Profile
Liam Perera
My CV
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Education:
BSc. Environmental Geoscience – Edinburgh University
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Qualifications:
– GCSE
– IB
– BSc. Environmental Geoscience -
Work History:
I have worked in several bars as a barman and spent a couple years working as a bouncer. I’ve also worked in a cafe for a year after leaving Uni as i wasn’t sure what to do. I knew I wanted to work in research eventually so applied for a PhD and here I am.
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Current Job:
PhD Student
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About Me:
Im a PhD student at the University of Edinburgh. I enjoy playing video games football, hockey and support Arsenal.
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Read more
Im a PhD student at the University of Edinburgh. My background is in Geology and my favourite subjects at school were Biology and History.
I’m originally from South London but have lived in Edinburgh for 9 years. I enjoy playing football, hockey and I support Arsenal.
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My Work:
I study how life survives in the frozen regions of our solar system. This includes the Martian ice caps, and the ice moons of Jupiter and Saturn
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Read more
If we ever send a mission to Enceladus (pictured below), I want to know where we should go and what the chances are that we might find something exciting like evidence of life.
On Earth the crust is made of rock but on Enceladus it’s all ice. Beneath this thick ice layer is an ocean of liquid water. Enceladus is constantly spitting out this ocean water into space (Image B and C). In this fine spray of water and salt – we may be able to find evidence of life.
I want to know how life may survive in the icy crust of Enceladus and how we may detect it in the plumes that erupt from the crust.
In the lab, I make up artificial oceans of Enceladus using data from the Cassini Mission. I add microbes to these brines and then I freeze them down to negative 200C! (For reference your freezer at home only goes down to negative 25C).
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My Typical Day:
Every day is different which is why I love my job.
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Some days im in the lab thinking up new experiments, some days I do outreach, speaking to students about why Astrobiology and science in general is so exciting. Other times I get to travel the world and meet scientists from many different places.
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What I'd do with the prize money:
I will spend the money to run a design an alien outreach activity using a Lego DNA sequencer. This activity will be run at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh for the Edinburgh Science Festival in April.
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Large bearded person
What did you want to be after you left school?
I wanted to work in Film or TV making documentaries
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Yes
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Sigur Ros/Muse/Frightened Rabbit
What's your favourite food?
Curry
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
To get a dog, to go to Antarctica, to watch Arsenal win the Champions League.
Tell us a joke.
Whats the funniest thing the rock said to the geologist? Nothing. Because rocks don't talk and geology isn't funny.
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