• Question: How would you make it clear to aspiring scientists like myself to become scientists?

    Asked by AlexanderEinstein to Thomas, Abid, Donna, Sanjib, Avril on 9 Jun 2017.
    • Photo: Avril Tucker

      Avril Tucker answered on 9 Jun 2017:

      Science is great! I’d encourage you to work hard on it. Lots of different jobs can come out of science qualifications. For me, I liked biology & chemistry. I went to uni to do pharmacy. And I am now working to slow down antimicrobial resistance!

    • Photo: Thomas Booth

      Thomas Booth answered on 10 Jun 2017:

      It’s interesting you should ask this, because I think the path to being a scientist is unclear to a lot of young people and it was for me when I was younger. I actually want to use the prize money to make a resource for aspiring young people with information on how to follow a career as a scientist!

      But despite that, it’s actually pretty straight forward(ish). You need to get into university (with good A-level results!) to study a relevant degree. From there, you can apply to do what is called a PhD (depending on you discipline and country you want to study you might need what is called a Masters Degree as well!) in your field of interest. There is a lot of competition for PhDs so the most important thing is to get work experience. It sounds much more complicated than it is but more guidance should be available.

      My biggest piece of advice is this: get as much experience in a lab as possible. Find your local university/research institute and get in touch. People will be glad to help!

    • Photo: Donna Johnson

      Donna Johnson answered on 10 Jun 2017:

      Start with A-levels in at least one of the sciences and maybe maths (always handy). Then look for a degree that sounds interesting to you. Go to the open days and talk to the teaching staff and current students about what it’s like.
      I’d agree with Thom too – get as much lab experience as you can. A lot of universities will offer summer studentships or some staff may allow you to volunteer in the lab in your free time. Go to all the lab classes once you’re there! Go and speak to a member of staff you’d like to work with and see if there’s anything they can offer you, it’s always nice to speak to people that are interested in what you do! Choose a final year project you’re interested in, they can be a lot of work and you want to be able to sustain a high level of interest across the whole time.
      After your degree, people are often choosing to do a masters which is a year long course in a related or advanced subject. It will involve a longer, more independent research project and more detailed theory. Some people choose to work for a bit before going for a PhD. Both have their advantages in that you get more experience in the lab and analysing and reporting data.
      If you want a career in research you will almost certainly want to do a PhD. In the UK these are 3-4 year research projects (often funded to a reasonable level) where you work on one large project and then write up the results in a thesis. After that, post-doc positions (short term research projects). You may do several of these and then move into a more teaching focused position or end up running your own research group. These are the academic routes but there are also opportunities to work in industry – working for companies that do product development, clinical trials or research. Or there are positions with the NHS as well.

Comments