Issue link: http://digitaleditions.uberflip.com/i/1391459
60 | SUMMER 2021 | www.ladiesgaelic.ie TELL ME A BIT ABOUT YOUR JOB? I am a chemical engineer. I graduated from UCC in 2018. I am still new enough to the real world. I took a job with MSD, it's their Merck Leadership Development Program. I do three years with them in three different roles and in three different sites. My first role was in Brinny in Cork working with one of their vaccines for a year. I am working in Carlow town at the moment, they have a big expansion project for two vial and syringe lines. One of them is for the HPV vaccine and the other one would be for KEYTRUDA, one our company's cancer drugs. Basically, I am working as a chemical engineer on-site designing bits and bobs. HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE JOB? In school, things that really stood out for me would have been maths and science. I really took a shine to biology and chemistry. They were the subjects that really made me tick. I loved the concept of problem solving. That led me to study chemical engineering in college. I definitely don't regret it. I really enjoy it. I love that no two days are the same. There are always different problems to solve. I am constantly being challenged and learning more. I am really, really interested in science and engineering so it suits me well. WHERE ARE YOU BASED WITH WORK? My life is a bit busy at the moment. I am working in MSD Carlow. I am living in Kilkenny. I go up to Kilkenny from Cork on Sunday and I would work on-site then from Monday to Wednesday. I am just fortunate that my employer is really flexible, Cork camogie and Ladies football is really flexible. I would travel down to Cork then on a Wednesday evening and train or play away for the rest of the week. Work from home, Thursday to Friday. Then back up to Kilkenny on a Sunday. WHAT ARE THE BEST THINGS ABOUT YOUR JOB? GUESS WHAT I DO I love the challenge, every day I am challenged to learn more. I really like the focus on the patient. It is really interesting to be involved in manufacturing the HPV vaccine now, which is so crucial. Making sure that we can get out to Third World countries that need it. KEYTRUDA is an amazing drug. Vicky Phelan had great success with it. To see success stories like that is the why for me, working in the pharmaceutical industry for now. There have been challenges every day with different engineering problems and always wanting to learn the science behind the things that make me tick at the moment. WOULD YOU RECOMMEND YOUR CAREER TO BUDDING FOOTBALLERS? Yeah definitely, I just think there are so many doors that you can open as a chemical engineer. I am yet to figure out what my real niche is. Just constantly wanting to learn more, will it be the pharmaceutical industry? Another big interest of mine is sustainability and energy engineering, I might go down that route at some stage. I just think there are so many opportunities and it is definitely a career that you can balance well with playing football at the highest level. It is challenging but I am really fortunate to have an employer that understands and values my commitment. One of the things I love as well, when I was in school I was always told I loved my sport and I was always pigeon-holed by teachers or career guidance counsellors to go on and do PE teaching or to go on and do physio, to do something sports-related . But I knew there was something more in me than my sporting side. I love that I can challenge myself outside of sport. I can really take my mind away from sport and concentrate on my career, my work and science as well. Hannah Looney of Cork during the Lidl Ladies Football National League Division 1B Round 1 match between Cork and Tipperary at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork