A new Dr: Sammi Lai

Today we are putting Dr. Sammi Lai in the spotlight as she recently defended her PhD and we couldn’t be more proud!

You might remember her from the publication feature in June. We covered her paper on the food availability of salmons in Icelandic rivers.

End of an era

On Friday the 30th of September Sammi defended her PhD thesis titled “Temporal and spatial differences in the food web of Atlantic salmon”. Her PhD project aimed to further understand the impact of food availability on young Atlantic salmon in northern, low-productivity rivers. And also, understand the role of Atlantic salmon on the food webs (a food web is a network of all feeding relationships) in these rivers. She did her PhD at Hafró and the University of Iceland. 

Growing up Sammi wanted to be a crime scene investigator or an artist. However, she eventually decided to study Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia. During these studies, she wanted to be an environmental policymaker mainly addressing climate change issues. However, she realised that the people who make policies don’t often fully understand the science and research behind it. She decided to learn more about the science behind the policies and be the person who informs policymakers on the best approach. This made her pursue a master’s in Ecosystem and Environmental Change at Imperial College Londen and eventually complete her PhD in Biology.

The ups and downs of a PhD

Sammi’s favourite part of doing her PhD was doing fieldwork and visiting all the amazing and beautiful places. Furthermore, she truly enjoyes sharing her research with other researchers at conferences. As well as, learning about the exciting research of other scientists. However, a PhD is not always sunshine and roses and her least favourite part was writing her thesis.

To get through the days of writing her thesis winding down after work is very important. Sammi enjoys playing volleyball, knitting, reading, playing video games. She also likes helping out at animal shelters by fostering animals in need of a home when possible. She also said she hopes to get a dog and cat herself in the future, but for now enjoys her pet Betta fish, Kongfish and Bluey.

Advice for future graduate students and scientists

The advice she would want to give to people looking to do a master’s or PhD would be to be flexible and adaptable. She says that during graduate studies things change all the time and a lot of things are out of your control, especially when one researches the natural world, so it is best to be prepared. Take your time learning new skills and from others, and enjoy the process. Never be afraid to make mistakes, but always learn from them. Being a scientist is not easy as your research can have a huge impact on how others understand the natural world. It takes a lot of hard work and skills to be a good one.

Plans for the future

Sammi is now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki and hopes to continue being an ecological researcher looking at climate change impacts on aquatic ecosystems. We wish her the best of luck!