Personal Stories
Published in the RSAA Lunations
Vol1 Issue7 1–31 August 2020
Brittany Carter......
I grew up in Griffith, NSW. In year 5 my best friend said her favourite subject was science, and I quickly agreed that it was my favourite too…even though I didn’t really know what “science” was. No one in my extended family had ever been to university, so I didn’t know much about it.
By year 10 I wanted to be an environmental scientist to save the planet, so I took chemistry in years 11-12. Turns out I hated chemistry, but I was also taking biology and loved genetics, and I decided my career goal was to be a research scientist.
After high school I moved to Melbourne to do my Bachelor of Science (Genetics) at the University of Melbourne. I tossed up changing my major to immunology, but due to going on exchange and not wanting to delay graduation, ultimately ended up sticking with genetics (though it turns out genetics is a lot harder and a lot more boring in university than it is in high school… but I’ve now directly and indirectly killed thousands of fruit flies, burnt off the hair on my right hand which I only noticed because of the burning smell, and nearly chloroformed myself by accident once).
After graduation, I took a year off to work then enrolled in a Graduate Diploma of Science (Zoology) so I could do a Master’s degree. Towards the end of my graduate diploma I volunteered with the Residential Indigenous Science Experience (a fantastic program that I wish had been around when I was a young Wiradjuri kid growing up in the country). By that time I was starting to reconsider my desire to be a research scientist, and instead wanted to “design programs so kids could learn about science”. I had never heard of the term “science communication”, so didn’t realise it was a thing I could actually do!
I enrolled in my Master of Science (Zoology) and worked at Melbourne Museum studying the evolutionary and morphological diversity of the Central Military Dragon (the zoology version of genetics is actually a lot more fun than the genetics version of genetics). I examined a lot of dead lizards and found out that the species was actually several species and subspecies with a lot of diversity (one day I may even get around to publishing this information). I also did a subject called Communication for Research Scientists, which furthered my interest in science communication, though by that point I knew I didn’t want to actually be a research scientist.
After finishing my Master’s, I moved to Canberra in 2017 to do the Master of Science Communication at ANU. I got a lot of great experience running events (which is incidentally how I met Brad) and interning with Ingrid McCarthy during National Science Week. After graduation I somehow got this job, and Ingrid and I ended up working together again. I’ve kept up my involvement with National Science Week and have been the co-chair of the ACT Committee since last year.
When I’m not working on National Science Week, I’m thinking about how I should actually get around to publishing my paper, baking, reading, watching Netflix, or going on long Corona walks.
Brittany Carter
