• Question: What is your average day ?

    Asked by smiithaaz to Andrew, Ben, Heather, Louisa on 23 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Heather McKee

      Heather McKee answered on 23 Jun 2010:

      I suppose the good thing about being a scientist is that your days arent so average for example yesterday i read some journals in between setting up psychological tests in the lab, today im talking to students about my research then going to one of the main lecture theatres where my entire department(cause were sports science) are gonna ‘analyize’ the england game whilst participating in a stress reactivity study!!

    • Photo: Louisa Chard

      Louisa Chard answered on 23 Jun 2010:

      Not really an average day for us, which is part of the appeal. Usually I get into work at about 9.30 and catch up on mails for 10 minutes with a cup of tea! Then down to the lab for most of the day, running experiements. There are a few things I have to do on a day to day basis, such as looking after cells so I usually get them done in the morning and leave the more interesting stuff for the afternoon. Usually I have about 30 mins for lunch, longer if I’m meeting friends though. Around 4ish I try and get a bit of computer work done, such as writing papers or grant proposals. usually leave around 5.30 or 6, sometimes later and sometimes earlier, depending on how long experiements take to run.

    • Photo: Andrew McKinley

      Andrew McKinley answered on 23 Jun 2010:

      There’s no such thing as an ‘average’ day – everyone says that, but it is genuinely true! I can be planning an experiment, or optimising the manufacture of the spherical crystals. Quite a lot of my day is spent either analysing data, or looking for ways to improve the speed at which the crystals rotate. Another aspect of my work is educating people of all ages about the work that we do in our labs, and explaining just how light can be so strange.

    • Photo: Ben Still

      Ben Still answered on 23 Jun 2010:

      There is no real average day. I usually start by checking e-mails and then often have video meetings with guys I work with in Japan, US, Europe and Canada.

      If I am in London then I am usually writing computer programs for recognising patterns in our particle detectors to try and piece together what is going on. I am also responsible for processing data taken by our experiment, which I do on 1000’s of computers all around the world.

      If I am in Japan I will be attending meetings or spending time looking the detectors and checking they are working OK.

      And then I get to talk to students like yourselves about science and the work I do, on I’m A Scientist and at seminars and summer schools, which is great fun.

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