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‘I was no longer pretending or hiding’: a trans scientist finds a lab to call home

Materials scientist Clara Barker praises the University of Oxford for creating a welcoming space.
  1. Josie Glausiusz

    1. Josie Glausiusz is a science journalist in Israel. Twitter: @josiegz

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Clara Barker sitting in a lab surrounded large metallic lab equipment and wearing shoes with blue, pink and white striped soles

Clara Barker is a materials scientist and manager of the Centre for Applied Superconductivity at the University of Oxford, UK. Credit: Leonora Saunders for Nature

I’m a thin-film materials scientist and manage the Centre for Applied Superconductivity at the University of Oxford, UK. As you can see from the sole of my shoe, which is decorated with the transgender pride flag, I’m a trans scientist. I’d long believed that coming out as transgender would be career-ending. Instead, Oxford was the first place where I could be myself, where I’ve enjoyed being in the laboratory, because I was no longer pretending or hiding — I was accepted for being me.

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Nature 589, 322 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-00024-z

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