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Iona Murdock

    • About Me:

      I live with friends in Oxford and I work in nuclear chemistry. In my spare time I enjoy doing art, playing netball and hanging out with friends

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      I am from Ilkley which is a town in the countryside near Leeds. I had the best of both worlds where I lived as I could go for walks on Ilkley moor and also explore the city of Leeds. I have always enjoyed the outdoors and recently climbed Snowdon with friends from university. Other interests of mine include art and music, I paint in my spare time and enjoy going to gigs. In 2019 I went Glastonbury festival and my favourite act was The Killers. For university I moved to Liverpool where I spent my time visiting the city’s galleries, restaurants and bars – on top of studying of course! After university I started looking for jobs and, as I am passionate about the environment, I was interested in the nuclear sector due to its applications in clean energy. Following my job offer to join the National Nuclear Laboratory, I relocated down south to Oxford. I moved into a house share, met some new people and started playing netball.

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      As a reactor chemist I work in ‘Reactor Accident Chemistry’ which studies the processes that occur during a nuclear accident and ‘Radiation Chemistry’ which studies the chemical effects of radiation on matter. My area of focus in on the chemistry of iodine. Iodine is a major contributor to the radiation dose following a nuclear accident and a high dose rate can have a negative effect on the environment and people’s health. Understanding the chemistry of iodine in an accident scenario allows us to predict its behaviour and develop safety systems to prevent or decrease its release to the environment. Information on accident chemistry is also used in the development of new nuclear reactors which will bring us closer to achieving net zero in the UK. Accident chemistry research involves contributing to international research projects and working collaboratively with other companies such as EDF and Rolls Royce.

    • My Typical Day:

      I get out of bed and wake myself up with some porridge followed by a cup of coffee. I am currently working from home and usually get started at around 8am. I will work on reports, complete training modules, attend any meetings I have that day and take a break for lunch which I spend with my housemates who also work from home. I then get back to my work before finishing around 4:30pm.

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      Working from home has the bonus of not needing to commute to work but I still like to wake up in good time before I start work for the day. I make sure to have a big, caffeine-filled breakfast to fuel me and then I get settled in for work at around 8 am. As I am on a graduate scheme, I often have training and development modules to do, whole days can be dedicated to training or it can be incorporated into my other work. I am currently working on a few different reports relating to reactor chemistry. One report is for EDF and summarises a method for calculating the amount of iodine released in a nuclear accident. Another piece of work I am working on is a literature review on an international research program called ‘THEMIS’ which is looking into different chemical processes that can occur in an accident scenario. I also have regular meetings with my manager as well as meetings with other reactor chemists to discuss how the projects are progressing.

    • What I'd do with the prize money:

      Pay for a trip for students to be able to visit a National Nuclear Laboratory site to see a nuclear facility first-hand.

    My CV

    • Education:

      I went to secondary school at Ilkley Grammar School in my home town and I also completed sixth form there.

      I then went on to study chemistry at the University of Liverpool.

    • Qualifications:

      I have 9 GCSE’s (A*-B) with an A in chemistry. My favourite subjects were chemistry, biology and art.

      I did chemistry, biology and maths at A-level (ABB). I also continued art to AS-level (B) and my work was selected to be in an exhibition.

      I received an integrated masters degree from the University of Liverpool (MChem – first class). I loved both art and chemistry but chose to study chemistry at university as I knew I could continue art in my spare time (slightly harder to do chemistry at home). I chose to study at the University of Liverpool as I thought it was a friendly city and had links with the art world, I visited Tate Liverpool many times throughout my degree.

    • Work History:

      I completed a summer placement at a pharmaceutical company called Liverpool ChiroChem after my second year of university. Here, I developed synthetic pathways for pharmaceutical compounds.

      In my third year I completed an industrial year at a company called Baker Hughes working within the energy sector. I worked on improving the industrial synthesis of a range of polymeric products.

    • Current Job:

      I am currently working as a graduate reactor chemist

    • My Interview

      • How would you describe yourself in 3 words?

        Arty nuclear chemist

        What did you want to be after you left school?

        I wanted to work as a chemist in clean energy or in something related to medicine

        Were you ever in trouble at school?

        I was rubbish at Spanish and got in trouble for writing 'I hate Spanish' in my exercise book - maybe I should have written 'odio español'

        Who is your favourite singer or band?

        Foals

        What's your favourite food?

        Ramen

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

        Win a Nobel prize, be able to teleport and be amazing at cooking

        Tell us a joke.

        What's the scariest word in nuclear chemistry? Oops!

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