Profile

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Jessica Muirhead

    • About Me:

      I live with my husband, 2 children, bearded dragon and tortoise in Surrey. I am an Air Quality Consultant by day and paint Warhammer in the evenings! I love board games, sci-fi and sewing.

    • Read more

      I love being creative – I sew my own clothes and bags, and paint Warhammer miniatures for my family – we have 6 different armies!

      I studied Environmental Geoscience at the University of Bristol, where I met my husband. I had no idea what I wanted to do, but did an MSc and then a PhD, so I am a Dr!

      I have Type 1 Diabetes, as does my eldest son. Both my kids have autism, and between them they also have ADHD, dyslexia, dysgraphia and processing delays, so I understand how hard school can be for some people.

      I help run my local Scout Group – where we are currently building a new hut, which has been a lot of work! I am also a STEM Ambassador and give talks to schools about air quality.

    • My pronouns are:

      she/her

    • How I use Science in my work:

      My work involves quite a lot of maths and data processing. When I started this was mostly using Excel, but these days the clever younger people use python and R to process data. We model air quality using dispersion models, which use weather data and information about the atmosphere to work out how pollutants move from the source to the receptor. Although we don’t have to do these calculations it’s important to understand how it works so you can tell if the results look right or if you have put data into the model wrong!

    • My Work:

      I am an Air Quality Consultant – I assess how new developments might affect the quality of the air that local people breathe in.

    • Read more

      My work is very varied! A lot of it is assessing the impacts of new developments on air quality. We focus on nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter, as these have proven health effects. Road traffic used to be the main source of these pollutants, but we now look at emergency generators and energy production more, as cars are (slowly) becoming cleaner. I need to be able to communicate quite a technical assessment to a non-technical audience.

    • My Typical Day:

      I get up and make sure the kids get off to school. Then I either catch a train to London or walk to my garden office to start work. I usually break for lunch at 12:30 and finish work between 5 and 6.

    • Read more

      I typically start the day by reading my emails and working out what meetings I have. I might have reports to review that junior staff have written for me, or meetings with the people I manage. I also need to keep an eye on the budgets for our projects. Sometimes I might give a presentation to the team about something interesting. This week I’ve been at a conference meeting lots of other air quality professionals and listening to talks about the latest developments in the field.

    • What I'd do with the prize money:

      I would love to put together some resources about air quality that teachers can use in their own lessons, with easy but interesting experiments.

    CV

    • Education:

      I went to the Royal Latin Grammar school in Buckingham, where I did my GCSEs and A-levels. Then I did a degree at the Univeristy of Bristol, followed by a masters degree and PhD at the University of Nottingham.

    • Qualifications:

      I got good GCSEs, but chose non-technical options – I did Art and Expressive Arts.

      I have A levels in Maths (B), Chemistry (A), Geography (B) and General Studies.

      I have a 2:1 (hons) BSc in Environmental Geoscience, a MSc (distinction) in Environmental Science and a PhD in Environmental Science.

      I am also a Chartered Scientist.

    • Work History:

      My first job was working for Laura Ashley in the home furnishings department, workingout how much fabric people needed to make their curtains. Whilst writing up my PhD I get a job at Waverley Borough Council as their Air Quality Officer. I had to change all the diffusion tubes once a month which meant I got to drive all over the Borough. I also maintained our continuous monitoring unit. When I finished my PhD I got a job as an Air Quality Consultant for Mouchel, an engineering company – and started on my current path. After 7 years I moved to URS (now AECOM), a large amaerican-owned engineering company where I spent 11 years, and I am now an Associate Director at Air Quality Consultants Ltd – a much smaller company specialising in air quality.

    • Current Job:

      I am an Associate Director at Air Quality Consultants Ltd. We are a small company, although we are part of Logika Group who have Environmental Impact Assessment, Flood, Ecology and Noise specialists, so I get to work closely with them. I do a lot of work on applications for Solar Farms at the moment.

    • Employer:

      https://www.aqconsultants.co.uk/

    • My Interview

      • How would you describe yourself in 3 words?

        healthy air advocate

        What did you want to be after you left school?

        I had no idea! Something environmental.

        Were you ever in trouble at school?

        No

        If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?

        I like helping people, so possibly something in a local Council

        Who is your favourite singer or band?

        Too hard! The band I saw live most recently is the Smashing Pumpkins

        What's your favourite food?

        Sushi

        If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!

        Cure diabetes, have a crafting room, be able to sleep better.

        Tell us a joke.

        Knock knock, who's there? Pika. Pika who? Not Pika who, Pikachu! (thanks to my son, aged 4 at the time))

Questions answered by Jessica

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