We asked Joanna to tell us about winning I’m a Scientist, and here is what she said…

Hello everyone!

Wow, these past two weeks with you have been something truly special!

First of all, I would like to thank you for your excellent questions. Some made me rack my brains, some forced me to ask my colleagues about their thoughts, a few made me laugh – and then think quite hard. Some I still have no idea how to respond to… Which is exactly what makes them great questions, because research is all about asking, and trying to learn more about the unknown. Therefore well done everyone for having amazing and inspiring scientific mindsets!

Secondly, I am very happy, humbled and thankful for your votes. To be honest, I did not expect to win. I’m not trying to be modest here – I just saw how incredible the other scientists (Hannah, Joe, Luis and Vincent) were at answering your queries. Having these four around kept me very motivated, in the spirit of friendly competition of course! Special thanks must be given to Hannah, whose answers were particularly brilliant and inspiring.

Thirdly, a big thank you goes to the “I’m a Scientist” team who made the entire adventure possible. Keep up the fabulous work!

My favourite part about the past two weeks was the opportunity to do the live chats. Each one was different, but all were fast-paced, fun, surprising and stimulating. It took a lot of thinking on my feet to keep up with your super cool questions – and finding a pleasing answer has been a great feeling. Since I could never type fast enough to respond to everyone, I thought it would be a good idea to spend my prize money on making a little book with more exhaustive answers to your questions – as well as some of my favourite facts about wildlife. I hope that other scientists will join me in this project. It will be quite a challenge, as I have never written a whole book before. Keep your fingers crossed, please – and I will let you know about my progress. And if you have any questions that you would like to include in the book, just let us know.

“I’m a Scientist” has been a wonderful experience, and I have you to be grateful for it. So, once again, THANK YOU! And keep science-ing!