QUALITY OF LIFE ATTRACTS NEW TALENT New talent is being attracted to the region as people seek to balance career and quality of life. No longer discounted as remote, the availability of high-speed broadband, air and rail links and an unbeatable natural landscape has led the Highlands and Islands to become a destination of choice for those working in regional industries and a growing remote workforce. ODx employees based at the Inverness Campus can balance the opportunity to be involved in the development of cuttingedge technology with the ability to create a fulfilling lifestyle outside of work, having found a location where the two needn’t be mutually exclusive.
Growing up in bustling Madrid, Cristina Martin never imagined that her career as a lab technician would bring her to the north of Scotland, but having found an ideal role with Inverness-based life sciences firm ODx Innovations, she has thrown herself into a new life in the Highlands. “I moved to Edinburgh in January 2019,” explains Cristina. “I was looking for work in Scotland and always thought of the Highlands as a beautiful place to visit, but I didn’t expect to find work here in my industry.”
The chance to combine working in such a specialised industry with living in a setting as spectacular as the Highlands proved too much to resist for Cristina. “I used to spend about two hours on buses every day in Madrid, now I save so much time!”
SURPRISING DISCOVERIES
With that newfound free time, Cristina has been eagerly exploring her new home. As well as taking up cycling for the first time, she walks, hikes and visits new places most weekends.
It came as a pleasant surprise then when a friend let Cristina know about the opportunity to join ODx. Founded in 2016, the firm is developing new testing and processing technology to improve care for patients with urinary tract infections and tackle the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance, which could limit medical treatment options in the future.
“Inverness might be a city, but it’s only ever a very short drive to a great beach, or to the mountains. Everything beautiful is close.” Another ODx colleague, Craig Millar, agrees. A clinical coordinator, Craig moved to Inverness following an NHS career that had taken him from Perth to London, when he and his partner Emma decided to prioritise their quality of life. CHOOSE QUALITY OF LIFE
ODx is just one of several cutting-edge life sciences organisations to be based at HIE’s Inverness Campus. This 215-acre site brings together private companies, research organisations, academia and the NHS to pursue a range of life sciences and technology initiatives focusing on scientific and healthcare disciplines for animals and human beings. Scotland’s thriving life sciences sector is one of the largest in Europe, providing more than 41,000 jobs across more than 770 multinational corporations, SMEs and start-ups and contributing £2.4bn to the Scottish economy, according to Scottish Development International. 20
“Every day was like Groundhog Day in London,” explains Craig. “I’d spend hours travelling and by the time I got to work I was already stressed out, and eventually I got to a point where I didn’t recognise myself. Emma and I both knew we wanted to make changes and be somewhere we could have a better quality of life.” With Emma employed as an NHS eye specialist working in an extremely niche discipline, the couple knew it may take a while for them to find somewhere they could both find work. Initially considering the Central Belt, the couple took it as a sign when an orthoptist post ideal for Emma came up in NHS Highland – one of only a handful of relevant roles that become available each year. “I’d always loved Inverness when visiting friends,” explains Craig “but we hadn’t really considered we might be able to find jobs there in our fields. We came up to check it out and
