CV

The print version of my CV lists my contact details; for this online version, please use the contact form to get in touch with me.

Research experience

  • 2022 – present: Junior Research Fellow, Queens’ College, Cambridge
  • 2017 – 2022: PhD student, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge: ‘Improving the pollination of the strawberry’. (Supervisor: Prof. Beverley Glover)
    • Measuring variation in flower traits in commercially available varieties of strawberry and testing bee responses to extremes of that variation. 
    • Creating genetically transformed wild strawberry plants with pink flowers and testing bee responses compared with wild-type white flowers.
    • Determining the cause of the lack of pigmentation in flowers of Arabidopsis thaliana, and the cause of the presence of pigmentation in flowers of Aethionema (a pink-flowered relative of A. thaliana).
  • 2000 – 2002: Summer student (twice) plus an eight-week third-year research project in the Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, investigating the structure of the chloroplast genome in the dinoflagellate alga Amphidinium operculum and the role of the poorly characterised plant protein cytochrome c6A.

Education

  • 1999–2001: St Catharine’s College, Cambridge
    First-class degree in Biochemistry (Part II Supervisor: Prof. Chris Howe)
  • 1993–1998: Eastbourne College
    A levels: Maths, Further Maths, Physics, Chemistry (all A); AS level Music (A);

Publications

Awards

  • Winner: ‘Best Talk’, Cambridge University BBSRC DTP student symposium (July 2021).
  • Shortlisted for the Bristol Science Film Festival 2021 for a four-minute public information video about my research. (“Well presented and engaging science communication” – Festival judges.)
  • Commended for my third-year Departmental poster (Departmental award, March 2021).
  • Captain of the University of Cambridge team in ‘Botanical University Contest 2021‘, losing in the final to Manchester Metropolitan University.
  • Highly Commended in the Peer Support and Access & Outreach categories in the University of Cambridge Outstanding Student Contributions to Education Awards (University-wide awards, August 2020).
  • Awarded the Frank Smart Scholarship for excellence in Plant Science (Departmental award, February 2020).
  • Shortlisted for the ‘Speak Up for Food Security’ competition (national competition, March 2019).
  • Won funding from the Peter Warnock Fund to cover research travel (Departmental award, February 2019).
  • Commended for my first-year Departmental seminar (Departmental award, February 2019).
  • Shortlisted for the Cambridge Society for the Application of Research awards (University-wide competition,
    September 2018).

Conference presentations

  • Oral presentation (Cambridge University BBSRC DTP Student Symposium 2021; won prize for ‘Best Talk’)
    Oral presentation (Royal Horticultural Society PhD Symposium 2019, Wisley)
  • Poster (European Society for Evolutionary Developmental Biology Conference 2019, Galway)
  • Poster (Cambridge Global Food Security Conference 2019, Cambridge)

Teaching, outreach & press

  • Supervised groups of undergraduate students (2022-3, Part IA Evolution & Behaviour; Lent Term 2020, Part IB Plant & Microbial Sciences).
  • Mentored third-year undergraduates at Churchill College, meeting once a week during the academic year. (2019–20 and invited to return for 2020–21)
  • Demonstrated at various first-year undergraduate practicals and a one-week second-year field trip to Portugal. (“You and your enthusiasm has had as significant an impression on me as any professor I’ve had in the last two years” – student feedback.)
  • Organised a day Symposium for 150 life sciences PhD students plus training scheme management, July 2019, involving securing funding, finding speakers, organising the event, and running a committee of seven students. (94% of student feedback said the day was ‘very good’ or ‘good’.)
  • Participated as a ‘visiting scientist’ in a three-day CREST awards workshop for disadvantaged children.
  • Presented two short talks and a one-hour lecture for around 30 Sutton Trust students.
  • Gave numerous popular science lectures to nature groups and was invited to speak at the University’s Science Festival in March 2020. (“The best science festival talk I have ever been to” – audience feedback.) 
  • Invited to present an hour’s podcast on ‘Bees’ as part of the Gin and Topic series (April 2021)
  • Nectar offloading paper featured in international news (including The New York Times, The Times, BBC Radio, ‘No Such Thing as a Fish’ (QI podcast), ‘Ranger Rick’ (US kids’ nature magazine; circulation 500k copies) and more); the University of Cambridge Instagram video on it has 21k views.
  • With another PhD student, scripted and produced a four-minute public information video on our research (2.8k views on YouTube), funded by EIT Food. (Shortlisted for the Bristol Science Film Festival 2021.)
  • Twice Featured live on The Naked Scientists radio broadcasts, plus BBC Look East TV broadcast and BBC Radio Cambridgeshire World Bee Day special.
  • Took part in the CUBG Festival of Plants (2018–2020) and Twilight at the Museums (2018–2020).
  • Ran two one-hour workshops on pollinator-based education for the Botanic Gardens Education Network.

Administration

October 2022 – present: Member of the BBSRC People and Talent Strategy Advisory Panel Researcher Subgroup.

Employment

  • October 2022: Junior Research Fellow, Queens’ College, Cambridge.
  • September 2017 – May 2022: PhD student, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge.
    • Thesis title: ‘Improving the pollination of the strawberry’, funded by the BBSRC DTP.
    • Student Representative for the 2017 cohort and member of the BBSRC DTP Training Committee.
    • Member of the Departmental Health and Safety Committee.
    • Includes a three-month internship in the Learning Department of Cambridge University Botanic Garden (October 2019 – January 2020), where I researched and wrote approximately 20 boards and six twelve-page science-driven trails for adult visitors. (“Hamish made a substantial contribution to the Garden’s interpretation offer … The Garden benefited immensely.”)
  • 2016–2017: Stay-at-home dad.
  • 2008–2016: Light Blue Software Ltd
    • A company I founded with a colleague to write and sell business management software for photographers.
    • Responsible for coding for desktop software for Mac and Windows, testing, sales and marketing, training and trade shows, plus business administration (including VAT and tax).
    • Won ‘Best Business Software’ at an international software industry conference and ‘Best Professional Product’ at the main UK trade show for photographers.
    • Built a healthy subscription revenue from thousands of photographers around the world.
    • Working as part of a two-person team required discipline, a close attention to detail and the ability to work independently to meet very tight deadlines. I planned, wrote and tested new features for the software and for our website, and planned and wrote training materials (including several hours’ video tutorials and regular hour-long online training sessions). I also gave presentations at international conferences and trade shows, as well as one-to-one training. (“The best customer service I have ever had from any company, ever” – customer feedback.)
  • 2008–2012: Freelance graphic designer
    • Working for various clients including the University, St Catharine’s College, Queens’ College and UCL.
    • Design and print management for reports, marketing material, brochures, annual magazines, books etc.
    • Dealing with several projects simultaneously required careful organisation, time management and attention to detail.
  • 2005–2008: Designer / Design Manager, Cambridge University Press 
  • 2003–2005: Computer Officer, Research Services Division, University of Cambridge
  • 2002–2003: Alumni Officer, St Catharine’s College, Cambridge

Extra-curricular 

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