It was quite serendipitous how I entered higher education. I feel it has given me so many opportunities to develop as a person, but also to do research, work with other people, and go out and make a difference.
I grew up in Whitley, which is close to the University. I left school with not very good qualifications but ended up going to night school when I was a single mum. I loved studying and used to go as a hobby.
I've been at the University since 2004, when I came to start a PhD on snakebite/venom research. I have found my time here very exciting and have worked with many people from different departments at the University.
I'm from a small village in Tamil Nadu, India, and have seen a lot of snakebites in and around my village. When I was just 11, I was almost bitten by a cobra and narrowly escaped. Throughout my lifetime, I've witnessed no improvement in snakebite treatment at all: the technology we are using to treat snakebites is almost 150 years old.
I have worked at the University of Reading in the Global Academy since 2019. I first came to Reading to teach temporarily on the summer Pre-sessional English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programme. I was living on a houseboat in Oxford at the time, after returning from some time teaching in South East Asia. I fell in love with the beautiful Whiteknights campus and met some very friendly and kind colleagues during that time. I was therefore very pleased to be offered a succession of further work in Global Academy after that summer, which resulted in my husband and I moving to Reading permanently. Shortly after this I secured a permanent lecturer position here.
I joined the University in 2018 as an Administrative Assistant in an academic department within Henley Business School. In 2019, I transitioned into the role of Client Relationship Executive for one of our research centres, and since 2021,
I’ve had the privilege of managing the incredibly professional Projects and Engagement team in Corporate Development – all still within Henley.
