Workshop with Dr Sandrine Soubes

You may be wondering who this person is running a workshop for us!

Since we have not met before, I thought I would introduce myself before we work together during the workshop.

I am Dr Sandrine Soubes, founder of Tesselle Development.

I have a PhD in Molecular Biology, a Doctorate in Education, and years of experience helping researchers develop their leadership skills.

My experience


I previously worked as a research scientist in the USA (at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland) and the UK (The University of Sheffield). As a biologist, I have worked on the bacterial cell cycle, the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, cell differentiation and early patterning in the developing brain.

Since leaving the laboratory, I have worked as a developer of professional development programmes, trainer, facilitator and coach, first at the Centre for Stem Cell Biology, then for the Faculty of Science at the University of Sheffield. With 18 years as a researcher developer, I have instigated many programmes that support the leadership of researchers. I was a founding member and instrumental contributor of the Think Ahead team at The University of Sheffield, which won the 2014 Times Higher Education Award for Outstanding support for early career researchers.

In 2019, I started working as an independent consultant (my business is called Tesselle Development). I continue to support researchers and research leaders in navigating the complexities of the research environment. What rocks my boat is creating spaces for in-depth conversations through my coaching work or interactive workshops. I have also loved the conversations I have previously engineered between researchers and members of the public through multiple weird and marvellous outreach/ public engagement events and projects.

Some random facts about me

  • I have 2 Doctorates (one in Parasitology and one in Education).

  • I am a mosaic artist and a member of the British Association for Modern Mosaics.

  • I have managed to keep sane, raising three boys who are now young men.

  • Even though I have lived longer in English-speaking countries than in my own country, my French accent is as strong as when I left France!

Key drivers and values

  • Enabling others to thrive

  • Supporting Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in the research environment

  • Challenging set views and status quo

  • Helping researchers see possibilities and alternatives when they feel stuck

  • Reigniting a belief in choices when researchers have lost track of their self-belief and awesomeness.

I like to say

"Ask for forgiveness, not permission".

 

My Postdoc experience:

  • I changed country and I did not have a clue about the British Higher Education system.

  • I switched research area from parasitology (malaria) to developmental genetics.

  • I had a one-year old son when I started my Postdoc and then a maternity leave in the middle of my post-doc.

  • I had a really nice Principal Investigator who let me take many opportunities.

 

BUT

  • I did not have a clue about what I wanted to do.

  • I did not really understand what I needed to do to be strategic as a Postdoc.

  • I lost confidence in my professional skills because my experiments were not going well.

  • I did not have access to support to make sense of how to make the most of my Postdoc.

 

Since then, I have worked with thousands of researchers and research leaders to enable individuals to reflect on what they want as they navigate their research careers.

As a coach and facilitator, I have made it my professional commitment to support researchers and research leaders learn to navigate the research environment with a little bit more ease than I had!

I firmly believe in creating spaces for conversations that allow individuals to figure things out together. From the large number of interviews I have done either as a researcher, Podcast host and also through my coaching practice, I have seen the impact of enabling people to pause and take stock of their beliefs about themselves and their context. Whether it is through coaching or facilitation, my goal is always to empower individuals to grasp the choices they have, even in the constraints they are in, and shift towards believing a bit more in their own agency.

I look forward to working with you.