• Question: how did you get into this job

    Asked by anon-233920 to Phill, Liam, Kohinoor, Karolina, Jack, Debbie on 9 Nov 2019. This question was also asked by anon-233916, anon-233921, anon-234553.
    • Photo: Liam Wignall

      Liam Wignall answered on 9 Nov 2019:

      I went from school, to sixth form and straight to university after that. In my final year of university, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I had an opportunity to conduct some of my own research for a project and really enjoyed the process. I also had opportunities to help other scientists conduct research and they taught me lots of skills. I thought it might be good to carry on conducting research and maybe even teach alongside it. I applied for funding to get a PhD (this is when you conduct your own big project and at the end of it become a Dr) and I’ve never looked back.

    • Photo: Jack Joyce

      Jack Joyce answered on 9 Nov 2019: last edited 9 Nov 2019 1:53 pm

      After my A-Levels I went to University — I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do but I thought I was good at studying language and I really liked the city (York) so I chose to go there. After my undergraduate degree I was offered to do a Masters degree so I did — but I didn’t have any money so I had to work in a call-centre and live in a house that was being rebuilt! During this time I thought it’d be a good idea to earn money whilst studying (and also really cool for people to call me Dr Jack!) so I applied to do a PhD, and I’ve enjoyed my PhD so much that I’m going to continue researching as a Research Associate.

    • Photo: Debbie Kinsey

      Debbie Kinsey answered on 11 Nov 2019:

      I went to university and studied psychology, and decided I wanted to work in a job helping people in some way.
      After university I worked as an assistant psychologist in mental health services for children and families, and then trained as a clinical psychologist (a type of therapist). The training involved working in different kinds of places with different kinds of people to help them with mental health problems, and took about 3 years.
      Not very long after I finished my training I got an illness and couldn’t work for a few years. It was pretty tough, but after a while I got better and could work again.
      I started working as a researcher at a university a few hours a week, and gradually built up to working more hours again. I found I really enjoyed working as a researcher, so I’m now doing a PhD and teaching students about doing reserach.

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