Can you introduce yourself, your role in the university and tell us a bit about your background?
I’m Charlie Devlin, I am the academic within the Central Teaching Labs (CTL). I oversee physics and all our ground floor labs, and I am also the head of year 1. My PhD is in nuclear physics and started here in the University of Liverpool as an undergraduate in 2013 and I’ve been here more or less ever since.
Why did you choose to work in the University of Liverpool?
I started my undergraduate degree here 11 years ago now. I decided to come to Liverpool because it was quite close to home but far enough away that it didn’t feel like I was at home. As soon as I got to the city, I absolutely loved it! I love the place, I love the people, there’s so much to do here. I’ve really got a close affinity with the University and stayed all the way through from undergraduate to PhD and now here as a lecturer as well.
What does a typical workday involve for you?
They can be very varied; every day is different. Some days there will be a lot of teaching within the laboratories and other days I may be talking to people across the university, one thing I am involved with is our Outreach program. Therefore, I could be talking to people from different departments or people from the central university who work in widening participation. I will also speak to colleagues about different ways we can improve our teaching here at the University. If I am on a research day that could be waking up and flying to Finland! So, they are all very different.
What research are you currently undertaking?
I research in two quite different areas. The first one is nuclear which as I mentioned is what my PhD was in, and for that we use a technique called laser spectroscopy which uses high precision lasers to measure the shape and size of radioactive nuclei. But I am also part of our teaching research group which was only created a few years ago. We conduct lots of different studies on how education can be improved for everybody and then aim to implement that within the University.
What is your favourite part of this research?
For the nuclear physics, I think my favourite part is the fact that we get to travel all over the world and meet people from many different places, it’s quite unique. There’s nothing more exciting than having a coffee in CERN and just listening to all the different languages being spoken around you, it’s quite surreal and fantastic to really be a part of that global community. In terms of the teaching research, my favourite part is knowing that I am making something better for somebody within our University or even beyond as well.
Why did you choose to pursue a career in the Department of Physics?
That is a good question! It wasn’t my original plan, when I was a teenager, I wanted to be a pilot in the RAF and then I decided I really liked nuclear physics. After this I originally wanted to work in nuclear power and then as I progressed through my A-levels and my degree I realised that physics was the thing for me. I started as a theoretical physicist but then decided that the labs sounded much more interesting than the maths!
How have your past experiences shaped your approach to teaching and research?
I come from a background where none of my family went to University, I was the first one to ever go. So, when I first started it was all quite daunting: big buildings, big lecture theatres, scary professors. Then as time goes on you realise it’s really not that frightening after all and so I always try and keep that in the back of my mind that people will be thinking that to. They could be sat in those rooms thinking ‘Gosh this is scary’ or ‘What if I’m not good enough’ or ‘I’m not supposed to be here’. But that’s not true, everybody is supposed to here and everybody deserves the chance so I am always giving that opportunity to everyone as much as I can.
Did you face any challenges along the way and how did you overcome them?
I suffered from quite a lot of Imposter Syndrome, actually for some of the reasons that I just mentioned. Imposter Syndrome, if you don’t know, is where you feel like you don’t belong in the place that you are for whatever reason, that can come in many different forms. Imposter Syndrome is a tough thing to deal with, but it was a colleague of mine who turned around to me at one point and said “I bet you think I’m so much better than you at this, and you’re right! But I’m supposed to be, I’ve been doing it for 10 years longer. Don’t judge yourself against me, do what you need to do, and you’ll get there in the end.” I thought that was a really nice message and after she said that to me, it made me feel a lot better about what I did. Understanding that everyone is on their own journey, and ultimately that is true, you take the support you can get from the people who will give it to you and go from there.
How would you describe the environment at the University of Liverpool?
The University of Liverpool is a really nice place. As I say I have been around here for 11 years now so I wouldn’t still be here if I didn’t like it! Everybody is really friendly and that makes it very collegial, you feel like you can go for a coffee with different people. You can talk about problems, but also talk about solutions too which I think is more important and it’s nice to feel like everyone is on your side.
What advice would you give someone considering a career in physics?
Don’t give up. Never giver up. At some point everybody, no matter who they are whether they are a Nobel Prize winning physicist, or someone who is just got a little bit of a passing interest will come up against something that they struggle with. That could be academic it could be something personal, but you’ve just got to keep going, and battle through it, get the support and you will always be able to come out on top.
What are you hoping to achieve in the future?
Gosh that’s a big question! In the future I’d very much like to take a look at all the things that we can do in the CTL to progress it. It would be great to see all the new exciting research that we can pull into our undergraduate teaching labs, to really help you guys feel like you are at the forefront of all the science that we do, because you are and the more we can do that the better.
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