My father is a teacher, and my mother worked in business. One day my parents decided to leave England for new places; they settled in Dubai. After a couple of years I turned up. It was really nice being in Dubai because there are so many different families from so many different places and backgrounds. You probably can’t stay in Dubai forever. It’s not a forever place. Coming back to England was amazing, because it is the complete opposite in many ways, and new to me. The winters! The snow! We could go outside and be happier.

We moved to Plymouth, which is nice, because it’s by the coast. I went to an all-girls school. My last years there were during the Covid pandemic, so schooling and exam taking were really very stressful, no one could have prepared for it. It’s very crazy to think back at how it was.

I think that experience gave me the independent drive and resilience that I have. I even had my first job – in a pub! I wanted to go to university, that’s what became my focus. I prepared. I did it: Imperial College, London.

As a child I was quite creative. My initial interest was in textiles – I did a textiles GCSE. I started getting into designing and making. During the school lockdowns, I found I enjoyed mathematics and science, and linked both into a fascination for how textiles are made, and how they can be used. Then I picked up a book about textiles for medicine; that was about wearable materials.

I heard about more bio-inspired engineering projects that often comprised of textiles or structures.  I didn’t want to go into applied medicine, so I began to think: should I focus on materials for healthcare?

I did a lot of volunteering when growing up. I like the idea of helping people. Bioengineering grabbed my attention in how it can help people. It feels quite direct and involved, and I enjoy learning about different people’s way of living.

I’ve spoken to companies developing technology that I didn’t even dream of, and it’s like, oh, that makes so much sense and that would help so many people.

Where am I going to go from here? I definitely want to work in medical technology as an engineer. The specificity of med tech interests me as, although it might apply to only a few percent of people, that’s still millions of people who could use it.  Being involved in something like that would feel quite fulfilling to me.

I chose this internship because the technology is new and exciting to me. It’s challenging. I want to try lots of different things.