You've got an "OLOGY", you are a Scientist

Last week I spent 2 days surrounded by Scientists.

I was at the UKSPA summer conference…the United Kingdom Science Park Association…yup it’s a thing.

I was there for work, as Oxford Innovation Space are a member…with many of the 30ish sites we look after falling into the science world with labspace etc, the lions share of our centres falling bang in the middle of what is known as the “Golden Triangle” for science investment in the UK.

The 2 centres I look after are not very sciency…although we have some companies from our 70+ that are in meditec, nutrition, renewable energy, and in medical device invention…but my areas of expertise in business are not, I must admit, from that world.

I did not enjoy science at school.

I just couldn’t really see where it would be applicable in my life, a bit like maths… trigonometry anyone?

My brain was much more creative…and I loved people.

When I got the option to do Sociology at GCSE level I jumped at the chance, but despite the curriculum interesting me, me and my sociology teacher clashed. I wanted to debate life, he wanted me just to answer the questions from the text books and shut the hell up.

Now to be fair I was a little shit at school…and it didn’t help that me and my peers had a running joke at his expense, because his surname sounded very much like “Shabba” which was also a phrase from a popular 1990’s ragga song by Shabba Ranks…whenever he was in ear shot we would don our best bogle fingers (a popular dance craze), wind our waist and proclaim “SHABBA” much to his annoyance.

Anyway I digress…back to science.

I did OK in my GCSE’s I got a C in Science…my coursework on photosynthesis apparently saving me from the dreaded D mark I was predicted, but in Sociology, I got a B.

On the day of picking up my grades “Mr Shabba” (not his real name obvs) walked past and said “Oi Creffield, How the Fuck did you get a B?” cos to be fair I had spent most of the 2 years at the back of the classroom secretly playing my friends Gameboy or pretending to be asleep

To which I responded,

“Cos Sociology is about Life, sir…maybe you should go get yourself one”

As I said I was a little shit…no denying it.

On reflection, we would probably now say his teaching style wasn’t a good fit for my ADHD learning style of needing to be involved in discussions, having autonomy in the focus of my work, and finding creative angles in the curriculum to keep me engaged.

Anyway.

I loved being at the conference last week. Turns out I do like science. It was fascinating. What was very interesting to me, was the intersection of entrepreneurship, built environment stuff, the funding and political landscape in which science parks exist, AND the impact of local issues such as skills, housing and transport.

The event was held at the Rothamsted Research, an agritech facility founded in 1843…a series of tours around the vast campus that includes a range of the original facilities plus brand new state of the art spaces gave me a whistle stop overview of all of the many things it did. 

I didn’t need to be a scientist to appreciate its importance.

Presentations from two of the companies based there further blew my mind.

One that has developed a patented bacteria strain (with specific DNA modifications) that once implanted into crops can decontaminate metal rich soil…perfect for unusable land close to mines and other disasters.

And another, a specific biofertaliser that uses existing farm infrastructure but increases the yield of crop and has no detrimental effect on widelife or water stocks.

I walked into that conference feeling like a fraud.

I came out inspired and better informed to support my STEM-obsessed 12-year-old who one day might herself want to pursue a career in Science.

I’ve even been inspired to write an article for the UKSPA website about the impact of having a Global company as a neighbour, and how to best involve local people in order to find common ground…an area I do know lot’s about, given my 8 years working on the London 2012 Olympics.

PS…the reference to this articles title “You’ve got an ology which means your a scientist “ (if you are too young to remember), there was a brilliant BT advert from 1988 starring Maureen Lipman…go watch it here, its brilliant.