Transcript for the video embedded on the undergraduate learning and teaching page and Emily Calvin’s profile page.
[Music]
[A student walking among trees and plants in a lush garden. Text says the student is Emily Calvin in the Himalayan Garden, Harewood House.]
[Emily speaks. Footage throughout shows Emily walking in the gardens and in various University settings including in labs, on computers, and playing netball.]
My family is from the Lake District so I grew up round there.
Looking at the environments, they have there really inspired me to travel so I went to Nicaragua, trekking and volunteering.
The diverse landscape was just something that I never really knew existed.
That spurred me on to learn more about it, and develop a greater understanding of what we have on the planet and how everything interacts.
I realised that I really enjoyed learning about environmental science.
I’ve always been keen on pursuing possibly a career in research. I really enjoy netball, I play netball for the Uni and so I knew that coming to Leeds, I'd have that sporting aspect.
I have such a wide range of modules to choose from. It was something that, that choice was really important to me.
The URL scheme stands for Undergraduate Research and Leadership and it’s a scholarship that the University offer where you take part in two six weeks’ research placements.
You also get to develop leadership skills outside of that, attending networking events with academics.
Having the opportunity to do this is something that was really important to me.
Most people manage to get something published at the end of it, or be cited in some academic literature. An opportunity for an undergraduate to do is something really special.
In my project, I’m looking at how we can refine current methods of plant leaf analysis, to see how previous extinct species changed in the past and how they may change in the future if climate change continues.
Analysing them, taking samples, looking at them under microscopes and then implementing this across a range of different species to see how different species are changing with different CO2 levels.
I really like the thought and the prospect of contributing to the academic community and being involved in something that could potentially save lives or save species.
Making a change and making a difference hopefully in the future is something that
I am really passionate about getting involved in.
[University of Leeds logo appears].