Ioanna Papadaki
For Ioanna, RSC membership has transformed her career, giving her the knowledge, connections and support she needs to thrive in her technical role.
Position
Senior Scientist II at Reading Scientific Services Limited
Specialism
Food science and pharmaceutical chemistry
Member category
Member (MRSC)
Ioanna Papadaki, MRSC CChem - Senior Scientist II at Reading Scientific Services Limited
Ioanna talks us through how RSC membership and her CChem award have had a positive impact on her career. She covers her work at RSSL, what matters most to her and why you should consider becoming a RSC member.
My RSC membership has changed my career in so many different ways. I wouldn't be able to do my technical role without it. I get access to books, journals, other online resources that without them it would be really hard for me to do my day-to-day activities.
"My role as a technical specialist is quite complex, so there's a great variety, and that's what I love about it. I perform complex testing myself in the wet chemistry laboratories. I also help and troubleshoot technical issues when they arise. I train and I mentor our junior analysts. I also review data produced by others and I release results to clients.
Because of the networking events, I have met amazing scientists from academia, across the industry, and also education. No matter the sector that you work in, in the industry, there is a resource there for you.
The RSC strongly supports industry and they do so in different ways.
Events organised by the RSC, they communicate the latest advancements in science and they share it with the members and the wider community.
These events are a great opportunity for early career scientists to get informed and maybe decide what their next step would be in their learning or in their career.
I am a very curious person and very passionate about science, so I love continuous learning, and the RSC has got so many resources that some of them are relevant to what I do, but some of them just fulfil my passion for learning.
I also use these online resources to get access to technical content that will help me scope out work when I collaborate with our commercial team to meet our clients' needs.
I've also had a fantastic journey through my Chartered Chemist application, and I believe it has been the most powerful achievement that I've had in my career so far.
That gave me a lot of opportunities for my career progression, but also opportunities to work on different things that I've never had the chance to do so before.
Becoming a Chartered Chemist demonstrated all these qualities and skills I needed to take a step in my career and progress into my current role, which is a technical specialist role.
To someone that is considering a professional award like a CChem award, I would say just go for it. It has been the best decision I've ever made.
The huge benefits that I get from my membership make it worth every penny. To someone considering an RSC membership, I would say that this is the best investment they can do for their career.”