Case studies: Postdoctoral researcher: Victoria

After studying meteorology at undergraduate level, Victoria went on to complete a PhD. She now works as a postdoctoral researcher for the University of Helsinki.

I wanted a career involving maths and physics but in an applied sense. Meteorology appealed to me as I could use these subjects (my favourite subjects at school) and at the same time work in an area relevant to almost everyone's day-to-day life. I was also attracted to meteorology because there are still lots of aspects that are not well understood. I did have a keen interest in 'weather' but, although this helped me choose my career, it wasn't the main reason.

I chose my current job as a researcher at the University of Helsinki because I like solving problems logically and wanted to contribute to our understanding of the weather. Hopefully, my research will lead to improved forecasts in the future. I heard about the job on the grapevine - a lecturer where I did my PhD heard about a new postdoctoral researcher vacancy and gave me some details. I emailed to enquire further and included my website link. My current employer requested a CV and three references and then invited me to visit. We had several discussions, rather than a formal interview, and I had to give two one-hour seminar presentations.
 
I spend most of my day in my office either working with numerical models on the supercomputer or analysing results from my numerical experiments using different types of computer software. I enjoy the problem-solving aspect of it most and continually learn new things. On the downside, sometimes setting up new experiments on the supercomputer is long, difficult and a bit boring - I sometimes feel more like a computer scientist than a meteorologist.

The research group I belong to has informal weekly meetings to keep everyone up to date. I also supervise one MSc student and meet with her once a week to discuss her work. I teach a few classes too, which means I get quite busy with preparing lectures or problem sets and marking. I travel to conferences to present my work to other scientists and occasionally visit other universities overseas. I also write scientific journal articles for publication.

To get into meteorology, it's important to develop and maintain good contacts. In such a small field, it's easy to get to know people at conferences and meetings. Make sure, as a student, that you attend as many conferences as possible, and be pro-active and brave - introduce yourself to people. Take part in the 'community' as much as possible; join any relevant professional organisations, in my case the Royal Meteorological Society , and get involved with events, such as organising meetings or helping with education outreach activities. Keep an up-to-date website too - I'm sure it helped me get my current job.

My degree and PhD helped me learn skills I need in computer programming, writing scientific articles and giving presentations and I needed the PhD to get my current job. I hope to go on to become a university lecturer in meteorology.