Simone Woods
BIO
Former postdoc and current writer. Mom-of-two.
Instagram: @lifeinspirationfile
Simone Woods
“It’s okay to pivot in your career, and it’s okay to not know where you are going.”
I’ve always been interested in many different things. That’s why, not exactly knowing what direction I wanted to go in, I decided to pursue a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science concurrently. Although I loved the creative writing and English literature subjects, my passion for understanding how cells function through signalling networks won out and I decided to pursue a research career.
This led me to undertake a PhD in cancer cell signalling in my hometown of Melbourne, Australia. I found my PhD challenging (and, at times, torturous) but I got through it in one piece and decided to continue in my research career as a postdoc. Almost on a whim, I applied for postdoc opportunities in Europe. By a little twist of fate, I ended up landing in a lab in Munich, Germany. Over the last five years I’ve lived in Munich, done a lot of research as well as a number of other things, including:
Attempting to learn German and adapting to this foreign culture.
Writing and editing a lot of scientific work and re-discovering my love for writing.
Having two children.
Even before I was pregnant with my first son, I realised the difficulties in being a female scientist: I sought ways to avoid using the fetotoxic chemicals I had been employing routinely, without letting anyone know that I was trying to get pregnant, and without my research capacity diminishing. Then, I had to deal with the responses of my less than enthused male supervisor when I announced my pregnancy to him. I managed to get through the pregnancy and do some good work along the way. After maternity leave, I returned exhausted but ready to get back to the bench.
Attempting to fully commit to my research while raising my son at the same time was tougher than I had expected.
I now had to limit the length of my days to childcare opening times, my son was constantly sick (dragging either my husband or I out of work), and I was trying to do my “best work” through a fog of exhaustion. With no family around to provide a little extra support, there was no reprieve. I lost a lot of my passion and energy for science over this time.
Then I got pregnant again. My supervisor responded better this time (on the surface). Deep down though, I think he resented me becoming pregnant *again* and saw it as a lack of commitment to my research. Despite my work going well and almost publishable, he didn’t extend my contract. At that point I knew that I could not continue attempting to be competitive in this kind of environment where time was always lacking - both in each day, but also in each contract - to really focus on my research.
A couple of weeks after my second baby was born, the pandemic hit and it has forced me to think carefully. During the second half of 2020, with no job to return to and no commitments outside the home, I found my way back to writing. I hadn’t written anything non-scientific in such a long time but suddenly I had so much to write about! I have now launched a blog, and am also pursuing freelance writing opportunities until we can return to Australia (hopefully) in October. There I plan to pursue scientific communications work full time.
I am still mourning the “end” of my research career. I still call myself a scientist, even though I’m no longer at the bench, because I believe that I will always remain a scientist at heart and always view the world through lab goggle lenses!
I feel uneasy (to say the least!) that I don’t know exactly where I’m heading next and I don’t know whether my current plans will pan out the way I hope. I’m endeavouring to embrace this uneasiness and see it as an opportunity to re-evaluate myself and what I really want out of my career. The lack of faith my supervisor had in me, along with the fact that I couldn’t return to my postdoc, forced me to determine what I really want to be doing.
I hope that my story brings some comfort to those women out there in science who are not sure if they want to stay in pure research: it’s okay to pivot in your career, and it’s okay to not know where you are going. If you do want to continue in research and are finding it difficult while having a family, I hope that my story brings some attention to this issue and helps pave an easier path for other science mothers.