An interview with Rachel Ranson

Name: Dr Rachel Ranson

Current Job: Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Sciences

Scientific Discipline/Field: Neuroscience/ageing

Country: United Kingdom

Pick some letters (L,G,B,T,Q,+, etc.): i’m really not a fan of labels but some will identify me as T.

Website: https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/our-staff/r/rachel-ranson/

Twitter or other social media handle: @RansonDr

What does your job involve?

Teaching students from foundation level to PhD and research when time allows in the really unfashionable field of age-related incontinence. Also I have a pastoral role for students and have seen many more LGBTQ+ questioning students since I came out. I hope my visibility gave them the confidence to be who they want to be as well.

How did you get to this job (education etc.)?

Many years of post doctoral research before landing a lectureship in 2007.

Do you feel being LGBT has affected your career decisions?

Very much so. I chose to work in a city that has a Gender Identity clinic, which I’ve used for a number of years. Thankfully I didn’t have to wait 4 years for a first appointment.

Have you had any reactions from colleagues about being LGBT, either good or bad?

The reactions of my colleagues (and students) has been totally positive. My older colleagues benefited from training about Trans issues that I arranged in conjunction with the University and training that was tailored to a scientific audience greatly helped. I received many congratulation emails and the immediate response from my students was “what are your pronouns?”; they are so much more aware than my generation.

Did you have any role models growing up (LGBT, STEM, totally unrelated.)?

None, it wasn’t talked about and the internet hadn’t been invented!

What are your plans for the future?

More teaching, more research and just getting on with life.

Anything else you’d like to add?

For anybody questioning, transition has been so much easier than I expected. I largely get ignored (don’t most women over 50 experience that) which I don’t know if this is a good or bad thing – but life being yourself is so much easier!