• Question: What inspired you to choose this career and what do you enjoy about it?

    Asked by anon-292582 on 20 Apr 2021. This question was also asked by anon-292588, anon-292674, anon-291481.
    • Photo: Rebecca Reed

      Rebecca Reed answered on 20 Apr 2021:

      Hi SamB,

      I don’t think there was one inspiration for me, I just followed what I found the most interesting. I went from enjoying Biology at school, to an undergraduate degree in Human Biosciences where the physiology and neurology modules were my favourite, to a Master’s degree in Neurology. It was only at that point that I realised research and lab work were what I wanted to do.

      I really enjoy running experiments and finding out new things. There’s also so much variety to a science career that I’m almost always doing different things on different days.

      Hope that answers your question! 🙂

    • Photo: Steve Briddon

      Steve Briddon answered on 20 Apr 2021:

      Hi Sam,

      I don’t think there was a single inspiration, but my love of science was something that grew over time. I do know that, at secondary school, one particular enthusiastic chemistry teacher influenced me a lot – really made the subject come alive. But I’ve just always loved knowing how things work. Choosing science and maths A level subjects was quite straightforward but, I have to say, it was very late in the day that I decided on my Uni degree (Pharmacy) and only during my time at Uni did I decide I wanted to be a research scientist.

      That, again, had something to do with the particular subject teacher I had in brain pharmacology (studying how drugs work). She inspired me to think about how small molecules could affect how we perceive the world – and I thought that was mind-blowing (still do!). So – enthusiastic and knowledgeable teachers matter!

      What do I enjoy about my career? I love finding stuff out that no one else knows! And I love working with others, generating ideas, pooling all our skills and expertise to achieve something together. Working with other scientists is just such good fun if you find the right colleagues 🙂

    • Photo: Kip Heath

      Kip Heath answered on 20 Apr 2021:

      Hi Sam (and Sarah). I fell into my career. In sixth form I realised that I didn’t like school and needed to find something that wasn’t university to do with my life. I found a hospital laboratory and asked them if I could do work experience with them. I thought it would be interesting to work in the NHS and after that week I was hooked!

      Six weeks later they sent me an application form and I’ve been here ever since.

    • Photo: Rosie Goodburn

      Rosie Goodburn answered on 20 Apr 2021:

      Towards the end of my physics degree, I started to think about the kind of job I wanted to do on a day-to-day basis. Medical Physics really appealed to me because I could be using my skills in physics and maths and applying them to something that would make a difference in quite a practical and direct way.
      .
      After my PhD, I would like to go back into the NHS and continue working as a hospital scientist in the field of MRI. I would still get involved in research but I also love to help get things working and seeing the improvements I have helped make be used for to improve patient care!

    • Photo: Ross Low

      Ross Low answered on 21 Apr 2021:

      I just stuck with the subjects I enjoyed. At school, it was biology so I went to university to study more about it. While I was at university I did some work in a research lab and decided I liked it. That was when I knew I wanted to be a scientist.
      I love finding answers that nobody knows and science is the best way of doing that.

    • Photo: Lucile Crete

      Lucile Crete answered on 21 Apr 2021:

      Hi Sam,

      I was very curious about science and history back in primary school, and my parents encouraged me a lot to be curious by giving me a lot of science magazines, or by going to museums. Every new magazine made me want to chose a different carreer as I was reading about the work of the scientists (palaeontologist, volcanologist, meteorologist…). And then one magazine about archaeologists made me dream about all the amazing things that could still be discovered around the world about civilisations that were now long gone. And that was it! From that point I became obsessed with the Egyptians, the Romans, the Vikings… 🙂

      I love that in my job I never really know what to expect: you can never really predict what you will find, and when you find something new, it starts a brand new investigation to figure out what this new thing is, how old it was, what it can tell us about that time period… it’s like the best Cluedo game ever! 🙂

    • Photo: Lisa Humphreys

      Lisa Humphreys answered on 21 Apr 2021:

      Hi SamB,

      Inspiration came from my love of TV shows, in particular CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. I remember watching the show and thinking that I could that job, I could make a difference.

      That led me to my choice of undergraduate. My industrial placement which was an key part to my MSc was what drew me to where I am now. My employers from this placement appeared to be impressed with me as they sponsored me to do my PhD which was all about finding new ways of analysing currently made pyrotechnic mixtures whilst simultaneously creating novel pyrotechnics as well. My work is still very much focused now on pyrotechnics and other explosive mixtures. Not only do I create these mixtures but I’m also developing chemical sensors to detect them too.

      I enjoy my job because I can conduct research, teach others about my research area and empower them. I also have the opportunity to engage with students like yourself to highlight the value of working in this kind of career role.

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