Rachel MacDonald

joined the Department of Chemistry as Graduate Student Co-ordinator in October 2015. Before that, she was the Graduate Administrator in the Department of Psychology for three years.  Rachel first came to Cambridge in 1990 as a research assistant in the Department of Archaeology where she was working on the animal bones excavated during the development of Stansted Airport. Whilst in Cambridge she met and married her husband and moved her research interest out of the UK and into Africa, which culminated in her PhD. Rachel had her first son Iain (19) during the fourth year of her PhD (Biological Anthropology, UCL): juggling the demands of a young family and writing up a PhD was an immense challenge, but one that she managed to overcome thanks to her supportive family. She then opted to focus on motherhood, having two more children (Emma,16 and Joseph 14), and being a stay at home mum – while her husband, now an academic at UCL, continued to spend long periods in the field in Africa. Once all of their children were in primary school, she started a part time job running the office of a small local business during term time only. When Joseph was in the final year of primary school Rachel made the move to work part time at the University of Cambridge. Rachel found being at home with small children the biggest challenge of her life, and it was with great relief that she made the return to University life! Graduate students have almost always been part of her adult life, and she is acutely aware of the many challenges that they face during their studies and as they make their way into the world beyond.