• Question: Do you work independently for your research and samples or do you go into an office and work with others?

    Asked by mommy123 to Edd, Jess, Zara on 23 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Zara Gladman

      Zara Gladman answered on 23 Jun 2011:

      Hi mommy123!

      I go out and collect my own samples BUT I have to take at least one other person with me because sometimes working in a river or lake can be pretty dangerous… if I went on my own and got washed away, nobody would know! :-O Also, it’s good to have an extra pair of helping hands… sometimes I have a lot of stuff to carry or measure, it would take a long time to do it on my own!

      I share my office with lots of other people and we share our knowledge/help each other out when we can! 🙂 I am also in contact with other crayfish researchers in different parts of the country which is useful for swapping information.

    • Photo: Edward Codling

      Edward Codling answered on 23 Jun 2011:

      I work with lots of people – I don’t think you can really do effective research without being able to discuss your ideas with people and get feedback.

      I don’t think I have written any scientific papers on my own…. just checking!

      Actually I was wrong! Out of the 27 science publications I have, I have only done 1 on my own. All the others were done in teams or partnerships – hopefully the point still stands though!

      Even if you do some science work on your own, it still has to be checked by other scientists before it will be published in a science journal. So science definitely requires collaboration and working together!

      I don’t actually work in the same office as the people I work with though. Sometimes they are working at different universities or labs. We would usually communciate over email and the internet. I have even written a few papers with people I have never met – we did all our discussion and collaboration remotely over email!

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