Janet Hurst (born c. 1947) is a British microbiologist, editor and science educator. She worked for the

Society for General Microbiology The Microbiology Society (previously the Society for General Microbiology) is a learned society based in the United Kingdom with a worldwide membership based in universities, industry, hospitals, research institutes and schools. It is the large ...

(now the Microbiology Society) for twenty years (1990–2010), including as managing editor of its magazine ''Microbiology Today'' (1997–2010) and deputy chief executive officer. On her retirement, she was elected an honorary member of the society.

Career

Born in around 1947, she was raised in

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, and attended the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

, gaining BSc, MSc and MA degrees in biochemistry and microbiology. Hurst then worked in the food industry before joining the

(SGM) in 1990, initially in the role of professional affairs assistant. Soon after joining, she started to write for the society's quarterly magazine, ''SGM Quarterly'', and was appointed its managing editor in 1997; in 2000 the magazine was renamed ''Microbiology Today''. She developed the society's educational initiatives, and oversaw the membership and meeting departments, organising more than fifty microbiology conferences and other events during her career. At her retirement in May 2010, she was the SGM's deputy chief executive officer, and her role was replaced by three separate new positions. From 1991 until at least 2008 she was additionally secretary of the Microbiology in Schools Advisory Committee (MiSAC). As part of a collaboration between the SGM and MiSAC, in 2002, Hurst co-edited a teaching resource on microbiological experiments for British secondary schools with John Grainger from the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

, as well as co-editing ''Basic Practical Microbiology: A Manual'' (2001; with Grainger and Dariel Burdass). In 2010 Hurst was elected an honorary member of the SGM, an accolade for "distinguished microbiologists who have made a significant contribution to the science"; her profile states that her educational work in the field of microbiology had "a national and international impact."

Personal life

She married Mike Hurst soon after her degree; they have two children. Since her retirement, she has been active in local groups in the parish of

Goring-on-Thames Goring-on-Thames (or Goring) is a village and civil parish on the River Thames in South Oxfordshire, England, about south of Wallingford and northwest of Reading. It had a population of 3,187 in the 2011 census, put at 3,335 in 2019. Goring ...

South Oxfordshire South Oxfordshire is a local government district in the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire, England. Its council is temporarily based outside the district at Abingdon-on-Thames pending a planned move to Didcot, the district's largest town. The a ...

, including the Britain in Bloom committee and the local history society, for which she was awarded freedom of the village in April 2020.

Publications

*Dariel Anne Burdass, Janet Hurst (ed.). ''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Microbes'' (Society for General Microbiology; 2009) *John Grainger, Janet Hurst (eds).
Practical Microbiology for Secondary Schools
' (Society for General Microbiology; 2002) *John Grainger, Janet Hurst, Dariel Burdass (eds). ''Basic Practical Microbiology: A Manual'' (Society for General Microbiology; 2001)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hurst, Janet Living people Year of birth uncertain English microbiologists Women microbiologists Science communicators Alumni of the University of Nottingham Year of birth missing (living people)