Spotlight on... Kayisha Payne #BHMwithBWiS19

Nationality/heritage

British Jamaican and Nigerian

Education and career

Kayisha Payne began her Higher Education journey at Aston University where she read Chemical Engineering. She continued her education at Imperial College London, where she received a Masters’ in Advanced Chemical Engineering with a heavy focus on Biochemical Engineering and Drug Development. During Kayisha’s time in industry, she has amassed experience in the Cosmetic Industry (COTY) as a Process Engineer, playing a key lead in bringing a very popular product to market. She also has Project Management experience working within the Pharmaceutical and Technology team at Mace. Currently, she holds a position as a Scientist at AstraZeneca.

Outside of your scientific career, what are your interests, hobbies and aims?

Realising the lack of representation of Black individuals in STEM from education right through to

industry, as of January 2018, she founded a non-profit organisation named BBSTEM, Black British Professionals in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. The aims are to encourage, enable, and energise individuals in education and industry to widen the participation and contribution of Black individuals in STEM.

Keep in touch with me @kayishas_words on Twitter.