• Question: How could I become a real scientist who discovers cures for illnesses and makes fascinating discoveries like you?

    Asked by Hannah to Carolyn, Peter, Richard, Sara, Siana on 16 Nov 2015. This question was also asked by *zoemma*.
    • Photo: Richard Unwin

      Richard Unwin answered on 16 Nov 2015:

      Hi Hannah, to become a scientist you need good grades in your exams and science Ale els to get into a good uni to study science. Most courses will give you a chance to spend some time in a lab doing a small project so look around.
      Once you get your degree, you’ll need to apply for a PhD, a 3-4 year big project which is ALL YOURS – that kind of teaches you to be a scientist. Pass that, and you’re away!
      If it sounds a lot of work that’s because it is – but if you love what you do it’s worth it.

    • Photo: Carolyn Nielsen

      Carolyn Nielsen answered on 17 Nov 2015:

      Really great to hear you are interested in becoming a scientist too! 🙂

      Don’t worry if it sounds like a long time to have to study.. I didn’t think that I would do a PhD but the more I studied science the more I found it super interesting and realised research is definitely what I wanted to do.

      I also want to point out that if you want to be the leader of a research group (we call them the PI, short for Principal Investigator) you will need to have a PhD, same for other fairly senior research positions too. However, there are jobs in labs that don’t require PhDs so you can be a scientist without one, you just don’t get to be in charge and make all the fun decisions!

      Do you know what kind of science you might be interested in? If not, that’s ok too. All I knew at school was I liked Biology, then I gradually narrowed that down at university. 🙂

    • Photo: Sara Falcone

      Sara Falcone answered on 18 Nov 2015:

      Awww Hannah you’re nice.
      Ok so my story is a bit different. I studied to be a vet, then I did a Master in public health. During my master I applied for a scholarship to have some experience in the lab. Well apparently I was better than I thought because they offered me a PhD position.
      So you can approach the field that you like from different angles, it doesn’t really matter and they are all very valid. Once you get into the field you like then it is up to you how you want to progress your career. Having a PhD is not necessary and it does not equal better scientist. But it is necessary in most cases is you want to go further on in your career. At that point it would be up to your ambitions, attitude and circustances. The good thing is that is never too late to start a PhD so you have time to decide.

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