It was a lovely sunny day today, and Yalda had the pleasure of speaking with lots of students taking part in their annual Careers Fair. The Henrietta Barnett School is a grammar school with academy status for girls in Hampstead Garden Suburb in London, and also happens to be where Yalda went to school, so it was fun to be back again!
There were lots of great questions - 'what is a typical day at work', 'what paths can you take to get to where you are now', 'what is the average starting salary after completing a PhD' and 'what is it like as a working woman in science'. Hopefully some of the girls were encouraged to follow a path in science! One of the surprising answers was that in most cases PhD students receive a stipend, and their fees are paid by studentships - the girls had felt that pursuing education after a first degree, with a PhD would be too expensive, so they were happy to hear that there is some help out there!
Thanks everyone for making me feel so welcome!
