• Question: what inspired you to study your chosen studies ?

    Asked by hannahfitzpatrick to Anne, Carolyn, Joe, Mariana, Nick on 16 Mar 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Joseph Devlin

      Joseph Devlin answered on 16 Mar 2010:

      For me it was a gradual process. As a kid I loved reading sci-fi and thought that intelligent computers were very cool (I wanted one). So when I started learning about computers, I wanted to do artificial intelligence but got pretty disillusioned as I learned more about it. Anyway, that got me interested in how real intelligence worked and I started learning about brains and that’s what I’ve been doing ever since!

    • Photo: Carolyn McGettigan

      Carolyn McGettigan answered on 16 Mar 2010:

      I think I really only got inspired when I began studying Psychology as part of my BA in Natural Sciences. That was in my 3rd year at University and before then I’d been doing a lot more cell biology and chemistry. I went to some lectures about language and the brain and found for the first time that I suddenly had lots of ideas for experiments. It’s like I found the right topic for me, so I got work experience in a lab after I graduated, then applied for a PhD.

    • Photo: Nick Bradshaw

      Nick Bradshaw answered on 16 Mar 2010:

      I knew I wanted to do something which could lead to medical advanes, but I wasn’t sure what (partially beacause it as waht I fancied, but I also felt it was what God wanted me to do). When I was applying for my PhD I met a professor in Edinburgh who was studying schziophrenia and his project sounded very intersting, so when he offered me a position I took it. There is also some history of mental illness in my wife’s family, so it was an area I found interesting anyway.

    • Photo: Mariana Vargas

      Mariana Vargas answered on 16 Mar 2010:

      I enjoyed Natural Sciences while studying at school, and during my degree in Biology I became very interested in the function of neurons (such as those in the brain or the one that control our muscles). And of course one of the most exciting things that neurons in the brain do is to store memories. Then I realised that there is still a lot to discover in this area of science, so that’s how I chose the topics that I am researching about.

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