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The Chemistry of a PhD

The Chemistry of a PhD

Ramblings of a Drug Discovery PhD student who should really be in the lab or writing her thesis.

Tag: science

Posted on June 22, 2020June 29, 2020

What was I asked during my medicinal chemistry viva?

One of the most useful ways I prepared for my viva was by asking people who worked on similar PhD projects about their vivas and what they were asked. Below is a detailed but non-exhaustive list of questions and concepts I vaguely remember talking about during my viva. I hope it is useful as a …

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Posted on June 15, 2020June 13, 2020

Cross Stitching a Chemistry A-Z

I’ve been dabbling in various creative projects during UK lockdown to pass the time. This little project was inspired by embroidery Science A-Zs created by Lauren/@stitching_hew and Breann Abernathy/@biochemist.b on Instagram. Fiona holding up her finished A-Z cross stitch on an A5 panel of material Every morning (roughly!) in May, I asked my Instagram followers …

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Posted on June 12, 2020June 15, 2020

Finishing my PhD in lockdown

Selfie of Fiona in a mustard yellow top smiling and waving I’ve been neglecting this site of late - apologies! Quite a bit has happened since my last post - global pandemic and protests against racism aside. I’ve written my thesis, defended it, corrected it and now I’m waiting for the official bit of paper …

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Posted on March 29, 2019March 25, 2019

What’s on my lab bench?

Most people have a desk as a place of work. I’m lucky enough to have three workspaces as a chemist: my desk, my lab bench, and my fume hood, all for different aspects of chemistry research. Today I’m going to give you a tour around my lab bench! My lab bench is used to carry …

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Posted on January 14, 2019

What do the numbers on the periodic table mean?

2019 marks the UN’s International Year of the Periodic Table or #IYPT. It’s 150 years since Dmitri Mendeleev presented his organisation of chemical elements to the world. The periodic table is used daily by chemists and other scientists as reference resource for the ingredients of the universe. Ancient Greeks defined “elements” as one of the …

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Posted on January 2, 2019January 4, 2019

Science Conferences I went to in 2018

Over the course of a PhD, students are encouraged to leave the lab from time to time to go to conferences to learn about other kinds of research going on in their field. Science conferences gather researchers from academia and industry. In this post I will talk about the different conferences I went to in …

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About me

Hi there! Thank you for visiting my blog. My name is Fiona Scott.

In 2020, during Covid-19 lockdown, I finished a PhD degree I had carried out at University of Sussex, UK. My project involved making drug-like molecules for targeting a process we don’t fully understand yet.

I enjoyed sharing the highs and lows of PhD life on this blog and my instagram account. You can now follow my writing adventures at fionascottwrites.com.

 

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Recent Posts

  • How I secured an ideal post-PhD job during lockdown September 4, 2020
  • Software and Apps that helped me during my PhD June 29, 2020
  • What was I asked during my medicinal chemistry viva? June 22, 2020
  • Cross Stitching a Chemistry A-Z June 15, 2020
  • Finishing my PhD in lockdown June 12, 2020
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