For this week’s #WNBiPonWednesdays, we’ve interviewed Dr Isabel Rabey, a senior teaching fellow in the Physics Education Group! Thank you for your time Izzie!.
What do you do on a day-to-day basis?
I’m a Teaching Fellow, which means I don’t do physics research anymore, but I’m focused on the education and the undergraduate curriculum. This year, I’ve been made Head of Year 1 Labs and Projects. So a lot of my time is spent learning what this role involves, so a lot of organizing, students, demonstrators, making sure everything runs smoothly, all the equipment and helping with the technicians, talking to them, all the assessments and the feedback – so a lot of new things that I’ve never done before.
What was your path into Physics?
When choosing my A-levels I wanted to do biology, chemistry and maths, to become a doctor, but I also wanted to do history- I didn’t want to do physics at all. But by chance history clashed with chemistry, so I couldn’t do history, and ended up taking physics. It was so fortunate, because it turned out physics was actually really interesting, and biology was really boring. I had a crisis about halfway through A-levels because I didn’t know what I wanted to do anymore. My physics teacher went to Imperial, and he said, ‘Why don’t you look at Imperial?’. I had never heard of it before, but when I looked round it, that was it, I wanted to come to London, to Imperial. I always wanted to do a PhD; it was just a case of finding something that I was really interested in. I became interested in quantum and atomic physics in year three, I did a UROP at the Centre for Cold Matter, and that area of physics what I ended up doing for my Masters, PhD and postdoc before my current job.
From your work in Physics education and outreach is there any advice that is important for younger students?
What I’ve learnt is that being yourself is really important. That’s how I’ve found satisfaction and success in my job, is just by showing up and being true to who I am and not trying to change myself to fit in and not trying to kind of follow what the status quo of what physics is. Hopefully Students can also see the benefit of me being that way. Find what interests you. Being a physicist, it’s not your whole identity, I think having things outside of physics and having outside interests and things is really important.
What has your experience as a woman in Physics been like?
When I was at school, most of my friends were girls, and it was a massive shock coming to Imperial, I’d never even really hung out with guys just as friends. It was a very difficult transition, combined with leaving home and living on your own and going to uni, it’s like this whole added level of being the only girl in a group of 10 guys. I met some people in other courses who I could talk to, but in physics, it was a bit of a shock. I’m sure most women can relate to the small experiences that happen, but I was fortunate that I never had any really terrible experiences during my undergraduate and PhD. But when I did my postdoc, in Germany, and I had some crazy experiences. I was there for three years, and when I came back in 2021, I thought we have to do something about this.
From those experiences in Germany, I realised that we do need a Women in Physics society. So if people arrive here, or if they leave to go somewhere else, they know that there are allies working for a better culture and community in Physics. It has been running a long time in different forms- it’s normally PhD students running the society, but then they leave so I see my role as someone who can provide continuity. When I arrived back here in 2021, Amy Smith (PhD student) had the same idea, so we worked really hard to get it started then Amaya joined and a few other students, it’s very rewarding to help with. Not everyone needs it or wants it, but the fact that we have Women in Physics society is a quite powerful message to people, just having that awareness is really important.
What are your hobbies outside of Physics?
If you don’t know, I had a baby, he’s a toddler now – almost two, and I love him so much, but it’s basically just running after him while he pulls things off the shelves and just destroys stuff. So that’s my life, me and my son and my partner and just like filling memories and creating new experiences together.