The sunshine has disappeared behind the clouds this week, so as an alternative way to brighten our day, here is the next instalment in the PhD Playlist series.
Each week we shine the spotlight on a student at the Norwich Research Park and ask them to share three songs in a desert island disc-style game; one song that captures their project (expect some very tenuous links), one song that captures their life as a PhD student and a final motivational song because – let’s face it – we all need it.
This week we are blessing our ears with the tunes behind the great successes of Adam Jalal, known fondly by his colleagues as Mol Micro’s senior male PhD student. Adam is pleased to finally make his debut on the JSV blog, it’s only taken 3 years of hard graft…
Adam is a final year PhD student in the Le Lab. His project focuses on understanding how bacterial cells faithfully maintain and partition their chromosomes. Outside the lab, Adam enjoys practising yoga, finding new music to listen to, and catching up on the books he claims to have read.
Twitter: @Adam_SB_Jalal
The Project Song – Xtal, Aphex Twin
So I decided on the opening track of Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works 85-92 album, to describe my project. During which, I dabbled in the world of X-ray crystallography to better understand how my proteins work. Interestingly, the calming atmospheric vocals in the song samples a track called ‘Evil at play’ which can sometimes feel like the crystallography experience. Like the feeling you get when you get a nice looking crystal, only for it to not diffract at all. I am confident Richard D. James had this in mind when he titled this track XTAL.
The PhD Life Song – Scientist, Dopplereffekt
I think this track came on once when I was in the lab, I must’ve been listening to a mix by Volvox or DJ Stingray, I’m not too sure now. I did enjoy the sample from the track though which goes, “Sitting in the laboratory, conducting experiments, analysing data, I am a scientist!” Quintessentially all the things I’ve experienced during my time at the JIC. Though, they could’ve also included biological interpretation of data in there somewhere.
The Motivational Song – In the Evening, Sheryl Lee Ralph
It was quite difficult to pick a motivational song to for this. I couldn’t find the original track I wanted online, as I don’t think anyone’s uploaded a vinyl rip of it on YouTube/Spotify etc. So I decided to go for one of Sheryl Lee Ralph’s more famous releases. There’s nothing like an upbeat 80’s disco track to get you through those litres and litres of cultures. With such uplifting words like “In the evening the real me comes alive. I can feel it,” I mean, what more do you need?
If you’re stuck for ideas, check out previous entries on the JSV blog, but you can write as much or as little as you like and be as creative as you want! https://jicstudentvoice.co.uk/
Head over to Spotify to step into the archives of the PhD playlist and discover some proper bops to get you motivated for a day at the desk (….or elsewhere). Thanks to Adam for adding some techno and increasing the playlist’s biodiversity. I’m pleased everyone else can now enjoy the interesting sounds escaping your headphones, not just me whilst sitting next to you in the office (ahhhh the good old days).
The PhD playlist is the brainchild of Millie Stanton (follow her on twitter @milliestanton for some sweet science and music masterpieces) and has been continued by Melissa Davie (follow me @melissajd_ for very irregular retweets of cute dogs and natural products science).
Hit me up if you want to be featured! melissa.davie@jic.ac.uk