• Question: What is the best thing about being a scientist?

    Asked by HannahN on 7 Jan 2022.
    • Photo: Samuel Ellis

      Samuel Ellis answered on 7 Jan 2022:

      Serious answer: When a tricky experiment finally works and you get an exciting new result, it is such an amazing rush.

      Less serious answer: Researchers often get to set their own work hours, which is great as I am a terrible morning person and do not need to get up too early..

    • Photo: Jonny Coates

      Jonny Coates answered on 7 Jan 2022:

      Being the only person to know that new thing you’ve just discovered. Until you share and tell everyone you are the only person in history to know that bit of information or to have seen something brand new. It’s an unbeatable feeling!

      Also the challenge when things dont work or trying to understand something complex.

    • Photo: Lucy Garner

      Lucy Garner answered on 8 Jan 2022:

      For me, its being able to constantly learn new things. Each day is different and you never know quite what is coming next.

    • Photo: Valerie Vancollie

      Valerie Vancollie answered on 8 Jan 2022:

      It’s a mix of discovering new things and being able to help others.

      My first job very much encompassed both as we were looking into learning more about what specific genes do, which lead to further work by others based on what discovered. My current job is less about discovering new things, but more about being able to help others as I now work as part of the team that tracks covid in the UK and looks to see if it’s evolving or spawning new variants.

    • Photo: Eddie Cano Gamez

      Eddie Cano Gamez answered on 11 Jan 2022: last edited 11 Jan 2022 1:36 pm

      For me, personally, the best parts of being a scientist are the following:

      1. Every day I get to interact with people from all over the world. Science is very collaborative, and I find myself working with people from very different countries and cultures on a regular basis, and hearing all sorts of languages being spoken around me. I have learnt a lot from them.

      2. Similarly, science has enabled me to travel a lot. Be it as a student, or for attending conferences, or for collaborating with people, I have been lucky to see a lot of the world (or at least this used to be the case before the pandemic).

      3. I get to be creative every day. I am allowed to work on the things that interest me the most, and I get to decide how I want to approach them and to try new things all the time. It is almost like cooking or painting: even though science is done in a similar way everywhere, every scientist has their own way of looking at things which can be very different from anybody else’s, and so they end up creating something quite unique.

      4. I learn all the time. Sometimes this can difficult, because I feel like I don’t know anything at all, but most often it is extremely exciting. I learn a lot from my colleagues and from reading, as well as from my own mistakes. I often end up wondering about questions which nobody yet knows the answer to.

      5. Researching infectious diseases during a pandemic is special. I feel like my work matters and it might help people in the future. This is very important for me: having a sense of community and belonging, and using my skills to make the world a better place.

    • Photo: Chris Budd

      Chris Budd answered on 16 Jan 2022:

      It a combination of the thrill of discovery, of (hopefully) making a positive difference to the world, and of working with super nice people.

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