As a woman in science- was your job now your dream jobless

Sophie Arthur answered on 4 Mar 2020:

When I started my PhD a little over 5 years ago, I didn’t even know my job really existed. But as soon as I learnt about it and realised that I was kind of good at it and I got to use other creative skills as well as learn about science it quickly became my ideal job. So working in science communication is a dream job for me.

To make it absolutely perfect though, I would love to have my own business helping people to communicate their science, and I would also love to do some research in the area, but otherwise it is great. I learn so much!

Sarah Carter answered on 4 Mar 2020:

My current job is very close to a dream job, in that I get to study things I’m interested in and spend a lot of my time thinking about new research questions. I have a lot of freedom and independence in my position, which is also wonderful. However, I would love to have more opportunities to talk to people about the work I’m doing and see things I’m studying in action. As a researcher, I’m on my own at my desk a lot, writing papers for other academics to read. I’d love to have more engagement with the public, running events or speaking with people about my findings.

Sarah Clarke answered on 4 Mar 2020:

I have taken quite a long time to get to the job I’m doing now and I really enjoy it. That said, I don’t know whether I’d call it my dream job. I’ve tried lots of different jobs over the years – some I have enjoyed and some I haven’t. As I have grown up, I have enjoyed different things and it wouldn’t surprise me if down the line I move into a different area of research or something else which is different to what I do now. You work for some many years of your life so its important you do what you enjoy, and accept that what you enjoy may change over time – and that’s ok!!

M S answered on 4 Mar 2020:

I dont think I ever had a dream job in mind. I think I always wanted to try creative things but was never that good at them so now theyre my hobbies. I think with age this has become my dream role though! It was somethig Ive wanted to do for a few years now!

Lotte de Winde answered on 4 Mar 2020:

I always wanted to become a paediatrician, but because I didn’t make it into medicine studies, I decided to study biomedical sciences as that was close to it. To my own surprise, I really enjoyed learning about molecules and cells that make our body function, and especially the immune system. I wondered why our immune system is not capable of fighting cancer cells, and decided that that is what I want to study. So I did my MSc internships and PhD in research labs where they study how we can manipulate the immune system to kill cancer, but also how the immune system itself can develop into cancer, called leukaemia or lymphoma. Now, I am in a more basic biology lab, learning more about the immune system in general, but after this I would like to combine my knowledge to study the immune system in lymphoma. And while writing all this, I realise that this is now actually my dream job!

Do you want to become a scientist yourself, Tess?

Robyn Kiy answered on 4 Mar 2020:

I still don’t really know what my dream job is. At the moment I am a PhD student, so I’m getting paid to research interesting topics, which is great! I’m hoping that over the course of my PhD (3.5 years) I’ll find what my dream job is, and hopefully be able to pursue that once I have finished studying 😊
Whatever I end up doing for a job, I’m definitely proud of being a female scientist! 👩‍🔬

Paige Chandler answered on 4 Mar 2020: last edited 4 Mar 2020 5:08 pm

Since school, I’ve had a few slightly different ideas of the ‘dream job’. I always wanted to be a scientist, so I’m happy that I’ve achieved that! I thought I wanted to work in physics, but once I started my A-levels I realised it wasn’t the subject for me – but then I found A-level biology was much more interesting. Now I work in neuroscience/behavioural science with mice.

A few boys at school used to be mean and tell me there are no great female scientists, but they couldn’t have been more wrong. Ava Lovelace invented the computer. Rosalind Franklin discovered the structure of DNA. Marie Curie discovered the radioactive elements polonium and radium, and is the only person (man or woman) to ever win the Nobel prize in more than one science (Chemistry and Physics). Even at my workplace, one of the buildings is named the Mary Lyon Centre, after the brilliant female scientist who worked here, who discovered X-inactivation, an important mechanism in genetics.

Katrina Wesencraft answered on 4 Mar 2020:

I’m still figuring out what I want to do after I finish my PhD – I really enjoy what I do but I wouldn’t say it’s my ‘dream job’. I definitely didn’t know when I was at school and I think it’s okay if you don’t have a dream job.

Andrea Kusec answered on 5 Mar 2020:

It sounds very cheesy, but I feel like working with people with brain injury is a life purpose of mine – I have never been so keen on something as improving care for those with a brain injury. I’ve had an interest in the brain from a very young age, so I suppose you could say I’m in my dream job! I’ve been lucky to have women mentors along the way, especially women in science, that have supported me to get where I need to be 🙂

Jennifer Roe answered on 5 Mar 2020:

I wouldn’t say that my dream job is what I do now. But I don’t really know what my dream job would be.

Beth Bartlett answered on 6 Mar 2020:

I still don’t know what my dream job is! I am currently really enjoying my PhD which I get paid to do so it is kind of like a job, but I have to decide what to do when it is over! Luckily there are still three and a half years for me to make my mind up…

Kate Mitchell answered on 8 Mar 2020:

My job now is really a ‘stepping-stone’ job – I am a postdoctoral researcher working for someone else on their project, but ultimately my aim would be to get my own funding to conduct my own research. It is a very good job, in a topic I love, and has let me do all sorts of useful things, but I will be looking for another role in future.

Sarah Brown answered on 13 Mar 2020:

I think that my dream job has probably changed every year since I was little! Right now my dream job is to communicate science and the use of maths specifically in schools and at events for children. I love doing this when I can at the moment so to do it full time would be amazing! That way I can encourage more girls to continue in science and be a roll model for them 🙂

Nadine Mirza answered on 13 Mar 2020: last edited 13 Mar 2020 2:08 pm

My dream job has definitely changed over time- first I wanted to be a writer (when I was 5!), then a lawyer, then I ended up a psychologist and now I’m a researcher. I think it’s definitely the dream job for now- I never imagined I’d be where I am today- and the opportunities I have at my disposal are amazing. And I still get to include that love of writing by doing science writing which really makes it perfect. I have dream jobs for the future but for now this is just right.

Question: As a woman in science- was your job now your dream jobless

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