Poppy’s Story
Poppy, based in England, is the Coordinating Managing Editor as part of the Youth STEM Matters Volunteer Team.
In her own words, this is her story.
2 Years of Youth STEM Matters
Hi, my name is Poppy! I’m 21 years old from the UK, living in London, working in Stevenage and at university in Bath as a third year Natural Scientist. I’m currently the Coordinating Managing Editor at Youth STEM Matters, and this is my Youth STEM 2030 story so far…
As I sat down to write this blog, I actually found it quite a challenge to think about what to write! This is because of the sheer amount of different things I have been up to during the last 2 years as part of the Youth STEM Matters Volunteer Team. I cannot believe it has been two years since our journal was formed - the time has passed so quickly with so much growth within the team. Being one of a few on our team who have been involved since the start, I thought I would reflect on my Youth STEM Matters journey so far.
Thinking As a Scientist
I originally joined our team way back during lockdown in April 2020. I found out about Youth STEM Matters when Adam Khan-Qureshi (the previous Editor-in-Chief) got in contact about the opportunity. We knew each other mutually from working on a past Nuffield Research Placement-turned-project which I had presented and won at the Big Bang Fair 2019, which is where I first met Mhairi McCann, Youth STEM 2030’s Founder & CEO. So I submitted my application for this new opportunity and next thing I knew I was joining the team as a Reviewer! I had never undertaken any volunteering opportunity like this, nor been involved with scientific publishing apart from reading some papers myself. I didn’t really know what to expect coming into the role, but was excited at the prospect of getting involved with such an international team. I was attracted by the prospect of being able to read different papers on different areas of science that I wouldn’t have come across before. When I joined, I got the chance to undertake training to learn how to deconstruct different types of papers, whilst getting to know other team members through many online calls and interacting on our online workspace in Slack. My confidence grew as I reviewed papers and continued to learn more and more about so many different subjects. Not only did my critical thinking and literature review skills get stronger, the tools I had learned through my training meant my university work was greatly improving too. Being able to review your own writing is incredibly useful when you spend most of your time writing lab reports.
I was also able to take part in other activities in the journal, helping to transcribe the interviews “In Conversation With Yasmin Ali” and “In Conversation With Prof. Rana Dajani” making them more accessible to a wider audience. I also continued to develop my scientific skills, participating in The Open University course ‘Ethics in Science?’ and the Nature Masterclass course ‘Focus on Peer Review’. It was so exciting to be able to extend my STEM learning even further, and I’ve learned so much about the peer review process and just how important it is for us to share good quality science. Now having gone to work as a full-time scientist, I see the impact of sharing robust ideas and how this can impact the decision making process in designing my experiments. This has also extended into my university work, with the reports I’ve been writing getting higher marks for including more further reading. This has meant I have been able to compare and contrast ideas on a variety of different topics covered by my degree. Getting involved in Youth STEM Matters has also highlighted how it is so important for youth to be able to have their platform to share their ideas too. Understanding that reviewing is more than just checking the structure - the critical thinking, decision making, feedback writing - led me onto my next role within the journal.
Growing in Confidence
After applications and interviews I took the leap to step up and become an Editor in October 2020. Through this role I have now been the Primary Handling Editor for 4 papers, assessed applications, conducted interviews for Reviewers and even helped to create the ‘Pets of Youth STEM Matters’ and ‘Positiviteam’ channels in the Youth STEM Matters Slack workspace - a highlight in the workspace for many, so I am told! Taking on this role also boosted my confidence a great deal, allowing me to develop my public speaking skills further, including through leading meetings, delivering training to new reviewers and doing an Instagram takeover on the Youth STEM 2030 account. I also had the incredible opportunities to speak at the 2020 Youth STEM Summit for the ‘Research 101’ session as well as a Nuffield Research Placement Celebration evening. Being able to share my passion with other young people makes my volunteering even more rewarding.
“I would encourage other young people to go and submit an article on something you’re interested in. I was able to talk about my paper in my job interview for my placement and it certainly contributed to landing the role.”
In November 2020, I also wrote a paper myself to help gain an understanding of the publishing process (and also because I work as a scientist!), which has just been released in the first ever Youth STEM Matters print edition! I learned a great deal from this process, especially as having to experience the peer review process from the other side of things. The process was smooth from start to finish, and I learned a lot about the way good review papers are written from the insightful comments from the reviewers. I would encourage other young people to go and submit an article on something you’re interested in. I was able to talk about my paper in my job interview for my placement and it certainly contributed to landing the role. It also made me a lot more confident in the way I present my scientific writing and has made me think about the way I communicate the points I try to put across in reports and presentations.
To top it all off, at the Youth STEM Matters Volunteer Awards last year, I received both the Mentor Award and Community Award. How incredible! I absolutely loved being an Editor and being able to grow my leadership skills really helped my own confidence. I discovered that I really enjoyed engaging with others and helping them to learn and discover their potential, which has led me onto my most recent endeavors.
From Operations to Systems
Most recently, with time having passed and shuffles within the team, a new role arose in the form of Coordinating Managing Editor. A new challenge for myself, perhaps! I had been looking for a change in my responsibilities in the team for a short while, so in August 2021, I completed my application and I actually got the role - something I totally didn’t expect! I have been able to use my experience from my time on the team as a Reviewer, Editor and author to look to shape the way the Research Team is run and the long term strategy for it to ensure the sustainability of the ways of working and ensuring we can continue to run a peer review process of the highest quality.
This has involved meeting with Mhairi, the new Editor in Chief Yara Obeidi, Adam and the wider team to gain perspectives on how things can be done differently so we can look to implement it. My first big project as Coordinating Managing Editor came at the start of 2022 - I led the organisation of the online training for our newest Reviewers, which at first was daunting but became really enjoyable and rewarding. I’ve found I’m now working with a lot of new faces that make up the next generation of team members which is a really exciting prospect to have the team so energised.
When applying for this role I was unsure as I have never really had the opportunity to do a role like this, however this has meant that I have continued to grow in my own confidence and in terms of my leadership skills. It has been exciting to connect with team members from across the journal, but still a challenge to ensure when making plans to take everyone’s opinions and requirements into account. It’s also really developed my ‘bigger picture’ thinking skills. Being able to identify areas to change for a whole journal seemed daunting at first, but by being able to think laterally and approach different situations with a different mindsets has meant I have made progress in shaping our team to be even stronger.
In the coming months, I’ll be putting my plans into action and continue to improve experiences for team members and authors alike. This looks to make Youth STEM Matters the most impactful platform for young people across the world to publish with. This is especially important in terms of a real focus on ensuring that publishing a project at Youth STEM Matters is as accessible as possible to young people around the world, as well as having plenty of skills development and training opportunities within the research team!
Looking to the Future
Throughout the whole time I’ve been on the team I’ve been attending university as well as working part-time, being busy with my hobbies (mainly rowing) and now working a full-time job as a lab scientist at GSK for my placement year. But what is wonderful is that this is a passion I genuinely have. Indeed, communication within science is something I have always been interested in. To be in a position where I am actively helping a platform to promote youth voice, and with the SDGs being more applicable than ever before, it all makes sense to do so. I can’t begin to list the number of skills I’ve learned and continued to develop at Youth STEM Matters, and with many of my team members, they are like friends I’ve never met, which is so bizarre but also another incredible dimension to this multicultural community.
I am certainly not the same person who joined Youth STEM Matters; I have grown so much in my confidence, as a scientist, and as a person too. Now being in a position to help inspire others to do the same is something I am privileged to be able to do. So as I move forward in life, hoping to pursue a PhD and continue with science as a career, one thing I want to ensure is that I’m continuing to challenge the norms and push forward young people’s voices, as volunteering at Youth STEM Matters has made me realise just how influential they can be.
So, I encourage YOUth to get involved - Youth STEM Matters has been so important in so many aspects of my development. I’ve had countless amazing opportunities with many more to come. Let this be the platform that opens doors where you may not have had the keys to before!
“Youth STEM Matters has been so important in so many aspects of my development. I’ve had countless amazing opportunities with many more to come. ”