• Question: What would you recommend for someone who is proficient in STEM subjects but loves creative subjects and travelling? E.g. university/apprenticeship, marine biologist/data analyst etc.

    Asked by anon-362534 on 25 Apr 2023.
    • Photo: Dmitry Dereshev

      Dmitry Dereshev answered on 25 Apr 2023:

      Jobs that allow you to work from anywhere (e.g., jobs that require programming, or analytics) would be a good fit. Computer-based work offers a lot for creative people with solid STEM knowledge.

      Being a consultant for engineering projects involves a lot of travel, especially if you go into energy engineering or environment-related jobs.

    • Photo: Lucy Mitchell

      Lucy Mitchell answered on 26 Apr 2023:

      Great question – I feel like i might fit in to this category! I wasn’t sure what to do at A-level and ended up choosing French, Art and Geography because of those reasons! I didn’t want to do Biology because it was all about humans, even though i was good at it and i wanted to find out more about the world, so i thought Geography would be good.
      I think taking Geography helped set me up for my career a bit – especially reading about human geography, learning about all the different countries and habitats in the world. It helped make me feel excited to learn more.

      Now, I work as a researcher in ornithology/avian ecology – basically i study birds and where they go /what they do, so i get to go to different countries sometimes, especially when i work on migratory birds. And I have to be creative to explain my work to people, as well as think about how to solve a problem and apply for money to fund my work. There is a lot of creativity in science! you could always work in science communication – where you help scientists explain their work to people, for example journalists or the public – to make sure the message gets across!

    • Photo: Tom Bullock

      Tom Bullock answered on 26 Apr 2023:

      I think there is creativity in a lot of STEM subjects which is different from being artistic. I work in on the innovation side of process engineering for foods. This means I need to have creative thinking for solving technically complex problems and be creative in the design and operation of new technologies.

      There is also a lot of creativity touching artistic and graphic design in how we share and communicate our work to others. It’s a bit more that just PowerPoint engineering!

    • Photo: Catherine Holt

      Catherine Holt answered on 26 Apr 2023:

      There are lots of opportunities to cross the arts and science, especially as a tool to communicate the work that scientists are doing or help to highlight a problem. As an example, the European Marine Board has a resident artist programme https://www.marineboard.eu/emb-artist-residence-programme provides grants for creative individuals or groups to co-create work with ocean scientists to inspire people to work towards ocean sustainability.

    • Photo: Jo Montgomery

      Jo Montgomery answered on 26 Apr 2023:

      We all have different interests and skills besides science – we are multifaceted humans and it’s great to love lots of different things. travel and creativity can be satisfied in your free time, or incorporated into your job. many jobs require creative skills and lots involve travel – although you don’t always get to see the fun stuff. There are opportunities for placements overseas during degrees, or with research projects. I have a friend who was a chemist on board a research ship, and friends who work in Antarctica!

    • Photo: Shanine Smith

      Shanine Smith answered on 26 Apr 2023:

      Hi,

      To be honest, many careers or study options will allow you to enjoy your love of travelling and being creative.
      Being creative is good skill that many employers would love to have. And whatever career you chose, it’s likely there is that same job in a different country.

      I love travelling too but didn’t always have the time or money to do it, so I expressed this through my love of food. I began experimenting and cooking lots of different cuisines from all over the world and when I decided to go to university I mixed this with my proficiency for science and decided to study Food Bioscience.

      Hope this helps! 😁
      Shanine

    • Photo: Ling Lim

      Ling Lim answered on 26 Apr 2023:

      Apprenticeship is a great way to gain work experience while at the same time studying for a degree. It is cost-efficient too. A university course can offer a wider/broader skillset/experience beyond degree-specific knowledge. These are handy if a student is not sure of their career choice.

      A STEM degree keeps the door open for many career options and it is easier (in my opinion) to swap from a STEM field to a creative field – though it should be noted that it is not impossible, just a bit more challenging. Example, you can’t get qualified as an engineer from YouTube but you can certainly learn how to be a better photographer.

      The main thing is be interested and happy with your job. Creative endeavours can also be done while on the job (or off!). I have biologist friends that travel to all sorts of very nice/exotic places for work, and also does photography/artwork based on their research (for publications and for fun!).

    • Photo: Santosh Mahabala

      Santosh Mahabala answered on 26 Apr 2023:

      Excellent question.

      One needs to be creative in STEM subjects as you always create and test new things. So, any field is good for being creative.

      For travel, research in ecology, evolution and archaeology will involve travel to the sites, which are sometimes unexplored or very popular.

      On the contrary if you take up WFH jobs, you can travel and work from the place you are travelling. Only consideration you many need to make in this case is about the time zones.

      For example, if you travelled to Australia or Canada, you will be 7-8 hours away from the British time. So, to attend a meeting at 9 am in London time, you need to wake up the middle of the night (around 1 am) in Canada or be awake at 9 pm in Australia. This may be a bit inconvenient and disturbs your sleep cycle.

    • Photo: Lisa Hursell

      Lisa Hursell answered on 26 Apr 2023:

      Maybe look into jobs that combine data analysis with something creative – journalism is moving in that direction too. Or working in a STEM role in a creative industry like analytics for film/tv/games?

    • Photo: Rodrigo Bammann

      Rodrigo Bammann answered on 26 Apr 2023:

      There are many companies that are STEM-related (engineering companies, or research companies). And they need people with different skills to do other parts than research or tests, like marketing and sales, which are jobs that need creativity.
      Research and development also need creativity; you can travel for congresses or interact with customers (if it is an international company).

    • Photo: Camilla Cassidy

      Camilla Cassidy answered on 27 Apr 2023:

      There are some jobs that explicitly need being to use creative skills in their science work! Science outreach and engagement, museum design, and public engagement/communications, marketing or design for science-related companies would all need those sorts of skills.

      I am a data analyst, and I use my creative skills a lot! I have to engage my customers in the results I produce – I need them to ‘get it’, I need them to care. A lot of that rests on the way I show off and visualise data being engaging, and being presented right. You can have two equally accurate reports – but if one looks better, is better at getting it’s message across, that’s what people will care about, and will let the science shine.

      And generally, thinking creatively is such an important part of being a data analyst. Not every problem can be approached logically – more often than not you need to approach things inventively and come up with new ways to solve puzzles.

    • Photo: Nathan Hayes

      Nathan Hayes answered on 27 Apr 2023:

      Architects design new buildings and structures including environments around them. They also work on the restoration and conservation of existing buildings and structures. A career in architecture could allow your creative skills to flourish.

    • Photo: Jarrod Hart

      Jarrod Hart answered on 27 Apr 2023:

      STEM jobs are usually creative! Scientists have to imagine all the possibilities in order to develop and test their hypotheses! And engineers have to “invent” solutions for world’s problems which definitely requires a creative mindset.

      If you are keen on an artistic element, then for sure architecture, or design engineering, product design, graphic design – or CGI – someone has to design virtual realities – in fact there are many technical roles in film and game making (3D vector transformations anyone?) Same with music, audio engineering requires a lot of technical knowhow 🙂

    • Photo: Rachel Edwards

      Rachel Edwards answered on 28 Apr 2023:

      I’m in physics research. When I started my PhD, it turned out that the most useful a-level I’d done was the design one! There is a huge amount of creativity in research, whether it’s designing experiments, working out how to present results to people, or even thinking up what research we should be doing next. As for travel, it has led me to live in three different countries, and visit many more for experiments and conferences.

    • Photo: Paula McMahon

      Paula McMahon answered on 24 May 2023:

      Engineering ! I would always look for apprenticeship as a first option (you get paid and get experience) but have academic options as a back-up.

    • Photo: Mimi Asogwa

      Mimi Asogwa answered on 27 May 2023:

      There is no need to give up either so I would say they should purse a STEM career and also do some creative work and travelling as a hobby.

    • Photo: Áine Uí Ghiollagáin

      Áine Uí Ghiollagáin answered on 28 May 2023:

      Once you have a degree and a couple of years’ experience you can become a contractor, and take short-term positions in different places. Teaching also allows to develop your creativity, and you can take jobs in different places.

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