Sarah Cosgriff
She/They
I am asexual and non-binary and I am a science communicator.//
The first scientists I ever met were my parents: they met at work in the Philippines (where my my mum is from) and had jobs in the food industry. I was always interested in science throughout school and went on to study Biological Sciences with Cell Biology at the University of Warwick. After that, I started a 1 + 3 year Masters and PhD programme in Systems Biology, at the same university.
I completed my Masters and started the PhD part of the programme. At the time, I didn't know very much about the different types of careers out there, so I attended a careers evening. While there, I met someone who told me that they translated plant research for farmers for their job – I didn't know a job like that existed! A few months later, I ended up leaving my PhD and pursuing a career in science communication.
I've had different jobs over my career: first working on a STEM volunteer programme in a university outreach team, then training youth workers on how to embed STEM into their work, and after this I worked on equity, diversity and inclusion programmes in science education. In 2018, I was working part time and so I decided to start freelancing. In 2024, I was made redundant from the part time job that I had at the time and so I made the jump to full time freelancing. It can have its highs and lows, however I love being freelance and being able to create my own job.
A lot of my work focuses on equity, diversity and inclusion in science communication, with a particular focus on engaging LGBTQ+ audiences. One project I'm particularly proud of is STEM for Queer Youth, which involves facilitating visits from queer scientists to a LGBTQ+ youth group. This project was initially developed in 2019, and at the time I identified as straight. Around a year later, I came to the realisation that I am asexual.
Realising I am queer has had a huge impact on my work: it has led to me developing a science show featuring queer scientists, producing schools resources to help teachers raise the visibility of queer scientists and doing advocacy work to help raise the visibility of asexual people in STEM subjects. Doing this work is so important to me because when I was in school, there was a law (called Section 28) which banned the "promotion of homosexuality" which meant I had very little queer representation when I was young. I often think of younger queer me when I do this work.