• Question: What are the top 3 most important parts of your project in your opinion?

    Asked by anon-175277 to Alex, Alison, David, Ella, hayleypincott, Thomas on 19 Jun 2018.
    • Photo: David Mills

      David Mills answered on 19 Jun 2018:


      The people I collaborate with are very important. I couldn’t do much of my research without them.
      beyond that, it’s very important I keep the CT scanners running and keep developing new ways to use them, this allows me to provide a useful service to my students and the people I collaborate with.
      Thirdly I’d say it’s very important that I tell people about what we are doing at conferences and by writing papers and chatting with schools, etc. There’s no point doing science if you don’t tell someone about it.

    • Photo: Alison Hughes

      Alison Hughes answered on 19 Jun 2018:


      The actual research – studying how microalgae can be used to help people. If we find something that is useful, it could help funding for using microalgae for biofuels and feedstocks and will help with building a more environmentally friendly future.

      The people – people I work with are great support, meeting new people with similar research interests at conferences, going to workshops and training events and meeting people on different paths. Interacting with people on social media. All of these things help build a community and network of professional and personal support.

      Communication – speaking to professionals/collaborators/funders about my project but also speaking to students and children about careers in science. I love doing outreach activities. It reminds me why I love science and always gives me a boost when I get a good reaction from others.

    • Photo: Hayley Pincott

      Hayley Pincott answered on 20 Jun 2018:


      I don’t work in research but 3 things that are important parts of my jobs are:

      Communication: As we contribute to diagnosing a patient it’s really important to communicate with other members of the team so we can get a report out to the pathologist as quickly as we can but also to ensure the accuracy and quality of our work.

      Organisation: It’s vital to be able to priortise my workload as urgent specimens can come in at any time that require my attention however I need to be able to leave my current task at a point where it won’t affect the quality or accuracy of the result.

      Learning: I’m constantly annoying my work colleagues and the pathologists with questions. I’m very fortunate that I work where I do and that we’re such a small specialist discipline that I get to see things not many other people get to see so I take advantage of any opportunity that comes my way to expand on any knowledge I have no matter how basic my understanding is. For example I’ve been lucky enough to attend surgery which has helped in my anatomy but also it’s good to see thing from another departments point of view. I feel it’s really important no matter what your role is that you should always strive to better yourself and gain knowledge particularly in the NHS because the patient will always benefit.

    • Photo: Thomas Perriment

      Thomas Perriment answered on 20 Jun 2018:


      One of the projects I’m working on at the moment is a new method of conducting investigations on site, so that instead of our geologists and engineers going out blind or with paper maps and a compass, having to write information down on a notepad and then typing it up later, they can have a cloud based digital tool to present and record information all stored online! Then they can just download their reports later. A huge part of this is communication, because there is no point in a scientist discovering something new or inventing a new method if they don’t tell anyone about it, or they don’t check to see if it’s any good for the people who will actually use it. The second most important thing is whether it actually solves the problem, a lot of science is more about working towards a solution and figuring out parts of the puzzle rather than completing the puzzle, and as technology/the world changes it’s important to make sure your research and projects are relevant and necessary. The third most important thing in this project is probably collaboration! Scientists are constantly learning new things, and a great way to learn more and to teach others is to work with other people (scientists and non-scientists!) to use your combined skills to discover the solution/method required.

Comments