• Question: What is your Typical Day?

    Asked by aliceb to Adam, Catherine, Karen, Leila, Nazim on 13 Mar 2012. This question was also asked by jenguy.
    • Photo: Nazim Bharmal

      Nazim Bharmal answered on 10 Mar 2012:

      I don’t have a typical day! What I do do everyday is take the train to work, cycle from the station to my office, make a nice mug of tea and check my email. Then sometimes I write some explanations of my work, for other scientists to read, or I might go into the laboratory where I do optical experiments to test new ideas of instruments we build to put on telescopes. And then some days I have to teach experiments to undergraduates.

    • Photo: Adam Stevens

      Adam Stevens answered on 10 Mar 2012:

      I wake up pretty early, mostly because it takes my brain a while to work in the morning.

      I generally check all my e-mails, twitter and RSS feeds while eating my breakfast and then have a shower.

      Most of the time i get into work before 9 (cause then I can leave earlier!) and do my best work in the morning. Normally it’s a case of reading a load of scientific papers, writing reports, doing experiments, ordering. At the moment I’m starting to write up my PhD first year report so lots of writing writing writing.

      I also get to do fun stuff like I’m a Scientist or go on courses or seminars about interesting stuff.

      I seem to collect hobbies… so when I get home from work I typically don’t have a normal evening. Each day of the week is different and I generally don’t have much free time at the weekend either. Madness!

    • Photo: Leila Battison

      Leila Battison answered on 10 Mar 2012:

      I really don’t have a typical day, and being an independent researcher means that I can choose what I want to do, depending on how I feel that day.

      I have always worked better in the afternoon and evening, so I usually get up and sort out my emails and social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc), before cycling across town to work in the late morning.

      If I’m feeling social, or in need of a bit of inspiration, I might go to a lecture, or go and have a coffee with someone from a different group.

      If I’m feeling poor, I can get some extra money for teaching students one-to-one about fossils, or astrobiology, or geology.

      Mostly though, I split my time between collecting data and taking pictures of my fossils using the microscope or the electron microscope, and writing up my findings to be published or to go in my PhD thesis. When I’m collecting data, I have to be in the lab, which is in the basement of the building and I can completely lose track of time, and not leave until after midnight! When I’m writing though, I like to be somewhere more interesting, so I will work in a cafe, or in the library, or in the park, or anywhere!

      After I’ve done enough work/got bored of doing work, I have a huge list of extra-curricular activities. I write articles for magazines and websites and have my own blog. I also do scientific illustrations for books and articles. A couple of nights a week, I lead my team of Morris dancers in practicing and dancing around the county, and have quite a late night!

    • Photo: Catherine Rix

      Catherine Rix answered on 11 Mar 2012:

      I usually leave home about 8.30 and drive to work ready to start about 9. I’ll sit at my desk and have a cup of tea while i plan out my work for the day. Then I go up to the lab to set up my experiments. Most of my experiments involve setting something up, then incubating for an hour, then going back to do something else, so inbetween being in the lab I write up my work, check my emails, talk with my collegues and drink more tea. I might also have some meetings to go to as well. I usualy leave about 5.30 to go home. In the evenings I play netball for a local team, or watch some TV.

    • Photo: Karen Masters

      Karen Masters answered on 13 Mar 2012:

      My days vary quite a lot too. Although general I spend a big portion of each day working on a computer. Also since I had children things got more regular as I have to take them to school/nursery, make sure they get dinner on time and go to bed etc.

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