Joan: Most of my research was in cancer. In the 1950s and ’60s that was still a new field. I was one of the only women in the lab. Deirdre: I remember meeting you for coffee, Joan, alongside your friend Mai, when I was an undergraduate. We would meet in the café in the Science Gallery every few months. I was really aware of what a pioneer you were, as one of the first women to study chemistry and make a career in research. I could see some similarities between us because at the time there weren’t a lot of girls like me from Ballyfermot doing chemistry in Trinity, and I think I was the first TAP student to get ‘schols’. That was a decade ago. Joan: I sat ‘schols’ too! My tutor really encouraged me, but he didn’t know how bad my physics was! So, I didn’t actually get ‘schols’ but remember studying for it. That was just after the war and the college was short on funds for heating – you can’t imagine how cold it was in the library. I’d sit up near the radiators trying to keep warm. And as a woman, I had to be out of the Reading Room and off campus by 6pm. Deirdre: That’s astonishing! How could you even study if you couldn’t stay late in the library? And I guess that means there were no women living in rooms. What a difference. I’ve lived in rooms across campus: in Botany Bay, New Square and Goldsmith Hall. I was living on campus when Covid struck – we had to leave overnight, more or less, which wasn’t easy, and my research was really affected: we had only just prepared cell lines and we had to kill them when the lab closed. Josh: I started my Master's in molecular medicine in September 2019, so I’d done about six months when we went into lockdown. I wasn’t doing lab research so there wasn’t an issue about switching to online, though of course it had its challenges. Joan: I caught Covid very badly in the first lockdown – so bad I don’t actually remember much about it. I was unlucky to get it – the nursing home I’m in was really careful, and very few others got it. Josh: After my Master's, I got a job with the Covid screening taskforce in college, which I was grateful for because it took so long to get funding for my PhD. I was three years looking. It was really frustrating. My supervisor suggested I apply for the Joan McCormick PhD Cancer Scholarship . You get a bit numb to the application process, so I wasn’t allowing myself to hope. When I got word I’d been successful, it took a few days to sink in. Thank you Joan! Deirdre: I know that feeling when you hear you’re going to be supported to study. There’s nothing like it. I’m so appreciative always of people like Joan who give us that opportunity. I want to give back, which is why I was really involved in TAP throughout my time in college, going out to schools and talking to students, and I’m still involved – I now teach on the Foundation Course. I have to say I love teaching even more than research. Joan: Becoming a donor was an easy decision for me. I was lucky enough to get a family inheritance. As one person, I don’t need that much. I was very happy to use my legacy to support the two things that really matter to me: Trinity and cancer research. 12
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