• Question: In the future, where can you see yourselves?

    Asked by marshmallow to Clare, Mariana, Pedro, Robert, Susanne on 12 Nov 2012. This question was also asked by melissa98.
    • Photo: Susanne Muekusch

      Susanne Muekusch answered on 12 Nov 2012:

      Hi marshmallow,

      since you linked it with the keyword “career” I will answer job wise:

      I will not be an active scientist and I will not be a professor.

      I would like to help scientists to communicate their findings to other scientists. I would like to design powerpoint slides for presentations or design scientific illustrations. Unfortunately, that job doesn’t really exist, but I still hope I can do it!

    • Photo: Mariana Campos

      Mariana Campos answered on 12 Nov 2012:

      Hello marshmallow (good nickname by the way! ;))
      I do love science. But I don’t feel like I would be happy having my own laboratory, meaning, being the boss of someone, thinking of experiments but not really doing. To be honest this is a very very difficult question and I have been thinking about it a lot. I will need to decide what I want to do soon. I think I would to explain science to people that are not scientists, just like I am doing now 🙂 And I think I would like to go back to Portugal, where I am from. So maybe I can explain to Portuguese students why science is so important and how fun it can be 🙂 Does this answer your question? 😉

    • Photo: Clare Taylor

      Clare Taylor answered on 13 Nov 2012:

      I’m probably a little bit older than Susanne and Mariana and my career path is pretty set, unless something dramatic happens! I did my PhD and then I did two postdoctoral research positions, and now I am a principal investigator (and lecturer) with my own lab and my own PhD students. I would hope that I will make it to professor, if I’m good enough.

      Something I have in common with both Susanne and Mariana though is that I also enjoy talking about research (and science in general) with people like you, so I will definitely keep doing science communication!

      Susanne – there are ways you can do what you would like to do. For example, I know someone that has just set up their own scientific animation company because that’s what she wants to do! The sky is the limit!

    • Photo: Robert Insall

      Robert Insall answered on 18 Nov 2012:

      The future is now! I’m a middle aged scientist with a grey beard! What else should I do – a holiday in a remote island somewhere?

      Actually – to tell the truth – there is something I’d like to do. I’d like to start a unit that specialises in the sort of thing I’m interested in. It would take a load of time and money, so I’m going to wait until my kids are nearly ready to leave school though. Don’t want to miss them for the sake of an institute.

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