• Question: What skills do you feel you need to develop to become a better scientist. How will you do this?

    Asked by MeganT on 13 Jun 2023.
    • Photo: Ian Duffy

      Ian Duffy answered on 13 Jun 2023:

      Being curious and wanting to figure out how and why things happen.

    • Photo: Luke Humphrey

      Luke Humphrey answered on 13 Jun 2023:

      Good question. One thing I’m trying to work on at the moment is managing my workload, which sometimes means saying no to interesting work, but this isn’t easy. Good mental health is important to any job, but I think this would help me be a better scientist by focusing on quality over quantity as well as hopefully avoiding burnout.

      Part of how I’m approaching this is getting screened for ASD and ADHD to try and learn more about my brain and try to learn from people with similar neurotypes to myself to find out what has worked well for them.

    • Photo: Cat Cowie

      Cat Cowie answered on 13 Jun 2023:

      The main thing you need is just to stay curious and keep asking questions. After that, it’s important to have some practical experience, so I recommend you have a think about what areas of science you would like to get involved in and see if there are any opportunities to try it out, visit a museum, volunteer or get a job. Seeing and trying things for yourself is a great way to learn, see if you like it and gain some experience.

    • Photo: Festus Ejikemeuwa

      Festus Ejikemeuwa answered on 13 Jun 2023:

      In addition to the core scientific / engineering skills, interpersonal skills is critical to succeeding as a scientist / engineer.

    • Photo: Ferran Brosa Planella

      Ferran Brosa Planella answered on 13 Jun 2023:

      I think that the so-called “soft skills” are extremely important (and not only to be a better scientist). For example, time management, communicating skills (both oral and written) and being able to work with other people are very important.

    • Photo: Sharron Kenny

      Sharron Kenny answered on 14 Jun 2023:

      I always find it hard to present my work to others.

      my work can be great really ground breaking science but getting the words out of my mouth to pass this on to others it what i find difficult. i suddenly feel like i know nothing about the topic. like i am an imposter i guess and that everyone will know .

      i need to develop the confidence to present my work and to be proud of it. to acknowledge it as mine and that it is good.

      i think even great people get nervous sometimes they just hide it better than i do

    • Photo: Alexander De Bruin

      Alexander De Bruin answered on 16 Jun 2023:

      The big one for me is knowing when something is done “enough”, rather than striving for some idealised “perfect”

    • Photo: Amy Stockwell

      Amy Stockwell answered on 17 Jun 2023:

      I agree with everything that the others have written. I would also add organisation.
      Science tends to involve collecting and sorting a lot of information. It has to be stored in a way that is easy to understand, accessible by others and searchable. I’ve learnt to never write anything down on a loose piece of paper, becuase I will lose it. I’m always trying out new ways to keep the data under control.

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