• Question: aree you professinol?

    Asked by megan12345 to Austin, Kirsty, Nicola, Nike, Sarah on 14 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Austin Elliott

      Austin Elliott answered on 14 Jun 2012:

      Most scientists would say science is a profession, and it takes about as many years to get ‘qualified’ as for most professions – but we don’t actually have a particular ‘professional body’ we have to be registered with to work, the way doctors have to be registered with the General Medical Council, or nurses with the Nursing Council, or pharmacists with the Pharmaceutical Society. Quite a lot of people who work in science will have a doctoral degree (PhD), which means that after finishing your first University degree you’ve done research for three years, written a long report (called a Thesis) about it, and then had a special examination on it.

      A lot of scientists do belong to specialised scientific societies – I belong to one called the Physiological Society, and the others here probably belong to other similar organisations, like the Biochemical Society.

    • Photo: Kirsty Ross

      Kirsty Ross answered on 15 Jun 2012:

      There isn’t really a point at which you become a ‘professional’ scientist, as Austin says. Personally, I first felt like a professional scientist when I started my PhD, as I was being paid to do scientific research. It’s always nice to be paid for something that you find fun to do!
      I am a member of a couple of professional bodies, and these helped a lot during my PhD as they offer funds to help scientists present their work at conferences where they can meet like-minded scientists. I’m a member of the http://www.immunology.org, http://www.sfam.org.uk and http://www.sgm.ac.uk.

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