In celebration of International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2024, the British Society of Plant Breeders featured two scientists, one of who is SCGSG Alumni, Panida Wadsworth, and she spoke about why they love the career that they’re in:

“Since first studying the mechanisms of transpiration and translocation for GCSE Biology, I have been fascinated by plant science and have wanted to pursue it as a career. This spark of interest led me to studying MSci Biological Sciences at the University of Birmingham where I specialised in the fundamental biology of plants.

During my final year, I was faced with a fork in the road: do I continue in academia and complete a PhD or start a career in breeding where I can directly help farmers and contribute to improving food security? In the end, it was obvious to me, I wanted to be hands-on and feel like I was making a real difference. So, here I am, almost 5 years in and seeing first-hand all the hard work and industry research put towards producing new varieties for farmers and end-users.

Breeding is a long process, whether it’s combinable crops or vegetables, but seeing a truck load of seed leave your warehouse – especially when you distinctly remember physically making the cross that produced that variety – is well worth it!”