Dr Jane Roberts - 2023 Award for Exceptional Service winner

Dr Jane Roberts FRSC

Winner: 2023 Award for Exceptional Service

For outstanding service to the 91AV through our member communities and governance groups.

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Volunteering with the RSC is a rewarding way to give back to the scientific community and can also provide opportunities for professional development and networking.

Dr Jane Roberts served as treasurer of the East Anglia Local Section committee for eight years. While volunteering with the local section, she helped organise events such as the Top of the Bench competition for schools, local tours of chemistry-related venues (e.g. breweries!) with associated speakers and retired members lunches. She also represented the local section at the committee meetings of the Eastern Regional Steering Group.

Jane’s volunteering also included serving on the Admissions Committee for seven years. Her role on the committee included the assessment of Chartered Chemist application portfolios, quarterly reviews and assessment of applicants for membership to AMRSC/MRSC/FRSC, and visits to organisations to assess accreditation schemes and candidate interviews.

Read winner biography

Dr Jane Roberts has recently retired from a bioanalytical career of over 30 years, supporting both sports drug testing and the pharmaceutical industry.

In 1986, after graduating with a BSc (Hons) in biochemistry from the University of Manchester, Jane began her career working as a scientific officer at the Horseracing Forensic Laboratory (HFL) in Newmarket. In 1987, she joined the 91AV (RSC) and was admitted as a Member and Chartered Chemist in 1992.

Whilst extending her knowledge in immunochemistry and other analytical techniques, and after gaining her PhD, Jane took a secondment opportunity at the MRC Centre for Protein Engineering in Cambridge. There, she worked in Sir Greg Winter’s group to learn phage display technology and the application of phage display antibodies to the drug screening of equine samples.

In 2000, Jane was managing the Immunochemistry and Biotechnology section of HFL. When the company became part of Quotient Bioresearch Ltd in 2007, she became Director of Bioanalytical Sciences with responsibility for the biologicals, clinical, bioanalysis and microbiology teams providing contract research to the pharmaceutical industry. During this time Jane became a Fellow of the 91AV.

From 2015, Jane was working as a scientific consultant for the pharmaceutical industry. At this time she joined the RSC East Anglia Local Section committee which led to her also join the RSC Admissions Committee and the Eastern Regional Steering committee. Jane retired from these committees in 2022 and intends to spend more time playing her clarinet as well as improving her golf handicap!

Q&A

What inspired or motivated you to volunteer with the RSC?

Early in my career, in 1991, I was invited to attend a reception at Burlington House for a private visit by Her Majesty the Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh where I represented the Horseracing Forensic Laboratory (HFL) to mark the 150th Anniversary of the RSC.

This was my first real exposure to the promotion of chemistry by the RSC and I was able to view stands from other chemistry-related organisations. Naturally, it was an incredible honour to have the opportunity to explain some of my research work to the Queen. From that time, I always held the RSC in high regard and attended RSC meetings during my career. Therefore, in 2014, when I saw a call for new committee members to join the local section committee, the time felt right to volunteer my services to help inspire others into chemistry.

Tell us about any highlights or memorable experiences you have had as a volunteer?

A highlight for me whilst on the local section committee includes the opportunity to see the excitement of school children take part in chemistry activities in competitions or at science festivals.

What has been the biggest challenge when volunteering?

Volunteering during the COVID-19 pandemic added extra challenges. However, the shift to online meetings and online school competitions during the pandemic resulted in new ways of working in challenging circumstances and has equipped me, and many others, with new skills to succeed in an ever-changing world.

Do you have any advice for managing volunteering commitments alongside a busy work life?

Managing volunteering commitments alongside a busy work life can certainly be a challenge but is definitely possible with some careful planning and time management. It's important to be realistic about how much time you can commit to volunteering and make sure you communicate this clearly to the RSC to ensure you can deliver on your commitments. As an organisation I’ve always found the RSC staff to be friendly, helpful and understanding of changes to workloads and this is a testament to their commitment to supporting their volunteers.

What advice would you give to somebody contemplating volunteering with the RSC?

Volunteering with the RSC is a rewarding way to give back to the scientific community and can also provide opportunities for professional development and networking. There are many different ways to volunteer with the RSC and it’s important to find a role that is a good fit; whether it is outreach support for your local section or applying your chemistry experience to the Admissions committee or specialised interest groups.

Tell us about something you are excited for/would like to see next (either in the RSC member networks, or more widely in science).

I am excited to watch how chemistry will contribute to a sustainable future and I feel the RSC has an important role to play in inspiring youngsters to follow a career in a chemistry related science.