• Question: What problems do you face with your work?

    Asked by Nicole to Craig, Devon, Marta, Natalie, Nicholas on 10 Mar 2017.
    • Photo: Marta Varela

      Marta Varela answered on 10 Mar 2017:


      Hi Nicole.

      To be honest, I have two small children who have trouble sleeping through the night, so I am now facing the very basic challenge of trying to organise myself so that I can be as awake and focussed at work as I can.

      Sometimes I struggle with “big picture” issues. I spend so long trying to solve a little problem (for example, a computer program that does not work), that I forget that in the big picture, I could have done things different (and, for example, used a different computer program altogether). It is always useful, I find, to try and look at things in a wide context.

    • Photo: Natalie Doig

      Natalie Doig answered on 10 Mar 2017:


      I think that my hardest challenge is balancing my time – I have lots of different responsibilities. I love doing the actual research in the lab but I also teach undergraduate students, I train PhD students in the lab, and collaborate on different projects. I find it hard to do all these things but I love doing them all so somehow I try and make it work.

    • Photo: Nicholas Younger

      Nicholas Younger answered on 14 Mar 2017:


      Gettin my experiments to work! 90% of the time nothing works first time, so that’s a problem, but that’s a problem that all scientists face – it’s part of the job.

      A personal problem I have is that I live about an hour away from work so I have to commute for about 2 hours a day which is so time consuming and exhausting!

    • Photo: Craig O'Hare

      Craig O'Hare answered on 14 Mar 2017:


      I often take on too much at once when it gets close to a deadline.

      On paper this seems fine, but when I’ in the lab juggling three experiments at once never really pans out. I need better discipline! I do have a tendency to bury myself in work sometimes too. Which means I’m often bad at keeping in touch with friends from home.

      In short I think I need to plan my days better and get a diary….

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