• Question: Is Science something your family always encouraged or did you decide it was something that you loved by yourself? Or is it a bit of both? :)

    Asked by livyad to Adam, Catherine, Karen, Leila, Nazim on 14 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Leila Battison

      Leila Battison answered on 14 Mar 2012:

      My family always helped me to do anything I want, so I was really lucky. I think my mum really wanted me to become an artist (she bought me loads of art books) but she was really supportive when I was more interested in nature and science, even though she didn’t know much.

      I travelled quite a bit when I was younger, and that helped to make me curious about the world and nature – and I guess I have my parents to thank for that. Since I started my A-levels though, I’ve been on my own because my parents never took any sciences.

    • Photo: Adam Stevens

      Adam Stevens answered on 14 Mar 2012:

      My mum and dad are actually very unscientific! They wanted me to do accountancy or something because I was good at maths and they wanted me to have lots of money (I sure showed them!)

    • Photo: Karen Masters

      Karen Masters answered on 14 Mar 2012:

      Well my Mum was a biology teacher in an A-level college, so I always thought doing science was normal. Everyone of my family (my Mum, Dad and younger brother) have an A-level in Physics for example. But I was the first to get a PhD and that was definitely new.

      I think they were worried about how much it would cost to study for so long – so it was good news that most science PhDs are funded and have money to live off. I think they still worry about my long term future (as do I) and wish I would settle down – especially now we have children. But in general they are very supportive.

    • Photo: Catherine Rix

      Catherine Rix answered on 14 Mar 2012:

      A bit of both i would say. I always liked science but I guess I was influenced by the sorts of things that my family liked. My dad and granddad watched a lot of science fiction which was a big influence on me and my dad studied chemistry at university too. My mum studied English and when we have dinner and talk a lot about science she gets cross!

    • Photo: Nazim Bharmal

      Nazim Bharmal answered on 19 Mar 2012:

      Science wasn’t encouraged by my family, in fact they thought I was a bit mad not going to get a job that made a lot of money. But my parent’s were also immigrants and my dad had to apply for asylum because he lost his citizenship (he was in England studying when his passport was taken away from him). So they come from a generation when they worried about having somewhere to live and enough money too. I’m more lucky in that I don’t worry about those things.

      But when I decided, they supported me all the way. I still don’t think they quite understand the science I do, but I do try to show and explain what I do and they do like the pictures I make.

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