Profile

I live in Stockton on Tees, which is famous for being the town where the friction match was invented. It is also famous for having the widest high street in the country and it has won the Britain in Bloom competition more times than I can remember. Perhaps it is most famous of all for being the terminus of the first ever passenger steam train journey which involved Stephenson’s Locomotion No1 setting off from Darlington on the morning of 27th September, 1825 before arriving in Stockton several hours later loaded with coal and passengers.

Part of my job involves teaching students about parasites that affect humans and other animals. One subject I teach is how we combat infection inside our own bodies. We have an immune system in our bodies  mainly to combat parasites and other infections. Our immune systems evolved over many thousands of years, but so have the parasites. Some parasites have actually co-evolved with their hosts – trying to find ways through each others defences (and sometimes even finding ways to tolerate each other). Across the world, almost every organism can be infected by another organism. Even parasites have parasites.

Part of my job involves writing grant applications so that we can get money to do some research.

Epidemiology is very flexible in terms of its scope of work. As an epidemiologist I can work across many different disciplines, from ecology to molecular biology. One of my main interests is how parasite transmission in human  communities is affected by environmental change.  For example, as the climate changes due to human activities, the soil and water that contains the eggs or larvae of parasites and their vectors (such as mosquitoes) will alter in terms of characteristics such as temperature, Ph and electrical conductivity. These changes can have a massive impact on parasite ecology, which in turn changes the epidemiology as some populations may become more or less exposed to infection.

My research work covers a range of topics on parasites that have been given the term ‘Neglected Tropical Diseases‘ because they have been historically neglected in terms of research and control. Some of the parasites can be treated with medicines, but there are no vaccines so each treatment works only for a short time. Also, the medicines do not always work as intended, for reasons that are still unclear.

To do research I need to find some funds from an organisation that funds research. I spend some time thinking about each project idea and talk to other people about how we could work together. We then apply for funds and cross our fingers. If the grant is successful, we can start work on the project. The money we get pays for things like traveling to Africa to do field work, or paying research assistants, or for experimental equipment and computers.  Some of my time each day is spent reading what other people are doing, by looking for publications on an electronic database. If I have recently completed some research I will also spend time writing up the results into a paper that I will then get published in a scientific journal. Another part of my job involves supervising students who are doing small projects as part of their University studies. I meet regularly with the students and offer them guidance and feedback until they have finished their projects and sent them to the examiners, who mark them out of 100. No one ever gets 100. I also supervise students who already have a degree and now want to work towards a PhD.

I awake, or more usually I am awoken, pretty early. In the summer time I sometimes wake up before the birds start singing.  A large mug of tea is essential at this point as I switch on the computer to check who has emailed me overnight, replied to a Tweet, or read one of my articles.  Once I get to the office I switch on the computer and continue where I left off the previous day. I might be in the middle of some data analysis, or writing a paper, or writing an article, or doing some administration work, or preparing a grant application. Sometimes I have to get up early to catch a plane or train to travel to a conference, or even a meeting overseas to discuss project ideas. Or I might just be driving that day up to Durham’s other campus, which is located in Durham City, for a meeting with students or colleagues from other departments.

Every day is a bit different, but there is some repetition each year as each new group of students goes through their studies. So on some days I will deliver one or more lectures that I taught the previous year.  I sometimes attend or deliver a seminar and ask or answer questions about my work.  I have quite a lot of meetings, sometimes in my office, or someone else’s office, or sometimes even in the canteen over a coffee (preferably with cake, or at least chocolate biscuits).