• Question: what makes this part of your career interesting

    Asked by lollipopstar to Kevin, Liz, Beccy, Rosie on 9 Jun 2017.
    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 9 Jun 2017:

      I was elected into the Royal Society last summer. That means I’m an FRS (a fellow of the Royal Society). I have this in common with amazing people both living (Stephen Hawking FRS) and dead (Charles Darwin FRS and Isaac Newton FRS). Newton was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1672, by the way. This designation means I am getting approached to do some really fun stuff.

      I got to judge the Royal Society’s Young People’s Book Prize.
      Check them out:
      https://royalsociety.org/news/2017/05/royal-societys-young-peoples-book-prize-2017-shortlist-revealed/
      The prize is for science books aimed at children and young people.

      Also in the last year I was given support (money for travel and organizational help) to talk to school students about science: https://www.statslife.org.uk/news/2957-christl-donnelly-announced-as-new-rss-william-guy-lecturer This support came from the Royal Statistical Society (which is a separate organization from the Royal Society).

    • Photo: Rosie Fok

      Rosie Fok answered on 10 Jun 2017:

      Microbiology (and being a doctor helping to treat people with infection) is a great job if you are nosey like me! Anybody, young or old, can get an infection, in any part of their body. So, unlike most other doctors, I really do get to find out what is going on in all parts of the hospital and the community. In one day, I might be dealing with a one hour old baby on the intensive care unit, then a twenty year old with a broken leg and nasty wounds, then a ninety year old in a care home. Or I might be involved in a measles outbreak in a school, or helping to write a guideline on how GPs should choose which antibiotics to start for their patients with urine infections.

    • Photo: Rebecca Corkill

      Rebecca Corkill answered on 11 Jun 2017:

      There are many things that are interesting.
      1. Every day is different and challenging- no two days are the same.
      2. I am working on a solution that can make a difference to people. This helps me keep motivated.
      3. I get to travel- a lot. To make sure you are up to date with current research and researchers you need to meet people. The best way to do this is conferences ( a big science gathering, of people interested in your topic). Since starting my PhD, I have been to Paris, Florida and Madrid. Next month I will be going to Kenya for collaboration talks and the year after Perth, Australia. Meeting different people and different cultures has made this experience epic.

    • Photo: Liz Buckingham-Jeffery

      Liz Buckingham-Jeffery answered on 11 Jun 2017:

      I’m still in the early part of my career and what I find most interesting about this is that I am always learning. Every day I learn something new. That could be learning about science, about maths, about how to write well and explain things well, … there is still so much for me to learn!

      Sometimes I learn by myself- I read books for example to teach myself things. And sometimes I learn from others- I have conversations with my bosses and other colleagues, or I go to listen to another scientist giving a presentation about their work. That is one of the best things about working in a university: I am surrounded by people all working on all sorts of different, interesting things.

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