Q & A with Professor Rebecca Kilner (PhD 1992–96)
What persuaded you to add the role of Museum Director to your existing career as a highly successful research scientist?
Nothing quite beats the thrill of scientific discovery, but sharing that excitement with other people comes a pretty close second. The Museum is such a special place because it combines both of these delights under one very smart newly-refurbished roof. Who wouldn’t want to take the opportunity to be part of that, and to shape its direction of travel?
What has it been like so far?
Busy, exciting, daunting, acronym-rich. It’s like being a new PhD student all over again.
What do you expect to be the most difficult challenges in your new role?
It’s too soon to tell!
Which is your favourite specimen in the Museum display galleries?
The fin whale, for the sheer audacity of it being there at all; the jellyfish pulsating silently and unnoticed on the ceiling; the rhinoceros beetles and the atlas moth because they made my sons gasp out loud in wonder; the superb fairy-wren because it reminds me of fieldwork in Australia; the burying beetles for all the ways in which they continue to surprise me — and because they were collected by Darwin himself.
Is there anything from your time as a PhD student here that particularly sticks in your mind?
My first desk in T23: a ceramic sink with a wooden cover and functional taps.
LARG lunches, with and without Tim.
Pub trips, with seminar speakers.
Happy Hours.
Tedious hours, watching endless videotapes of nestlings begging for food.
The smell of the bird-house at Madingley.
The smell of wood-smoke.
Starting to write-up in the autumn and not noticing the change of season until after I submitted my thesis the following spring.
What are you most proud of having achieved in your (scientific) career so far?
The best part of my job is getting to know the members of my lab and setting them off on their own scientific journeys. I’m very proud of all their achievements.
Ideal evening out? Or indeed in?
Anything involving friends and family, and a lot of laughter. And a fire, ideally.
Who would you like to play you in a film about your life?
Katharine Hepburn
