
As early as I can remember, I loved maths. At kindergarten when we measured things
using our hands, I realised immediately that sometimes I used just half or a third
of a hand, and that there must be other fractions in between. I was fascinated
by patterns and I loved doing logic puzzles. My mother is mathematical, and she
showed me interesting bits of maths. So although school maths was terribly boring,
my interest remained.
I got a scholarship to go to an all-girls school, and did double maths, physics
and music for A level. Being in an all female environment helped me grow up uninhibited
by gender stereotypes, but my family background was also important as my parents
did not conform to typical gender roles -- my mother commuted to work in the City
each day, while my father, a child psychiatrist, worked near home and spent more
time with us children during the week. Plenty of girls did science subjects at
my school – though it was certainly more "cool" to be good at sports.
I was always longing to specialise in Pure Maths. I went on to
Cambridge where I studied Maths and then did a PhD in
Category Theory, the most abstract part of mathematics, looking at the underlying principles
and structures. Women were in a tiny minority in Pure Maths (less than ten per
cent of undergraduates, and no Lecturers). Maths is still very male dominated,
but I don't feel I suffer from that, because of my upbringing, my education, and
my personality.
You are expected to move country a lot now if you want an academic career in
Maths. Some people say that this is hard on women who have family commitments,
but I think it’s inhuman for anybody who cares about family and social life. I
was devastated when I left Cambridge after ten years there. Then I had two amazing
years working in Chicago followed one in Nice, and each time I felt horribly uprooted
when the job ended and my personal life was destroyed. I now have a permanent
job with the
Department of Pure Mathematics at the University of Sheffield so I won't have to move again until I choose to.

I continue to be obsessed with research in Category Theory, but at the same time,
I am very committed to teaching and outreach. I’ve been using
YouTube to explain Category Theory – it’s not really taught to undergraduates, but almost all maths PhD students
need to know about it. My short videos (with my colleague Simon Willerton) have
had 200,000 hits so far, and last year we won a prize from the University. Also,
when I had to miss an undergraduate lecture, I delivered it by YouTube. And I
put together YouTube pieces that give feedback on the students' work – the students
love all this.

I have also started a
YouTube outreach project for sixth formers to help bridge the gap between school and university maths. The other voluntary
work I do is with a local primary school. I am passionate about education as the
key to social justice. I believe that if you have knowledge it’s your responsibility
to share it. So many people seem to be afraid of maths; I hope to enable more
young people to understand and love maths instead.