Dr Richard Wilson

Your degree subject matters a great deal as it helps shape the career pathways available to you. I think one thing to be aware of though is the wide breadth of career pathways a degree can lead to.

In Chemistry for example a lot of graduates get jobs that are quite maths heavy due to the content within the degree course. I worked in a microbiology lab for a bit. A degree often has a lot of transferable skills so if you do a chemistry degree that does not automatically mean you are fixed into being a ‘chemist’ for the rest of your life.

In terms of my own career, my undergraduate and postgraduate degree were very relevant as I have stayed within science and always worked in a lab. I also got the job I am in now due to contacts made within my postgraduate study and this is true for quite a lot of people. Undergraduate courses that have a year in industry often lead to a job in the same (or similar) area.

Post 16 Education: A Level Chemistry, Biology and History. I also took a sign language qualification once a week to boost my UCAS application. This ended up being really useful as I missed my conditional offer by 1 grade and Loughborough took this into account when they offered me my place.

Higher Education: MChem Chemistry; PhD “Lowering levels of heritage crime via novel chemical procedure”

Why did you choose Chemistry?

I went for a broad Chemistry degree rather than focusing on a specific area within it because other than ‘something to do with chemistry’ I had little idea what job I wanted to do once I graduated. This ended up being a good decision as even to this day I find out new jobs exist within the scientific world so I would have had no idea 12 years ago!

Richard’s experience as a student

It was very much a slow burner for me. I really struggled in my first year, as I didn’t drink and was very shy so found aspects of Freshers week difficult. However, I stuck it out and ended up meeting like minded people and from my 2nd year onwards moved into a house with friends where I absolutely loved life.

I chose Loughborough originally as the course itself was exactly what I wanted and had aspects that very few places offered (radiochemistry was only available to study at 2 Universities). I also got a good vibe whilst visiting. I went twice and both times everyone was friendly which makes a huge difference when making such a decision. I much preferred Loughborough being a campus University rather than pieced together across a city like many others are. They call Loughborough Uni the ‘bubble’ as it is like its own environment, and this made for a brilliant atmosphere at events etc.

In my PhD I got a lot of opportunities that I would never have anticipated. As part of some outreach work I did, I ended up demonstrating my work live on BBC’s Crimewatch Roadshow to about 1 million people!

Richard's Career

I work for a forensic science company called Foster and Freeman, helping develop and research a chemical used to develop latent fingerprints on metals. I also help research new techniques that are in development.

I did very little forensically for my first 2 years of University, however studied it as an option in my 4th year and found it fascinating. I then got offered a PhD that had some aspects of forensic science and as a result collaborated with an old PhD student who had moved onto Foster and Freeman as well.

I graduated from my PhD and worked as a technician at the University of Leicester for a few years, but then some people I had previously worked with mentioned that a lab was being developed on Loughborough University’s campus and asked if I would be interested in working there. I knew the company was a good one to work for, and it is a small lab (just 2 of us) and as me and my lab mate knew each other from working together with our PhD’s it sounded like a great place to work, and it is!