To be honest with you, when I started this job I thought it would be fun to do on the side of my masters. I had no intention of pursuing a career in writing, and embarrassingly I had never even picked up a Concrete paper till my 3rd year (oops). 

Now about 8 publications, 2 new subsections, and 1 SPANC later, we got nominated for Best Science Section! Placing us in the top 10 publications in the UK and Ireland, we may not have won BUT I am so so proud of everyone and all the amazing articles I have had the opportunity to edit this year:)

I’ve spoken to so many intelligent people who just think they’re “not smart enough” to understand a concept or “not smart enough” for science- which couldn’t be further from true. If you are curious about something then you are smart enough to pursue it.

Scientists love to yap. And the yapping is full of so much unnecessary jargon, papers and research are often inaccessible to many people out there without a university-level science education, sometimes I have to read them about 3 times to get the point! Yet so much of the research is fascinating and the real-world implications are incredible. Especially the research happening on our doorstep at UEA and in the Norwich Research Park. Science communication is something I think is important and that all researchers should take part in (completely unbiased of course).

I am so so lucky to have had such a lovely and amazing team and an incredibly supportive group of friends. I’ve overstayed my welcome in the media office way too many times (sorry Matthew & Eve!), and we’ve been through so much pain with the uncooperative Mac’s (that take an hour to warm up), the stressful powercut where we thought that we lost 4 hours of work, and battling indesign and its incessant will to cause problems every month when layup week rolls round. 

But even then I’ve never met anyone more dedicated to something than Matthew and Eve we all owe them a TON and their efforts have been insane! And I know next year Jamie and Fiona will do an incredible job and I wish them the best of luck.

It’s been fun continuing all the columns this year, ‘This month in science’ was always interesting to read about. But my favourite column has got to be research spotlight, it’s been so lovely to chitchat with the researchers and get to publish what they get up to in the labs, with this month’s article being about my own research lab! A lovely overview written by Joud and Shakeera, both who I will dearly miss alongside everyone else. Although I am the only medicinal chemist in the lab and my research is completely different, in designing and synthesising compounds to inhibit a protein involved in switching segments of DNA off/on (epigenetics), that is overexpressed in cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, inflammatory diseases, etc. Research that has been a task balancing with editing but both have been so rewarding I wouldn’t change it. And I hope that the articles this year introduced you to some cool scientific concepts and made them accessible to you all.

I hope you enjoy this month’s edition, I was really looking forward to the interview with the lovely and accomplished Dr. Dabo as EDI is something that I am very passionate about. The fascinating Brain Organoids article that my housemate Emilia has written, the girl has a passion for brains and has the brains to match. And Max’s article on the new medical courses, he has, by far, the best titles every month and some of my personal favourite articles each time.

Sounding a bit like a speech now but I’ll also finally say bye to UEA as I graduate after 4 long years so I hope you’ve enjoyed the content I’ve managed to mush together, I hope concrete thrives in the next year and I wish the next science editor all the best. A bit soppy but I will miss everyone at Concrete a lot and for anyone considering joining the team please do, 5* review from me on TripAdvisor xx

Lots and lots of Love,

Rana <3 

Image: Concrete/Innes Henry