5 minutes with Shanta Persaud - International Day of Women and Girls in Science edition

Pictured: Professor Shanta Persaud during her PhD studies

Why did you decide to pursue science as a career?

I didn’t have any idea of what I wanted to do when I finished my degree. I’d done a lab project on the effects of volatile anaesthetics on insulin secretion and my supervisor obtained a PhD studentship for me. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to do a PhD so I went on holiday to Venezuela and Peru for a couple of months and as I had nothing else lined up when I got back I decided that a PhD was a good idea after all. This probably isn’t the recommended route to pursuing science as a career….

Tell us about your experiences in higher education?

I did my PhD at the Kensington Campus of King’s between 1986-1989 and in some ways it was similar to the experience of current PhD students in the Diabetes Research Group – I learnt how to isolate rat islets and quantify insulin secretion by radioimmunoassay following static incubation and perifusion experiments. But the late 1980s was before commonly used molecular techniques were introduced, so when I was a post-doc I did laborious quantitative Northern blotting, when I could have made much quicker (and more reproducible) progress if qPCR had been available then. There was very little focus on health and safety 35 years ago – we could drink tea in the lab and some post-docs smoked while doing experiments, even when working with radioactivity!

What has been the biggest challenge so far in your career?

Undoubtedly the biggest challenge in research is moving from the precarious life of short-term contracts to obtaining an established post. I was lucky in that I obtained a Fellowship after a couple of rejections and the timing worked out well as a short-term lecturer post came up shortly afterwards, and being a Research Fellow made me competitive for that. I was still on a short-term contract for the first five years of my lectureship though, until my Head of Department was able to make it a permanent post.

As a supervisor of current students/post-docs, what do you think are the biggest differences, either positive or negative, compared to your own experiences?

I felt a bit isolated doing my PhD because there was only one other PhD student in the group at that time, but the social aspect was enjoyable and the Friday pub nights were great for bonding. I was given a lot of independence as a researcher and encouraged to write grants towards the end of my PhD, which really helped me to develop the key skills to craft (sometimes) fundable projects. I’ve used those positive experiences to support my PhD students and post-docs.

What advice do you have for people considering a career in research?

Make sure that you enjoy being in the lab and choose a project that really interests you. And join a research group where you’re sure that you’ll get support and encouragement. Also, be prepared for things to not always go according to plan – you’ll develop great trouble-shooting skills.