Two minutes with Jacqui Adcock

A member of the AAOCS on a typical day in the life of a researcher and how that has changed during the current pandemic.

Jacqui AdcockJacqui Adcock is a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences at Deakin University, in Geelong, Victoria. Her research interests include lipid analysis, lipid oxidation, enzymatic synthesis, omega-3 fatty acids and lipid mediators of inflammation. She supervises honours, masters and PhD students as well as getting into the lab herself and collaborating with industry. Jacqui is also involved in undergraduate teaching.

Jacqui’s background is in analytical chemistry – she conducted her PhD at Deakin University (2004-2008) investigating the mechanisms and analytical utility of several chemiluminescent reactions (chemical reactions that produce light). She then completed a postdoc position jointly with RMIT University (Melbourne) and Fimenich (Geneva, Switzerland) investigating the use of two-dimensional gas chromatography for the analysis of flavours and fragrances. In 2009, Jacqui returned to Deakin and was introduced to lipid chemistry, studying the enzymatic synthesis of resolvins from long chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids – work which she continues to this day.

Jacqui has been awarded two ARC fellowships (APDi, 2010-2012 and DECRA, 2013-2016). She has been the secretary of the AOCS Australasian Section for many years and always looks forward to attending their biennial meetings (hope to see you all in 2021 in Newcastle!).

A typical (work) day for me (pre-COVID-19)…

usually starts around 7am with my 4 year old son and I both getting up, having breakfast and getting ready for the day. I’ll take him to kinder and get to my office around 9 – 9.30am. I’m very lucky that my workplace is flexible, certainly makes life with a toddler easier! At work, I might spend some time at my computer writing or analysing data, or I might be in the lab with a student or running my own experiments. Some days I will have teaching to do – either lectures or marking or preparing content. And of course, every day will include answering (too many) emails.

At the moment, during ‘social distancing’, I am working from home with my husband and son. I try to fit in at least a few hours of work every day (mostly transitioning teaching to online, because most research is shut down) in between shared toddler entertaining responsibilities with my husband!

My favourite part of my job is…

learning new things. I was one of those strange people who actually liked school, and as an academic I get to keep learning new things, but now I get to pick the topics and learn more about things I’m interested in. I love analysing data, working in the lab and problem solving, and that moment when everything just clicks into place. I also get great enjoyment from working with enthusiastic students – I love when you can help a student to understand something they’re struggling with or when they take ownership of their own research project and start coming up with their own ideas.

Away from work, I like to…

spend time with my family. My son is at a great age where he has endless enthusiasm for everything, so every small trip can feel like an adventure (he’s also at an age where that mood can turn very quickly…). I am also a member of the Geelong West Brass Band, where I play the E flat tuba – we usually practice once a week and regularly compete and perform, and it is something that keeps me busy and I get a lot of enjoyment from.

If I could go anywhere, it would be…

out of the house (currently ‘social distancing’ due to COVID-19)! I haven’t done a lot of travelling in recent years, partially due to having a young son, but do enjoy day trips and getting out of Geelong. When I can travel, I would love to return to Japan. I’ve already been twice, but I find it so interesting and different to Australia, and I love the people, the food and the culture. My son is keen to travel overseas, so New Zealand might be a good trip closer to home – I’ve never been, and it looks beautiful. When listening to the radio, I listen to… podcasts instead. Although I love music, I rarely listen to the radio these days. I prefer to listen to podcasts and subscribe to a whole range of topics, from true crime to productivity to feminism to humour.


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