Annabel is from Jamaica and recently wrapped up a bachelor’s degree in general physics with a minor in renewable energy management. At CERN, she has been studying multi-muon cosmic events through data analysis with the CMS experiment

The only scientist in her family, when she learned that she had been accepted onto the programme, Annabel sat her whole family down and played them videos of CERN from YouTube.

She enjoyed the entire CERN experience, highlighting her project, the diversity of the organisation, and the opportunity to learn about different cultures, as some of her favourite features. 

She said, “I’ll leave here with experience in my field and also in a cultural sense, a travel sense, and a personal sense. In every way possible, it really is one of the best experiences that anyone could have”.

In terms of learning, she found the lectures, working on her project – which has allowed her to gain more experience using different programming languages – as well as the casual conversations about science that she has had around campus, have all helped.

She adds that, in these conversations, she feels that there is respect between genders, “It is good to feel equality around. We are having equal conversations; we have equal opinions. Everything is balanced, which feels really nice for a change”.

Coming from a small island, she commented on the uniqueness of the opportunity for young people from non-Member States, observing, “Other programmes are country-specific, region-specific, so when I found CERN and it said, ‘From all over’, I was excited, and I was hopeful”.

Altogether, she found the experience empowering and enhancing for her understanding of particle physics, as well as her own self-knowledge about how to operate in a working environment.