43- Dr Rebecca Barnes- Doing your best work and enjoying it

Research lives and cultures

Dr Rebecca Barnes has always had an enormous love of science and imparting knowledge to others. She applied for a variety of PhDs before ending up in Glasgow to study the molecular biology of parasites, where she realised a passion for the academic environment. She was invited to help set up a lab as a Postdoc by a young academic from the USA and so moved to the States, but the expectation and pressure made it a very stressful time. She transitioned to a project in a different lab and got some good data but the failures of lab work and lack of publications began to get to her. Following suggestions from her PI, she began to teach and demonstrate at a nearby community college, which cemented a desire to find a teaching-focused university role going forward. She applied for a number of jobs in the USA and the UK, ending up at Sheffield. Here, she relishes spending time with the students, supporting other academic colleagues and moving things forward in the department, having the time to direct her creative energies into more innovative teaching methods.
View the video and timeline:
https://academicstories.group.shef.ac.uk/rebecca-barnes/