Profile

My Typical Day

Is fuelled by copious amounts of caffeine and chocolate!

What I'd do with the prize money

I would use the money to communicate astronomy and space science to primary and secondary school students.

My Interview

• How would you describe yourself in 3 words?

  Diligent, ambitious, caring.

  What did you want to be after you left school?

  An Astrophysicist. Before that I wanted to be a writer and I still plan to eventually do a bit of that on the side.

  Were you ever in trouble at school?

  For some reason I always got in trouble for wearing a long sleeved top under my school shirt (it was cooooolllld). Apparently a bit of extra white that is “visible” around the collar is an offence.

  Who is your favourite singer or band?

  I like all sorts of music depending on my mood…my favourite band is Muse and I also like Blink 182, The Killers, Justin Timberlake and John Mayer (which I think are all fairly respectable…) but when I’m alone in my room, I have a few horribly guilty pleasures ranging from the likes of One Direction to Taylor Swift. I also have a cheeky penchant for country music. I guess this section shows I’m honest??

  What's your favourite food?

  Wagamama. I actually think the staff of the Stephen’s Green restaurant know my face by now. As I write this, I’m going there in an hour.

  What is the most fun thing you've done?

  Whale watching in Vancouver, Canada. It was the most amazing thing I have ever done – seeing a family of whales jumping about my boat was incredible and I’m very lucky to have done it.

  If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!

  1. To have more time in the day. As a scientist, it is very hard to stop working when you are on to something so it would be great to get things done before I go to sleep rather than have to sleep on it and begin from where I left off the next day! Also, it would mean I would get to see people more :) 2. To be able to cook. The Big Bang Theory is a very accurate description of my life at the moment in terms of Sheldon and the lads living off Thai takeaways. As amazing as physics is – it involves long days. Being a culinary – challenged person, cooking takes me a long time so when I get home late, it just never works out that way. It is both a great and a terrible thing that I live beside my favourite Thai place! :p 3. On a serious note, I wish I was better at public speaking. Even if I know the subject well enough to rant about it for 10 pages, I find it challenging to convey that same information to a room full of people who are all staring at me and my slides. It is a daunting task, but as part of my PhD I will hopefully learn how to better that! :)

  Tell us a joke.

  A neutron walks into a bar and asks “how much for a drink?” The bartender replies “for you, no charge”.