Information About Tara - Clane tutor

Personal Description:

I am a 24 year old Irish postgraduate and have recently received a first class honours in my Master’s degree in Biomedical Research at UPF, Barcelona. I graduated from University College Dublin where I was also awarded a first-class honours in my undergraduate degree, Biomedical, Health and Life Sciences in 2022. I have an avid interest in the scientific and medical field, biology was my favourite subject at school and I always knew I wanted to pursue a career in this area. I have taken modules spanning across a wide variety of areas including neurology, pharmacology, and microbiology. As well as science and medicine, I also take great interest in exploring other international cultures and have achieved a minor in French as part of my degree. I believe that these interests outside of science, together with the communication skills I have gained from working in retail and hospitality, are important transferable skills for any line of work.

Tutoring Experience:

Although I do not have specific teaching experience, I have spent a significant amount of time during my previous and current degree in groupwork and workshop sessions where I taught and explained scientific concepts to my peers. I am patient and care about my students doing well. I have considerable experience training newer colleagues in my previous employments such as hospitality, retail, Pfizer and other laboratories. Furthermore, I have two younger brothers who I supported throughout their Junior and Leaving Certificate courses.

Approach to Grinds:

My aim for these grinds sessions is for them to be two-way and interactive, where students feel comfortable expressing themselves and identifying areas they are finding difficult. Sometimes students may decide to pursue grinds because they feel too nervous to approach their teachers in school with their questions, therefore my main focus of these sessions will be to make the student feel at ease, reassuring them that there are no "silly questions". I come from a public school myself where it was very common for students to take grinds outside of school, and I want students to feel that there is no shame in asking for some extra help. I understand the immense stress that state exams can put students under, and I would be delighted to make this burden lighter in any way I can.