• Question: Do you enjoy your work?? xx

    Asked by bananalover22 to Christine, Edd, Jess, Nicolas, Zara on 13 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Jessica Chu

      Jessica Chu answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      Yes, I really enjoy my work because everyday is quite different so it keeps it interesting. I like bits where I can do some experiments by myself and sometimes I will need the help of other people from different departments e.g. Chemistry.
      So I am always learning and getting new results that is telling me more and more about my plants that no one else have – the anticancer side of it!!
      Imagine being one of the first people to find out about something- how exciting!! 🙂

    • Photo: Nicolas Biber

      Nicolas Biber answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. It really depends what I have to do, for how long I have to do it and what sort of day I’m having 🙂 I guess it mostly depends on how often I can change what I’m doing. This can be quite often as I am running several research projects at the same time. Then again I have tasks that will take me days and days of doing the exact same thing over and over, and that I don’t like so much.Then I get to work in the field for a couple of days, sometimes I bring a tent, a few friends who help me with my work, and after work we camp and have a barbecue – the best times 🙂

    • Photo: Christine Switzer

      Christine Switzer answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      Usually! I love the freedom that comes with my job and the chance to pursue the things I find fun in environmental science. That said, there are some aspects of my job that I don’t like. There are some administrative tasks that I don’t like but I have to do them. Also, any meeting that runs longer than an hour either needs a tea/stretch break or gets some grumbles from me. After an hour, I don’t sit still very well and epic meetings bring out the complainer in me!

      Thanks for your great questions in the chat earlier!

    • Photo: Edward Codling

      Edward Codling answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      I definitely enjoy doing science research! I like working with other people and finding out new things, asking questions about the real world around us and understanding it better!

      However, as Christine says, working at University involves other things than research. I have to do a lot of teaching and this takes up most of my time in termtime. I do enjoy teaching students though but it doesn’t leave much time for my research. I also have a lot of admin tasks to do which are very boring and I’d happily swap them for more research time!

    • Photo: Zara Gladman

      Zara Gladman answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      On the whole, yes! Obviously there are things about my job that I don’t like: getting up early (I HATE mornings), working in bad weather (I had to do fieldwork in November once, it was horrible! I couldn’t feel my hands!), typing up repetitive data, driving for hours without a working radio (that was a bad day!), midgey bites, cleaning my wellies and getting soaked when I fall in the river… but all of these annoying little things are balanced by the good things about doing science!

      Even though the Scottish weather can be a bit rubbish (maybe that’s an understatement), I absolutely love working outside. And when the weather IS good, it’s even better! There was a heatwave when I was doing work at Loch Ken a couple of years ago and I actually got a sun tan. I also enjoy the satisfaction of getting good results from an experiment, and getting feedback from work that I’ve given to my supervisors. I love being able to travel for my work too – either to do fieldwork (all over the country) or to present my results at conferences (I went to one in France last year, I’ve never eaten so much nutella!). Finally, I really like the people I work with – which makes any job more enjoyable!

Comments