• Question: when did you realise you wanted to be a scientist?

    Asked by anon-186458 to Verity, Trystan, Raquel, Danny, Catherine, Andy on 5 Nov 2018. This question was also asked by anon-186813.
    • Photo: Danny Ward

      Danny Ward answered on 5 Nov 2018:

      I always enjoyed science but it was during A-levels I decided that science for me. I didn’t know exactly what specific part of science yet though, this came during university during my biological sciences degree. I enjoyed microbiology and molecular biology the most so I knew I wanted to pursue this further with molecular microbiology research science.

    • Photo: Catherine Smith

      Catherine Smith answered on 5 Nov 2018:

      After I left university I initially had a job working outside of science, for a software company. It wasn’t bad but I realised then that I wanted a job that I found more interesting and challenging. I then decided to try to follow what interested me most from my undergraduate degree – infectious diseases.

    • Photo: Verity Hill

      Verity Hill answered on 5 Nov 2018:

      I still don’t know for sure! But I decided I wanted to do Biology at university when I read this great book (The Wildlife of Our Bodies by Rob Dunn) when I was 16, because it made me realise that biology was this dynamic, exciting field that was always changing.
      I got to the end of university and realised I wasn’t done with learning about biology yet, so I applied for a masters and then a PhD. I don’t know yet if I’ll stay in science, but for the moment, I would love to!

    • Photo: Trystan Leng

      Trystan Leng answered on 5 Nov 2018:

      I didn’t realise I wanted to be a scientist until after I had finished my undergraduate degree. I studied maths and philosophy so I actually wanted to become a philosopher!

      I think I realised after I took a job as a research assistance in a neuroscience lab. It was here I really first learnt how maths can be used to ‘model’ the real-world, how modelling helps us answer scientific questions, and just how many questions there are still to answer!

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