustainability workstream for the Science Industry Partnership (SIP) career taskforce.
I love science and in my role I work both in and outside the lab, running experiments, analysing results and researching.
But I never really planned this future for myself. My school didn't have many outreach days or careers fairs, and on the odd days they did it was mostly focussed on sixth form and university, focusing on where to go rather than what to study.
I chose my A levels by picking what I enjoyed, with no long-term plan. I chose chemistry just so I didn't have too many essay-based subjects – but quickly found I really enjoyed it, so much so that I then applied to study chemistry at university.
In a way, I fell into science by accident. I think people assume someone doing a science degree knows what they want and why they are doing it, but that isn't always the case. I didn't know anyone on my course who thought they were setting the foundations for a career in science, we were all just pursuing something we found interesting.
But I enjoyed my degree so much that I soon decided that I really wanted to stay in the sector and joined Victrex shortly after graduating. Being in industry has taught me that working in science is not black and white – just because you work in a science setting doesn’t mean you spend all day wearing a lab coat!
The science sector is a constantly changing and diverse landscape which is becoming even more exciting through green energy initiatives such as carbon capture and hydrogen, for example.
And working in science means you could be anything from a procurement officer or a safety officer to a project manager or a marketing manager. Many people find the sheer range of roles on offer really surprising.
One of the most rewarding things I’ve done as part of my career journey is getting involved with the SIP’s Careers Taskforce and working as an Ambassador, which gets me out and about visiting schools and careers fares to share my love of science and talk about how I’ve come to where I am in my career.
Also, as one of the Taskforce’s workstream leads I create outreach content to help teachers and young people discover new areas of science which aren’t in the curriculum – and, crucially, about the skills which will be highly valued across the sector in the future.
Being involved in careers outreach in this way is an incredible privilege – it means I can share my journey through science and share with people that just because you haven't studied something obviously scientific does not mean you can't work in science. Because this is a voluntary role I’m really grateful for having the full support of my employer in helping to inspire the next generation.
As I try to give back to the industry which has given me so much, I really hope younger people will come to share my enthusiasm for this rewarding and challenging field.
