Profile
Francesca Swystun
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About Me:
I’m a particle physics student, currently living in Geneva, Switzerland working at CERN. I’m originally from Essex, but have moved around the UK a lot during my studies. When I’m not busy at work I love reading, usually sci-fi or fantasy books!
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My pronouns are:
she/her
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I'm a member of team LHCb
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My Work:
I work at LHCb which is an experiment designed to study the differences between matter and antimatter. I do data analysis for a specific type of particle decay where a violation of the symmetry between the behaviour of matter and antimatter can be studied.
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Read more
There are loads of unanswered questions in particle physics and one of the most interesting to me is how we are all even here at all. In the current model we have to describe the nature of particles (the Standard Model of particle physics) we can’t actually explain why at the beginning of the universe all of the matter and antimatter didn’t annhilate one another. One of the conditions for matter to have survived means that the decays of particles and their antiparticles violates a certain symmetry. By studying decays of particles which contain beauty (or bottom) quarks, we can precisely measure the small differences between decays of certain types of particles and their antimatter counterparts in order to add to our understanding of the stuff that makes up the universe and hopefully figure out how we are all alive today!
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My work before CERN:
I spent most of my time before CERN working on my undergraduate Master’s degree. This wasn’t just hard work but a lot of fun and a great opportunity to meet some amazing people.
I did my final year project on a topic in theoretical particle physics, this being a report and simulations looking at the theory for the possible existence of a composite Higgs particle.
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What I would like to do next?:
I’m still figuring this one out! I would love to keep working on something physics-related in the future though
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Education:
Educated in Essex, at Hedingham School and Colchester County High School for Girls.
I went to the University of Durham for 4 years and got my masters degree there.
Currently I am a PhD student at the University of Cambridge but I also have a contract with CERN and I am currently based in an office on site there!
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Qualifications:
GCSEs: Maths, Statistics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, English (laguage & lit), French, German, History
A-levels: Maths, Further Maths, Physics, Chemistry, EPQ on the Standard Model of Particle Physics
Degree: MPhys in Physics with Theoretical Physics
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Work History:
Tutored Maths
Worked in a variety of retail jobs over the long uni summers
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Job title:
PhD student
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Employer:
University of Cambridge
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Small chaotic physicist
What did you want to be after you left school?
I briefly considered owning a pet shop when I was young
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Not really, I was terrified of breaking any rules for a long time...
If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?
I seriously considered studying languages instead at one point, I loved learning German in particular at school
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Is it bad if I don't know?
What's your favourite food?
Cheese, probably the best thing about living in Switzerland for me
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
To always remember my tea before it goes cold, to be able to actually reach the top shelf of cupboards and maybe most importantly to finally live in one place long enough to get a cat!
Tell us a joke.
I'll have a think and put one here later
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