• Question: what is life as a scientist like?

    Asked by nix2000 to Carol, Ellie, John, Philip, Rebecca on 25 Jun 2012. This question was also asked by islamg1999, jak9, danil, kingk00paz.
    • Photo: John Welford

      John Welford answered on 25 Jun 2012:

      Busy! There is so much to understand and to get done. Even though you might be working on one particular thing, there will be other people all round the world working on stuff that might be similar. You need to be aware of what all those other people are doing in case they invent the same thing as you, or they find out something that will really help in your work.

    • Photo: Rebecca Lacey

      Rebecca Lacey answered on 25 Jun 2012:

      Fun but complicated! I spend most of my time in an office working at a computer doing statistics but spend a lot of time talking with my colleagues about the project that we are working on – showing them results that I have got and discussing possible explanations for them. I also get to travel a lot to present my work at conferences around the world. For example this autumn I will be travelling to Budapest, Porto, London and Norway to give presentations of our findings to other scientists.

      Being a scientist is really fun though and I love working through problems and being an all-round geek!

    • Photo: Carol White

      Carol White answered on 25 Jun 2012:

      Full of variety!

      I spend time doing really cool experiments in the lab, but then I also get to go on boats to collect samples, talk to young people (like you!) about my work, and best of all I can go to conferences and workshops around the world (this year I’ve been to Italy and France, and will be going to the Arctic circle later this year – woohoo!).

      I get bored quite quickly, so it’s really nice to have a job where I know there’s a different task coming soon… it means I’m always excited about something!

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