Profile
Chelsea Sargeant
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About Me:
Hi, my name is Chelsea and I’m a PhD student living in Manchester. I love reading, exploring new places and going to music concerts.
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My pronouns are:
She/her
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My Work:
I am a PhD student who uses physics to help improve images to make radiotherapy treatments more accurate for cancer patients!
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Radiotherapy means using radiation, like x-rays, to treat cancer. When someone needs radiotherapy, we take a high quality image of inside of the patient to see where their cancer is. We use this image to plan how much radiation to give to the patient and where to aim it.
When the patient is ready for their treatment, we take another image to double check that they are in the right place and their insides haven’t changed too much. Because this is a quick check, this image is normally a little blurry.
I create computer programs to improve the quality of the quick check images so we can see the patient more clearly and deliver better radiotherapy treatments.
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My Typical Day:
Once I have woken up and had breakfast (and coffee!), I get ready for work. I walk to work each morning while listening to an audiobook or a podcast. When I get to work, I put on a happy playlist and plan my day.
At the moment, my work involves a lot of coding! I am creating artificial intelligence models to improve the quality of patient images so I am trying lots of new ways to do this. Sometimes I take a couple of hours out of the working day to go for a walk, or do something nice like get a piece of cake and read my book. I think it’s really important to look after your brain by doing something you enjoy! I try and leave work at 5pm each day and do something active in the evening like yoga or swimming.
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As I am a PhD student, each day can look very different. When I’m not coding, I might be collecting data which means finding and organising new patient images, writing up some of my results, making posters or presentations, or attending talks or meetings.
Communication is a big part of science and it is important to be able to share and talk about our work with other people. This sometimes means travelling to cool places which I have been very lucky to do! Last year I went to Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Singapore to present some of my work.
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Education:
Wrenn School, Wellingborough, UK
University of Bristol, UK
University of Manchester, UK
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Qualifications:
BSc in Physics
MSc in Cancer Biology and Radiotherapy Physics
PhD in Medical Sciences
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Work History:
I have worked as a waitress, a bartender and ice rink staff while studying.
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Employer:
The University of Manchester.
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My Interview
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What did you want to be after you left school?
An astronaut
Were you ever in trouble at school?
No
If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?
I would love to be a writer.
Who is your favourite singer or band?
I love Taylor Swift
What's your favourite food?
Tacos!
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
1) More time to read books and be outside. 2) To be more confident in myself. 3) To be able to speak another language.
Tell us a joke.
Did you hear about the physicist who was reading a great book on anti-gravity? He couldn't put it down.
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