• Question: do you get to work with other people

    Asked by wych442dab on 23 Nov 2021.
    • Photo: Craig Anderson

      Craig Anderson answered on 23 Nov 2021:

      Great question! I work with a team of scientists on a daily basis, made up of people getting their PhD and other postdocs. We exchange ideas and help each other to do a good job.

      I regularly work with a collaboration of scientists across Europe- in Cambridge, Spain and Germany. We have a meeting every couple of weeks online and then get together once a year to talk about our data and to work on our publications.

    • Photo: Yasmin Dickinson

      Yasmin Dickinson answered on 23 Nov 2021:

      Hey there!!

      Yes I work alongside many other great scientists. Our lab is made up of scientists at different stages of their careers. There are:
      – PhD students (like me),
      – Post Docs (post doctoral researchers are scientists who have completed their PhD already),
      – senior scientists,
      – and a PI (the PI is the ‘Principle Investigator’ and is the person responsible for the leadership and conduct of a research study. They are usually a senior scientist who has many years experience in the field and who has published many studies).

      Science relies on collaboration between scientists from different backgrounds, disciplines and years of experience. We share our results and ideas with each other and give advice too. Even when you are working on a project independently, you are never alone because you will have your colleagues to help you and support you. There is a nice balance between team work and independent work.

      You may also get the opportunity to work with patients, if you are taking part in clinical research!

      My PhD is with AstraZeneca, a pharmaceutical company, so I also work with scientists in industry.

    • Photo: Frank Schubert

      Frank Schubert answered on 24 Nov 2021:

      I spend most of my time working with other people – as a lecturer with students (not least the students working in my lab), and as a researcher with other scientists. Meeting lots of people is one of the most fun parts of being a scientist. Already as an undergraduate I was fortunate enough to work in an international institute, and the group where I did my Phd had people from all across the world. More than 20 different nationalities altogether!

    • Photo: Magdalena Sutcliffe

      Magdalena Sutcliffe answered on 24 Nov 2021:

      Yes! I work in a lab of 6 people, we have a group leader, four post-doctoral scientists (Postdocs for short, they are scientists educated to PhD level) and two PhD students. But we also work with other scientists in our Institute and sometimes collaborate with people from other places.
      Working with other people really helps since they can have expertise on topics that are new to me and provide feedback about my work. It’s also great to be social with a slightly nerdy bunch 🙂

    • Photo: Julia Spindel

      Julia Spindel answered on 26 Nov 2021:

      Yes, a lot! It is very common to work collaboratively as a scientist in lots of different ways – whilst doing experiments, whilst analysing data, teaching others etc. Sometimes we even work together with people from other fields, for example I am a biologist and sometimes I work with physicists to model the data I am working with.

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