National Science & Engineering week - Being at the forefront of research

Todays volunteer in the spotlight is Dr David Schley, a Research Scientist from the Pirbright Institute for Animal Health. He applies maths to biological and medical problems - his main focus at the moment is the spread of infectious diseases in animals.

Working as a scientist in this area means that David often discovers things before anyone else and as a researcher he has lots of freedom in how he plans his work and the opportunity to collaborate with many other people.

At school David always enjoyed maths, especially the idea of being able to prove something. He found the subject different at college and at university and again as a post graduate student. At each stage he realised there was more for him to learn and there were still lots of things unproven or waiting to be discovered, hence David’s career in research.

Working as a SATRO volunteer David has attended careers fairs and also helped out with the annual Maths Challenge and the Problem Solving Challenge. By doing this, he hopes that young people gain an insight into STEM-related careers and get the opportunity to meet people who can give a realistic picture of what day to day life is like in different positions.