Meet Your Colleagues- Gerard McSorley

Here at SERC we are keen to promote internal colleagues to allow staff the opportunity to get to know each other and put a face to the name, particularly due to the size and scope of SERC.  With this in mind, “Meet your Colleagues” is a fun Q and A exercise to help raise awareness of people’s roles within SERC and allows you to get to know more about your fellow colleagues.

This week’s “Meet your Colleagues” features Gerard McSorley. Gerard is a Science Technician for the School of Applied Science, Sport and Access to Education at SERC.  

1. What does your role at SERC involve?

I’m a science technician in SERC.  I work between the Lisburn and Downpatrick campuses taking care of the organisation of practicals that the lecturers require for the students.  It’s a busy job that requires co-ordinating between the lecturers across two campuses covering level 2, level 3 HNC and HND material.  The odd time the animal management lecturers need experiments set up also.  

I am also responsible for ensuring the labs are equipped with all of the chemicals, glassware and equipment necessary for the experiments to be conducted which constantly keeps me on my toes.  If a lecturer needs something, I have to make sure we have it.  If we don’t, I have to source and order it as quickly as possible to make sure classes aren’t held up.  

Looking ahead is a constant in my job, not all experiments can just be set up there and then, some need several days of preparation before they are ready with particular reference to bacterial and fungal experiments whereby I need to sub-culture bacterial and fungal colonies which can take several days to develop, so if a lecturer needs the experiment ready for Thursday, I have to start the prep on the Monday to make sure sub-cultures have grown correctly and have no contamination which can render the experiment useless.

2. Tell us a bit about your background?

I graduated with a business degree University of Ulster (as it was once called) in 2006.  I worked for several years in retail in a couple of roles before leaving to working in a marketing company (which I did not like)  This dislike was the catalyst for me leaving and returning to education at the age of 27 to study science here in SERC in September 2010.

I passed the BTEC with three distinction stars and went on to Belfast Met in September 2012 to do the HND in applied biology which I completed with three distinctions. 

I applied for a job as a science technician in Northern Regional College in May 2014 and was successful and I worked between the Newtownabbey and Ballymena campuses for a year before gaining employment here in SERC the following year and I’ve been here ever since.

3. What 3 words best describe you?

Diligent, resourceful and grateful.

4. What do you like to do outside of work?

I enjoy walking.  I like to get out for a walk whenever I can and when its dry, I love walking to work while listening to podcasts about various things on YouTube.  I’m an avid video gamer as well.  I love collecting video games and video game consoles and am currently building a gaming room in my house.  It’s a slow and sometimes expensive process.   

I love reading as well, I read every night before I go to sleep and have a range of interests including fantasy, history and horror.

5. If you could swap jobs for a day who would it be and why?

To work at Google to see if it really is as fun as they say it is.

6. List 3 items you would want with you if you were stranded on a deserted island?

A book, a Raspberry Pi loaded with old video games and a TV to play them on.

7. What is your favourite film and why?

Honestly…I don’t really have one. Films are the sort of thing I’ll enjoy once, maybe twice then probably never think about them again.

8. Where do you most want to travel, but have never been?

Japan.  I’d love to walk around Tokyo and see all the technology and interesting things they sell there that you just can’t get over here, particularly with Nintendo and PlayStation.  On the other side of that, it looks like a beautiful country with a lot of fascinating buildings and the general culture would be great to see first-hand.

If you would like to partake in “Meet Your Colleagues” please contact Roisin Morgan (Marketing and Engagement Intern) at rmorgan@serc.ac.uk for more details.