February 2021
People Pathways Welcome to the February edition of the One Nucleus People Pathways newsletter.
What have we been up to this month? Last month we were told that our Biological Safety: Management and Practice course was able to be delivered online with IOSH approval; this month we delivered the course online to a full house and I am pleased to say it went incredibly well. Find out what courses we have coming up on page 1. We now have 8 fantastic Event Sponsors for the forthcoming Building Life Science Adventures confererence; tranScrip, Domainex, Hyper Recruitment Solutions, MSD, New Scientist, Charles River, CatSci and The Wellcome Trust. The Conversations in Careers library of 1-2-1 insights into the variety of careers across the sector is starting to grow. Inside this issue you can find out how Ann Dugdale started her own business alliance consultancy company during a pandemic, how Ricky Martin grew a successful Life Sciences recruitment company, how Mike Ward became the Global Head of Thought Leadership and finally the horrors that Sara Cooper would discover during her Health and Safety and Food Sabotage career (see page 3) This month we announce that One Nucleus will be presenting the ‘Life Sciences Inspiration of the Year’ Award on day two of the Building Life Science Adventures conference. View more information on the event web page and don’t forget to send your nomintions in by midday on 17 March. What’s inside this months issue? Page 1 | Upcoming Courses & Events and Our Training Course Offering Page 2 | Building Life Science Adventures App Launch Page 3 | Conversations in Careers Page 4 | Career Pathways Page 5 | Working with Parkinson’s Disease and Embracing Neurodiversity Page 8 | It’s All About People, Elisabeth Goodman Page 8 | Free Learning Opportunity of the Month Page 9 | Building Life Science Adventures Programme To get involved or have a chance to be featured in the next newsletter please contact training@onenucleus.com and for hot off the press updates, follow our @OneNucleus Twitter and LinkedIn accounts!
Upcoming Courses & Events Events 02 March | Collaborating to Supporting Biotech and Med Tech Businesses Across Our Neighbouring Regions register 03 March | BioWednesday Webinar: The Bioavailability Toolbox register 04 March | HR SIG A Tribunal Masterclass register 10 March | Laboratory Supplies and Import Duties Post Brexit register 18 March | Life Science Marketing Group: The Five Main Reasons That Life Science Lead Generation Campaigns Fail (And What You Can Do To Fix Them) register 22 - 25 March | BIO-Europe Spring 2021 register 30 - 31 March | ON Careers Conference - Building Life Science Adventures register 05 - 06 July | ON Helix Digital 2021 register
Training 01 March | Online Introduction to Managing Life Science Projects register 11 March | Online The Safe Use and Management of Lab Gases register 14 April | Online Presentation Skills for Scientists register 14 - 15 April | Online An Introduction to Drug Discovery - From Idea to Clinical Candidate register
Our Training Courses: • Online Introduction to Drug Discovery - From Idea to Clinical Candidate • Presentation Skills for Scientists • The Safe Use and Management of Lab Gases • Lab Health and Safety • Biological Masterclass: Building and Maintaining Competence in BioSafety • Online Introduction to Managing Life Science Projects • Biological Safety: Management and Practice (IOSH Approved) Let us bring the training to you...
COMING SOON Building Life Science Adventures App
Register now for the Building Life Science Adventures conference on the 30 - 31 March. Sign up early and receive access to:
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Pre-recorded Conversations in Careers sessions
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Networking and messaging
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Programme
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Learning and Development on-demand content
“Take every opportunity to learn new things, even if it doesn’t seem entirely relevant to the job that you are doing at the time, you just never know where it might take you or what you might learn” - Ann Dugdale, Taylors Hill watch now “My first editor who, I’d spent all weekend writing a particular article and it must of been about 1500 words and I remember handing it in on the Monday, and this was in the early days of my career and he managed to edit it down to 80 words and I was devastated...clearly everything I wrote was complete nonsense...what was absolutely fascinating was that that 80 words actually told the whole story” Mike Ward, Decision Resources Group watch now “Rejection is just a form of redirection. When someone says “No”, try and understand why they say no if you can and try to arm yourself to make sure you get a yes next time round” Ricky Martin, Hyper Recruitment Solutions watch now
“The sort of things that used to turn up in the food were pretty awful some times. I think probably the worst one was finding a sealed bag of porridge oats which had a whole mouse in it.” Sara Cooper, EssJay watch now
Career Pathways Vacancies Business Development Manager | ExecMind | read more Scientist - Molecular Biology | ExecMind | read more Head of Business Development | London BioScience Innovation Centre | read more Financial Controller | Artios Pharma | read more Administration Assistant | Artios Pharma | read more Pharmaceutical Analyst - Wet Chemistry | RSSL | read more QA/Test Developer | Tree of Life Genomics | Wellcome Sanger Institute | read more To view more vacancies like this, visit onenucleus.com/jobs Dont forget that if you are a member of One Nucleus you can list your current vacancies on our website. To find out how you can post jobs as a Non-Member on the website please contact training@onenucleus.com.
Recent Member Appointments bit.bio has announced the appointment of Dr Ramy Ibrahim, MD, as Chief Medical Officer | read more John Montana has been appointed as Non-Executive Director at Metrion Biosciences | read more Aqdot has announce the appointment of Russ Cummings as Chairman and Ian Mckernan as Non-Executive Director, alongside Business Growth Fund and OP6 Innovation who join as investors | read more
Training Topics Working with Parkinson’s Disease and Embracing Neurodiversity Jasmin Bannister, One Nucleus
Parkinson’s Disease and the effect that it has on someone is often not fully understood. There are currently 10 million people globally and 147,000 in the UK living with this condition. There are several neurological symptoms that are overlooked which is possibly down to little awareness. Reports suggest that an estimated 15% of the UK population are neurodivergent so, understanding and embracing this form of diversity potentially opens the door to great talent, teams and business practice. Therefore, One Nucleus were delighted to bring together Charlotte Allen and Russ Bradford from Parkinson’s Concierge and Elisabeth Goodman from RiverRhee Consulting. Charlotte was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease at the age of 36 and is currently running her two businesses: an insurance recruitment agency and Parkinson’s Concierge. 8 years ago, on Independence Day, ‘ironically’ as Russ says, this was the day he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, the day he felt as though he lost his independence, following a few years of misdiagnosis of a frozen shoulder for which he almost underwent an operation. 3 years ago, Charlotte and Russ met online via a Facebook support group and connected through their passion to want to help the community, be a voice for sufferers and campaign the areas that get little coverage. Since then, they have been ‘waving the wand’ for the Parkinson’s community to increase awareness with companies globally and take away the stigma and pre-conceptions that a Parkinson’s sufferer is ‘an old man bent over with a stick, trembling, shaking and being diagnosed at 40 years old’. What is neurodiversity and is your company neurodiverse? Neurodiversity is the difference in cognitive functioning of the human brain. Recently, organisations have been using the terms ‘people-centric’ or ‘people-friendly’ as buzz words to appear to be an employer of choice. However, there is still much more that can be learnt to ensure companies are fulfilling this. Neurodiversity is not a new term and if companies learn more about it and take steps to support people with Parkinson’s in the workplace it can be hugely beneficial to both the organisation and employees. Understandably, it is a particularly complex disease and therefore may take time to understand. For companies who are already neurodivergent it is equally as important to continue to make them feel valued as a part of the team and to support them to help them achieve their potential within the organisation. Parkinson’s Disease is the fastest growing neurological disorder globally and people can be diagnosed from as young as 7 years old. There are 60+ symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease that people are typically unaware of which makes daily tasks rather difficult including at night, Charlotte and Russ shared some of the examples in the bullet points below: • • •
Leg movements, jerking and cramping. Talking or yelling while sleeping Vivid dreams
• Difficulty getting to sleep and broken sleep. • Excessive sleeping
Other symptoms can include: • • • • • • •
Walking problems Tremors Mask-like expressions Motor fluctuations Trouble eating Weight loss/gain Dry mouth
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Pain Muscle cramps Speech issues Drooling Memory problems Trouble chewing Restless legs
Charlotte and Russ explain how a lot of people are diagnosed with Parkinson’s from a young (working) age and this is called ‘Young Onset Parkinson’s Disease’ which is a ‘totally different ball game’ in comparison to being diagnosed later in life and can therefore cause a significant impact on mental health. On average in the UK it can take up to 2 years to see your first neurologist after being diagnosed. Neurodiversity in the workplace Elisabeth opened her presentation by explaining the importance of ‘embracing different ways of thinking, feeling and doing’. There are several strengths associated with neurodiversity which are ‘invaluable’ in the working place for example: • • • • • •
Innovative thinking Verbal skills Observational skills Adaptability Depth of thinking Expression
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Fire detail processing Memory Concentration Intuition Empathy Creativity
There is a huge risk of losing touch of the above skills because we focus too much on the challenges that they can impose from not understanding the condition fully. This can also be down to the fact that those who are neurodivergent will have something called a ‘Spikey Profile’; this means that someone who shows great strength in creative thinking may have real difficulties around organisation, focus and time management although, this can vary across those who are neurodiverse because no one person is the same. Elisabeth points out that we can make a real difference by focusing on the strengths and supporting and recruiting them; by recognising the challenges that those who are neurodivergent have had of fitting in to the social norms/accepted way of fitting in, interacting and socialising throughout education and by fostering and nurturing their strengths we can attract this talent into the Life Sciences.
The impacts of Covid-19 have had a positive impact on those who are suffering with Parkinson’s Disease because it enables them to work in the comfort of their own home and removes the added stress of transport. Moving forward, employers should continue to be flexible to meet the needs of their employees. However, there were some challenges raised that communication via virtual platforms can be complicated and when encouraging people to reach out, for example, Zoom calls can be uncomfortable and we need to explore how we can make it more diverse and inclusive. How can you make a difference? • Avoid making assumptions about people’s feelings, especially because some symptoms are not obvious. • Respect people’s privacy as they may not always be willing and open to talking about their condition. • Take the time to listen and understand someone’s individual needs. Sometimes you may need to repeat things more than once and respect the fact that individuals will work at a different pace. • Most importantly ‘be patient and be kind’. There is support available through Access to Work. The Equality Act 2010 states ‘a physical or mental impairment which has had a long-term adverse effect on a person’s ability to carry out a normal day-to-day activities’ employers are expected to create ‘reasonable adjustments’ to the working environment You can view the full ‘Working with Parkinson’s Disease and Embracing Neurodiversity’ here
30-31 March 2021
What do you know about Colney Heath? ‘Colney Heath Chronicles’, a new book by Ruth Herman which is a light-hearted history of the tiny village which has cosied up to St Albans for at least 1000 years. It is an irreverent and interesting read. Not a huge book, but packed with stories of divorcing kings, land grabs, horse racing, cattle rustling and of course highwaymen. The Colney Heath Chronicles is accessible history and it’s fun. Find out more £7.50 (+ p & p £1.50) All proceeds go to charity including £1 from each sale to Parkinson’s UK. For more information and sales contact colneyheathchronicles@gmail.com
It’s All About People Elisabeth Goodman, RiverRhee Consulting When RiverRhee first started up in 2009, their strapline was “enhancing team effectiveness”. Their training courses and team workshops had a strong emphasis on projects, processes, problem solving and productivity. That was all well and good, but Elisabeth Goodman founder and principal consultant soon discovered that this was not enough. People are of course at the heart of everything that we do, and she quickly found that what RiverRhee’s clients also wanted to address centred around: • How to better understand ourselves and others • How to value and tap into our differences and associated strengths • How to use that knowledge to interact and communicate with each other for mutual benefit • How to deal with change and uncertainty and help others to do so too • How to make the best use of our time in a way that aligns with what’s important to us and with our individual styles of working RiverRhee’s strapline is now “creating exceptional managers and teams” and coaching is a strong component of their portfolio. Making coaching available for individuals and teams means that Elisabeth can now address another theme: • How to help each and every one of us realise our potential: build our awareness of what’s important to us, help others to understand that too, and develop strategies to make that happen. Do contact Elisabeth Goodman at elisabeth@riverrrhee.com, on +44(0)7876 130 817 or take a look at www.riverrhee.com to find out how RiverRhee can help you and your team realise your potential in 2021.
Free Learning Opportunities Because learning experiences don’t always necessarily stand with formal training, One Nucleus is making a range of educational workshops and webinars available to watch free of charge within its on-demand content. This month’s free learning opportunity is: “Bringing Purpose to Being the Employer of Choice” Click here to watch the full session.
Building Life Science Adventures Programme Day 1 - 30 March 2021 08:30 - 09:30 Why is Mentoring Good for Recruitment, Retention and Fostering Innovation? Maria Herva Moyano, Elisabeth Goodman, Alexander Spicer, David Cronk 10:30 - 11:30 Invest in Some Personal R&D Ricky Martin, Renos Savva, Maria Herva Moyano 12:15 - 13:15 The Taste of Success tranScrip, Charles River, Hyper Recruitment Solutions (HRS), Domainex 15:30 - 16:30 Opportunities in Clinical Research Alan Boyd, Rhianna Ball, Rene Van Der Merwe Day 2 - 31 March 2021
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08:30 - 09:30 The Life Sciences is not just for Life Scientists Mosh Aboobaker, Mary Clark, Amanda Crouch, Ann Dugdale, Alexandra Black 10:30 - 11:30 Race for the Top - Progressing Inside or Outside of the Lab Marta Westwood, Ann Dugdale, Suzy Dilly, Nathalie Winfield 12:15 - 13:15 Food for Thought Lucy Robertshaw, Ashley Cagle, Kathleen Henry, Thomas Knauer 15:30 - 16:30 What is ‘ESG’ and Why is it Important in Attracting the Best Talent Claire Thompson, Lisa Urquhart, Maria Herva Moyano, Flic Gabbay
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