• Question: What is your favourite thing about being a scientist?

    Asked by anon-253608 on 7 May 2020. This question was also asked by anon-256731.
    • Photo: Josh Wolstenholme

      Josh Wolstenholme answered on 7 May 2020:

      I love how no-one has researched what I am researching before. It gives you ownership of the topic, and you are always surrounded by like-minded people who are enthusiastic and lovely to work with!

    • Photo: Jon Noble

      Jon Noble answered on 7 May 2020: last edited 7 May 2020 9:21 am

      I’m 38 years old, and I still find that science has a feeling of magic about it, especially chemistry, which can be used for turning one substance into another, such as sugar into renewable plastics.

      It’s amazing to be able to sit down with a piece of paper and try and work out how to use what I know about chemistry, science and maths to solve problems, and then go to a laboratory and find out that your calcuations have worked and you have managed to create new chemicals or new ways of using renewable energy to drive chemical reactions. That feeling of discovery and satisfaction is brilliant.

    • Photo: Jacque Cilliers

      Jacque Cilliers answered on 7 May 2020:

      I love coming up with new ideas and new ways of doing things. I then have to prove that it works in the lab by doing an experiment. These experiments show you that your idea did, or didn’t work. You take the new information into the next experiment, until you have something that works.

    • Photo: Chloe Carter

      Chloe Carter answered on 7 May 2020:

      I get to do fun experiments and play about whith my flume to create pretty looking river patterns

    • Photo: Jessica Gomez-Banderas

      Jessica Gomez-Banderas answered on 7 May 2020:

      I like that I get to learn new things everyday… It could be a new technique, a new fact or sometimes we discover things which are completely new and have never been seen before!

    • Photo: Ana Filipa Palmeirim

      Ana Filipa Palmeirim answered on 7 May 2020:

      I wake up everyday and I am more than happy to start my work. The same happens when is time to stop it. So I really love what I do. I am very lucky to research exactly what I like and what I believe. That freedom of leading my own research which is exactly the cause that I fight for – conservation of biodiversity – is definitely my favourite thing about being a scientist.

    • Photo: Gareth Mason

      Gareth Mason answered on 7 May 2020:

      Getting to discover or observe rare or new species or behaviours! Seeing an animal behave in a way that has not seen recorded before is really exciting for me 🙂

    • Photo: Daire Harvey-Carroll

      Daire Harvey-Carroll answered on 7 May 2020:

      My favourite thing about being a scientist is getting to come up with and test out new ideas. We do this all the time and it’s how all the best discoveries are made.

    • Photo: Sylvia Soldatou

      Sylvia Soldatou answered on 7 May 2020:

      My favourite thing bout my research is that I try to disocver something than no else has discovered before! It is a long process with many obstacles, but I isolate a new molecule, the feeling of accomplishment is great!

    • Photo: Charlotte Walker

      Charlotte Walker answered on 7 May 2020:

      Hey GeogiaM,

      My favourite thing about being a scientist is being able to work on new things all the time. You never have to get bored. There are always new questions to answer and challenges to undertake. It is very varied and I find that really exciting and satisfying.

      Thanks for your question 🙂

    • Photo: Rehemat Bhatia

      Rehemat Bhatia answered on 7 May 2020:

      As a scientist, I find it really exciting looking at plankton fossils that no one has ever seen before, and doing labwork using lasers.

      As a programme manager, I enjoy being able to ensure that the way grant applications are marked are fair and researchers benefit from the processes.

      In both roles, I like being able to encourage the younger generation from underrepresented groups into science, but also to help make sure that the world of academia is a welcoming place for them and that the structures in place that govern academia are equal for all.

    • Photo: Rebecca Roddan

      Rebecca Roddan answered on 8 May 2020:

      I love getting to find out new things for the first time that no-one has ever known before. You’re discovering lots of tiny pieces of new information about the world that’s contributing to a larger body of knowledge which is ultimately helping to further human knowledge and improve human life. What I do alone won’t change the world but the contributions of many, many scientists like me around the world are helping make the world a better place.

    • Photo: Kirsty Pringle

      Kirsty Pringle answered on 11 May 2020:

      I love the problem solving aspect, you know what you want to find out, but at first you aren’t sure how to, so then you talk to others that might have ideas and then distill it down into a plan and follow the plan. Like being a detective. It is frustrating when it doesn’t work, but when it does it is really satisfying.

    • Photo: Emily Cheek

      Emily Cheek answered on 11 May 2020:

      I am constantly learning and finding out new things. It is really exciting when producing new research that has not been done before and then being able to share your discoveries.

    • Photo: Becca McGowan

      Becca McGowan answered on 13 May 2020:

      Being able to ask and answer questions no one else has asked before. In doing so providing solutions to problems and contributing to positive change for the environment and society.

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