Staff profile

BIOGRAPHY:

I have a Specialist Degree in Biology and Chemistry, Doctorate in Plant Taxonomy and more than 35 years of experience working in teaching and research laboratories. I also was leading a small team as Curator of Herbarium in Ukraine and had a grant from National Academy of Sciences for mapping of rare species of plants where I was a coordinator of a project.

Working as a Visiting Researcher in the Plant Molecular Biology lab at Durham University I supervised PhD students and helped Research associates with their projects, giving them technical support, helping in meeting the deadlines and running some experiments independently. It was a good opportunity for me to expand my knowledge in Biology, learn new methods and develop skills required for running a lab on a day-to-day basis.

At present I am a Technical Manager (Teaching) in Biosciences Department at Durham University where I successfully prepare practical classes, field courses and workshops working independently and supervising a team. I also participate in trials and developing new practicals, modernizing existing protocols and have an interest in learning new techniques and skills. On an everyday basis I must communicate with a wide range of services and individuals leading to recording data and fulfilling requests. I also collaborate with other technicians on different levels, supervising apprentices and learning new skills from more experienced members of staff.

Extracurricular activity

I participated in voluntary work and projects for Durham University Botanic Garden (2004-2006). First project, “Ethnobotany collection” was demonstrating to the public the great history of plant use by mankind and there I supervised undergraduate students in preparation of formal presentations and booklets. The second project was done for taxonomy purpose: we collected and grew 38 different cultivars of 4 species of Lavender. I was also performing other tasks such as labelling plants, maintaining collection of seeds, introducing plants from Middleton Quarry to limestone bed in the Botanic Garden etc.