• Question: how did you become a scientist?

    Asked by Han Man to Marikka, Sally, Rob, Matt, Ceri on 12 Nov 2014. This question was also asked by 549anta37.
    • Photo: Marikka Beecroft

      Marikka Beecroft answered on 12 Nov 2014:

      Originally I wanted to be a doctor! I got some amazing grades for my GCSEs in secondary school but at sixth form I kind of slacked off due to personal problems and didn’t get the grades I wanted to do medicine. I decided that at that point I still loved science though and applied for university. When I got my place I was so inspired by my lecturers and the science I was learning I couldn’t imagine doing anything else from that point on! Now I’m in a PhD and being a scientist!

    • Photo: Robert Hampson

      Robert Hampson answered on 13 Nov 2014:

      I continued with a Science degree at the University of Bath after my A levels. When I finished my BSc, I still wanted to do sciences so I applied for PhD positions. I got one at the University of Nottingham where I have been doing science since 2011.

    • Photo: Sally Cutler

      Sally Cutler answered on 13 Nov 2014:

      I guess this was really a natural progression of following my passion for biology.

    • Photo: Ceri Dare

      Ceri Dare answered on 13 Nov 2014:

      To be a scientist, all you really need to do is have an idea then test the idea out. You don’t have to have a big lab or lots of qualifications. So in a way I have been a scientist all my life!

      But to get a job where people would pay me to be a scientist, I did Chemistry, Biology and Psychology A levels, then went to university in York to study Psychology, then did all sorts of things for a few years, then went back to university in York to study Public Health, then applied for lots of jobs and got this job which I like very much!

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