“Bouncing from a Physics degree, to a journalism qualification, to an MSc in Science Communication at Imperial, I now do what I love most: telling stories about science.”
The ‘aha’ moment came to me during a summer internship, just before I entered the final year of my Physics degree, when I was sitting alone in an empty newsroom at midnight. I was exhausted but I had to wait copyeditors to finalise my article before I could go home. Yet, it was the happiest I had ever been.
I’m the Digital Communications Officer at the Faculty of Natural Sciences. I came into this role after I completed a Master’s degrees in Physics and Science Communication. When I first moved to the UK to pursue Physics, I spent my time outside of classes continuing with clubs that I did in high school, namely writing for the student newspaper.
I realised that I loved telling stories about science, not only about new research, but also about what science means for how we understand our place in the world. My passion led me to cold-call the Science Editor of a large newspaper in Singapore, the country where I was born, and ask her to give a random university student with no professional writing experience a chance.
Every day I would go into my job chewing my nails and wondering whether I fact-checked my articles closely enough before they went to print, but I realised that this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Bouncing from a Physics degree, to a journalism qualification, to an MSc in Science Communication at Imperial, I now do what I love most: telling stories about science.
Now I help brainstorm new compelling ways to engage people in the important work we do in the Faculty – from social media campaigns, to writing long-form features, to scripting and producing videos. It’s certainly a job that keeps me busy, but I still try to keep up my freelance journalism career when I have the time.
I love that the people I work with trust my ability to produce excellent work in a self-directed way. I have the freedom to pursue new ideas, and also the freedom to make mistakes. Fresh out of university, I am trusted to lead on large communication campaigns with multiple moving parts. Having been a media intern at Imperial during my Master’s has definitely helped me build confidence in my leadership.
Other than writing, food is another great love in my life. I certainly do enjoy watching food competition shows and pretending that I could easily outcook any of the contestants. My friends are kind enough to indulge my delusions whenever we watch the Great British Bakeoff together.