• Question: Did you ever feel like giving up science?

    Asked by Elsbeth to Carolyn, Peter, Richard, Sara, Siana on 10 Nov 2015.
    • Photo: Carolyn Nielsen

      Carolyn Nielsen answered on 10 Nov 2015:

      I haven’t ever properly felt like giving up on science, but a few years ago during my master’s I thought about giving up lab work and trying to do something that was more science policy related. I was having a tough time with my project because the experiment I was trying to do wasn’t working and I didn’t know why.. but then I tried a new approach and that worked well so then it was exciting again. I think doing lab work teaches you a lot about being resilient! I now feel more confident as well, which means when things don’t work I don’t take it so personally and immediately doubt my own abilities.

    • Photo: Peter Francis

      Peter Francis answered on 10 Nov 2015:

      All the time. Science is hard. Often so much work for so little output. Also, I constantly question the value my scientific research adds to applied practice in terms of improving peoples lives. That said, when all scientists produce a little output it often leads to great progress. You need to be very resilient and it feels very rewarding when your research is published.

    • Photo: Richard Unwin

      Richard Unwin answered on 11 Nov 2015:

      Every time an experiment goes wrong or something unexpected happens and I don’t know why! Usually though I go home, sleep on it, then come back the next day and soon we’ll have an idea of why something happened and what to try to fix the problem. Once you start trying those out the challenge is back on and eventually it works and you think you were mad to think about quitting because it’s so awesome when it works.

    • Photo: Sara Falcone

      Sara Falcone answered on 11 Nov 2015:

      I think sometimes on giving up research, yes. Politics and searching for funding is so frustrating. And as Peter says science is hard, with lots of frustration for experiments that don’t work.
      It is a job that you do for passion and you gotta be patient. Most of the time is very rewarding and you think it is worth, but sometimes it really makes you scream “I had enough, I am going to sell slushies on a tropical island” (yep, this is my plan B 😀 )

    • Photo: Siana Jones

      Siana Jones answered on 11 Nov 2015:

      Yes, when I was a student I did part-time work teaching aerobics and spin, it was brilliant fun, if I gave up science I would do more of it. However, when I teach gym classes I can only influence the people in the class, doing research, I have the opportunity, in the long-run, to influence people I’ve never met and help them to do more/do better exercise for better health.

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