Countdown to ISHI 37
My Journey to Becoming
This Year's Student Ambassador
My name is Anushka Patel, and I am a first-year PhD student in forensic science at London South Bank University.
Criminal justice has always interested me. To me, there is no greater privilege than to use science to uncover objective facts that support the legal system. As a PhD student, most of my work happens in a lab, testing recovery methods that only a very niche community would recognise as exciting.
I first heard about the ISHI Student Ambassador position when my supervisor forwarded an email saying that applications were open. I was slightly sceptical, as I was only about 6 months into my PhD and I thought, "Who wants to hear about my earprints?" (pun intended). Still, I submitted an application after reading about Michael Menear's experience (last year's Student Ambassador) and realising this was an opportunity I couldn't miss.
The process involved a short video and essay describing my research interests and goals. Soon after, I was super excited (and nervous) to receive an email asking me to interview with the Promega team. I relaxed a few minutes into the interview because the interviewers were kind and genuinely interested in my research. A few days later, I was elated to learn I had been selected as this year's Student Ambassador. The Promega UK team has supported me and provided invaluable guidance at every step of this journey toward ISHI 37, for which I am truly grateful.
A big part of the ambassador role has been documenting my day-to-day PhD life through photos and videos, something I had never done before. Working alone in the lab, I rarely think to capture the moment, and more than once I have completed an experiment and realised I forgot to take a single picture. It has been a learning curve, but a rewarding one.
Pausing to record what I'm doing has helped me see how my work is progressing, and it has been satisfying to see that progress come together ahead of ISHI, where my first conference presentation will be on such a prestigious platform. I will be presenting preliminary work on DNA visualisation using Diamond™ Nucleic Acid Dye, as well as DNA recovery from earprints for profiling.
Beyond presenting, I'm looking forward to the conversations around it: meeting the other student ambassadors and hearing about their paths into the field, and discussing my work with researchers and practitioners. Hearing directly how earprint evidence might be used (or currently is not) in casework will help me understand its real-world relevance in a way no literature review can, and I hope the connections I make will lead to lasting collaborations.
I am heading into ISHI 37 with my trusty notebook, an open mind, and my ears wide open.
