• Question: How being a scientist has it affected your lifestyles? For Example - being away from friends family.

    Asked by to Clare, Divya, Ian, Jess, Lewis on 14 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Ian Hands-Portman

      Ian Hands-Portman answered on 14 Mar 2014:

      Science doesn’t take me away from my friends and family. I have a normal working day that occasionally drags on and I have to stay longer than I’d like and don’t often go away with work – maybe once or twice a year. Sometimes I have to come in at a weekend or very early in the morning but that’s the same for lots of jobs. In principle I can choose my own working hours but it’s easier to stick to the same as most people unless I need to get away early for something.

      Noone ever asks me about my work at dinner parties though – not more than once anyway..

    • Photo: Jess Smith

      Jess Smith answered on 15 Mar 2014:

      I really like the lifestyle for a phd. In the main we can chose our working hours and be flexible. Loads of my friends live in Oxford, and my family live close by too, so no problems there!

    • Photo: Lewis Dean

      Lewis Dean answered on 15 Mar 2014:

      Being a scientist has affected my life in some ways, but generally enjoyable. I have some great friends who live near me. The main way that science affects me is that, as I am early in my career, I am current job is for three years, so I know that I will have to do well at it so I can get a new job after that.

      Being a scientist is a huge honour, though. We get paid to be curious and to think about the world around us. That’s pretty cool!

    • Photo: Clare Nevin

      Clare Nevin answered on 17 Mar 2014:

      As a PhD student I have stayed in the same city as my undergraduate degree so I still have lots of friends here in Manchester. I don’t think it affects your life in a different way to any other job – apart from that often you work long hours and have to do more work at home (it isn’t a 9-5 job). But it is much more rewarding because it is so independent. You are you own boss and decide what experiments to do and what hours you work. I love it!

    • Photo: Divya Venkatesh

      Divya Venkatesh answered on 17 Mar 2014:

      Yeah I don’t think being a scientist has affected how close I am to my family – deciding to do my PhD in Cambridge has though, because my family is back in India and I only get to see them once a year (or so).

      Otherwise, I think it’s a great lifestyle to have in my twenties:
      My time is flexible, I set the pace, I have some control on how to proceed with the project – lots of responsibility but also independence.
      I can do several things on the go, I get to meet many new people from different academic and cultural backgrounds which is amazing.

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