Profile
Joanna Furnival-Adams
My CV
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Education:
I went to Waldegrave School for Girls for my GCSEs, which is a state school in south west London. At the time, they didn’t have a 6th form so I then went on to Richmond Upon Thames College to study the International Baccalaureate. After this, I studied for a BSc in Biotechnology at Cardiff University and two years after graduating, I studied a Masters in Control of Infectious Diseases at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
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Qualifications:
12.5 GCSE’s A*-B
International Baccalaureate (32 points)
BSc Biotechnology
MSc Control of Infectious Diseases -
Work History:
After graduating from my BSc degree, I really didn’t know what I wanted to do as a career so I kept myself busy and tried out many different jobs. I initially worked as a bartender, then did an internship at a public relations firm in the Health team, then volunteered with a charity that helps blind people. I also taught English in Spain with the British council – this was when I began to miss studying and science, so I decided to apply for the MSc!
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Current Job:
Research Assistant
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About Me:
Hi! I’m a Research Assistant researching the effect of new types of mosquito net on malaria in Tanzania. In my spare time, I love reading, hiking and eating!
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Read more
I’m a Research Assistant working for London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in Tanzania. For the past year I have been working in Mwanza, Tanzania on a project assessing how well new mosquito nets protect against malaria – I’ve been involved in collecting mosquitoes from houses and analysing them in the lab. Others in my team have been testing children with rapid diagnostic tests to see if those using new nets are less likely to have malaria parasites than those using older nets.
It has been such a privilege to see how people live here and really understand how malaria can affect families.
A photo of me with some of the villagers – whenever I take my camera out, everyone want to get involved in the photo!
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My Typical Day:
On a day to day basis, I could be doing anything from setting up mosquito traps in houses; to dissecting mosquitoes to assess their fertility; to analysing data on my laptop!
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Read more
If I’m going to the field, I have to wake up very early at around 4am – mosquitoes tend to fly away from houses when the sun rises, so it’s important to collect them as early as possible! We have to drive on some very rough roads to get to the houses too, so it can take some time to travel there.
If I’m in the lab, I will sort mosquitoes that have been collected in houses according to their species (we do this by looking at the size and wing pattern). For live mosquitoes we sometimes dissect the abdomen to see if the mosquitoes eggs are healthy or underdeveloped (possibly because of the mosquito net, which contains insecticide).
Once we have collected all the data, I then analyse it – some people don’t like this step, but I find it exciting because it tells is if the nets are working and if so, how they are working!
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What I'd do with the prize money:
I would like to use the prize money to teach British students about African culture, life in rural Africa and the infectious diseases that many are exposed to.
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Adventurous, curious and practical
What did you want to be after you left school?
I had no idea!
Were you ever in trouble at school?
I was often in trouble for being late or not doing my homework...I'm much more hard working now!
Who is your favourite singer or band?
I love Radiohead
What's your favourite food?
Pizza!
Tell us a joke.
Poop jokes aren’t my favorite, but they’re a solid #2
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