Profile
Douglas Bray
My CV
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Education:
Arden Academy (2006-2011), Arden Sixth Form (2011-2013), University of the West of England (2013-2016), University of Leeds (2017-Present)
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Qualifications:
13 GCSE’s, 1 AS Level, 3 A-Levels, BSc Environmental Science and MSc Bioenergy
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Work History:
Bartender, Shop Assistant at Tesco’s, Analytical Chemist
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Current Job:
PhD Researcher
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About Me:
I am Doug and I am in my 2nd year of my PhD at the University of Leeds. I am looking at how certain plants can clean water and then be used to make food and energy. I like playing sport (cricket and football) and SCUBA diving.
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I am half-Australian and try to visit my family in Sydney as often as possible. I live in a flat in the outskirts of Leeds with 2 friends.
During the summer, I play cricket for a small village in the Yorkshire Dales. During the winter I play football for a society at the University which I have helped to set up.
I learnt to SCUBA dive during my time degree in Bristol. This was so I could travel to Cuba and work on a coral reef.
During my free time I like to play games with my friends and watch Friends
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In my work I collect Water Hyacinth, a plant that lives in tropical water. I travel to India and Uganda to collect Water Hyacinth, this plant has invaded these countries from Brazil. Water Hyacinth grows in the rivers and lakes and stops people from being able to fish and kills all animals in the water.
I am trying to find ways to use this plant so that people can harvest and sell it. One of the ways is to produce protein for animal food. Fish food is very expensive to produce so by using Water Hyacinth we can reduce the cost and give local people a job.
Another way is to make gas for people to cook with. This is done through Anaerobic Digestion, which is a fancy way of saying feed plants to microorganisms (bacteria) which then eat the plant and produce methane (farts). We can then burn methane to cook food.
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My Typical Day:
Every day is completely different! Some days I spend time in the library trying to understand new things, some days I am in the laboratory running experiments and other days I can be travelling to other countries to collect plants for my work.
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My work involves working on a computer, in a laboratory and regular trips for fieldwork. Doing a PhD means that a lot of my work is looking at things people have never done before so I spend a lot of time on the computer searching for what other people have done and trying to improve on this.
Once I have found things I want to do, I go to the laboratory to test these ideas and find out whether what I think is correct. This can be burning things, mixing up acids to try and digest (break down) plants or setting up machines to blow up plants.
To test my ideas I need to collect and grow plants, to do this I need to go to India to collect plants. I also go to Wales and London which is where I grow the plants in specialist chambers that can create the same conditions as India.
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What I'd do with the prize money:
My friend in India works with a charity that young girls that live in the rural areas of India, the charity brings them together to teach them practical skills. I hope to work with the charity that will allow the girls to learn more about science. This could mean they could travel to the cities and get more education in the sciences.
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Sporty, Nerdy, Chatty
What did you want to be after you left school?
I wanted to be a physio for a football team
Were you ever in trouble at school?
I was very quiet at school so didn't get into any major trouble
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Imagine Dragons
What's your favourite food?
Cheese Burger
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
1. To live in Australia near the beach. 2. To own lots of dogs. 3. To be able to work in the rainforest studying animals and plants
Tell us a joke.
What did one leaf say to another? Leaf me alone!
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