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Asked by much1huh to Richard B, priscillatng, Michael S, Michael C, Martin M, Mahmud Juned, Erin P, Andrew, Alexander DB on 28 Feb 2024. This question was also asked by gate1sap.
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Martin McCoustra answered on 28 Feb 2024:
The best part is seeing PhD students graduate and go on to start their careers… In that respect when my first PhD student got a lectureship and more recently his professorship, I was really happy about it! The worst part… having to do irrelevant paper work!
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Michael Schubert answered on 29 Feb 2024:
The best part is all of the learning I get to do and the fun I have communicating science to other people! The worst part is probably when I get a lot of work all at once (or maybe the paperwork…) But this job is so much fun that the hard parts are definitely worth it.
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Andrew Parrott answered on 29 Feb 2024:
Best part is problem solving, and working with really fantastic people.
Worst part, all the admin and paperwork
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Erin Pallott answered on 1 Mar 2024:
The best part is being able to get involved with lots of science communication projects, like this one! I also started up a blog to help more PhD students communicate research.
I think the worst part is having to read lots of research papers. Some are interesting, and some are really not. -
Mahmud Juned answered on 1 Mar 2024:
Best part of my job is the problem solving and coming up with great ideas to fix / improve things. When you do it and it works, it’s super satisfying.
Worst bit would be sometimes things don’t always go the way you want them to and takes you a long time to troubleshoot and find the problem, as well as sometimes a lot of things can go wrong at the same time so managing them can be a little tough.
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Alexander De Bruin answered on 4 Mar 2024:
Best part is the team and what we can achieve together. Worst part is having to handle plans changing from factors completely outside of our control, including timelines becoming either much shorter or much longer!
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Richard Birch answered on 6 Mar 2024:
Best parts? I sometimes get to go to interesting places I probably wouldn’t go, and see amazing creatures I probably wouldn’t spot normally. This year, while surveying in a woodland, I spotted a Hornet Hoverfly – Google it: its fantastic! Also the first for North Wales (and probably moving north because of climate change).
Worst part? I cannot stop the destruction of some of these places, in order to build houses, or roads or industrial sites. That’s the bit that hurts most. -
Michael C Macey answered on 8 Mar 2024:
One of the best things about my job is the flexibility and variety – in January I was in Botswana collecting samples, then I was working from home to write exam questions and write research papers and next week I will be in the labs to try and get new microbes to grow.
The worst part is the admin work – universities have a lot of paperwork and I sometimes fill in the wrong form or fill in the forms wrong. I am lucky that I can often ask people for help!
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Priscilla Tng answered on 14 Mar 2024:
The best part is working on the different experiments that I have and seeing them move to the next stage, the worst part is probably having too much paperwork.
Comments
Charlene commented on :
The best part is the actual work – it’s very interesting working in science. I am always trying to find the answer to something, which is very motivating. The worst part is having to think about where our next grant is coming from. If we don’t get grants to fund our work then we have to look for other jobs.