Scarlett Zetter
She/Her
I am a lesbian and I am a molecular ecologist.//
I’m a PhD student studying molecular palaeoecology at UiT, Norway. Currently, my research is using ancient DNA extracted from alpine lake sediment cores to reconstruct the surrounding biodiversity from ~10,000 years ago to the present. I am looking at how past climate change and human impacts have affected these communities. We hope this research will allow us to predict what biodiversity changes may occur in the future.
I grew up in a rural community in South Wales (UK) and didn’t feel comfortable coming out when I was younger. I moved to Liverpool to do my undergrad and came out at 21. It wasn’t much better there, but I met my current parter, also in STEM sciences. She has been an incredible support throughout my career. We now live in the arctic circle, Tromsø, which was a hard move. There isn’t a big LGBT+ community up here, so it’s been difficult meeting other queer people. I was nervous not knowing how work would react when I introduced my partner to them. I guess coming out is something that’s done repeatedly throughout life, not just once. But, I’ve been so lucky and no one here has had a problem with LGBT+ people.