Meet the scientists!

We have asked lots and lots of women (over 1 million!) questions on exercise and other activities that they do.  I don’t actually do any experiments in the lab, I mostly use a computer to do calculations. I use my a computer to work out if doing different amounts and types of exercise and other activities changes the chances of people getting ill (for example getting heart disease) or injured (for example breaking a bone).

5:30am Wake up, yawn, get dressed for training

6:00am Leave the house to go rowing with my team mates or some other sports training like weights or spinning or the indoor rowing machine

8:15am Cycle back home, shower, breakfast, do a few chores

9:15am Cycle to work

9:30am Check if the computer code that I left to run over night had a mistake and stopped before it finished working out all the answers I wanted it to. It usually does have a mistake so I then have to fix it

For the rest of the morning I write about what I’ve found out from my research. I also read about what other scientists that look at similar things to me have found in their research. Sometimes I write more computer code and sometimes I have meetings with other scientists to find out what they have been doing.

I usually spend lunch time  with the people that I work with. Sometimes during lunch I go and listen to different scientists giving talks about what they have found in their research.

In the afternoon I do similar things to what I did in the morning

5:30am Cycle to the gym or to the river for some more rowing

8:00pm Cycle home for a shower and dinner

10:30pm Sleep

I used to work on a project in South Africa teaching children about how important it was to keep active so that they could keep their bodies healthy. I would put the money towards that project so that more children could be helped. Some of the children that I worked with came from very poor areas in South Africa and some had not had anything to eat for a few days because their parents didn’t have enough money for food!