• Question: What are some things you are passionate about that have influenced/ do influence your career choices?

    Asked by anon-258146 to Evelyn on 15 Jul 2020.
    • Photo: Evelyn Greeves

      Evelyn Greeves answered on 15 Jul 2020:

      Hi Daisy, great question! My main reason for choosing to be a science communicator, rather than a research scientist, is that I get really excited about lots of different areas in science, and I can’t pick just one to research 😛 I love talking about science, it always gets me excited, so doing it for my job is like a dream come true! I also think it’s really important for “normal people” to find out about and get excited by science, because science has such a huge impact on all our lives. Science is how we can make a material impact on society for the better, whether that be finding clean energy sources, curing new diseases or just discovering more about how the world works.

      It really frustrates me that lots of scientists are quite bad at explaining what they do, and don’t understand how to engage a non-science audience with their work. I hope that through my career I can help scientists get better at this, and show them how to do it well.

      In terms of material things that impacted my career choices, I have always loved reading and writing. I used to (and still do!) read a lot of popular science books and magazines, such as the New Scientist and Scientific American. I also started listening to the podcast Radiolab when I was a young teenager and it very strongly influenced me. It introduced me to brand new science, particularly biology, that I was just wowed by. It’s a big reason why I chose to study biology at university. Radiolab also showed me just how impressive science communication can be if it is done properly. I’d highly recommend you check them out!

Comments

  • Photo: Freya

    Freya commented on :

    Great question. I think sometimes in school and in life, you think, oh I have chosen this path and now that is it and I can’t even try something else. However, this is not the case. I did my undergraduate degree in Astrophysics and in my 2nd summer, I did an internship with the UK’S Atmospheric Research Aircraft (FAAM). I got to take equipment of the plane and fiddle with it, it was amazing, as well as learning other skills. So applying for postgraduate courses, I made the jump to atmospheric science. I started out by studying weather and now I am also looking at insects because I got interested in this Biodar project looking at insects with our radar. People and projects have definitely influenced my career and I am excited to see where the next steps lead!