• Question: If you had children, would you encourage them to become scientists?

    Asked by Katya to Carrie, Ellen, Rupert on 16 Mar 2017.
    • Photo: Carrie Ijichi

      Carrie Ijichi answered on 16 Mar 2017:

      If they found happiness in studying science then I definitely would. If I had kids and they didn’t want to be scientists that would be ok too but I’d really want them to be able to think like a scientist even if it wasn’t their job. That means they would think for themselves and make decisions and have opinions based on evidence instead of prejudice or assumptions. Hopefully they’d have enquiring minds so they asked lots of questions and were fascinated with the world. All these things are great traits, whether you’re a scientist or not!

    • Photo: Rupert Marshall

      Rupert Marshall answered on 16 Mar 2017:

      I would encourage my children to do what they enjoyed (as long as it was legal!). At school I think it is important to have a wide background: some science as well as some art, partly because it is useful to look at things from different angles and partly because it is good to keep your options open.

      Training to be a scientist by studying science at school and university is a very good basis for lots of careers because you learn how to form questions, how to collect and investigate information, how to answer questions, and how to present information clearly in talks and reports. The scientific approach can also help us assess the news, politics, and what is going on in the world – and can help us make decisions when we need to.

      Science is a great career – the best thing to do is to try it out for a few weeks. When you are 16 you could apply for a Nuffield Research Placement – a chance to work with a scientist for a few weeks in the summer. Definitely worth doing, even if you also like the arts and social sciences. You can find more details of this scheme here http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/nuffield-research-placements

    • Photo: Ellen Williams

      Ellen Williams answered on 16 Mar 2017:

      When i was younger I was always encouraged to make my own decisions and to be happy with those decisions. And my parents always supported me – that included supporting me when I announced i was quitting a full time job to go back to university (turned out to be the best decision I ever made!). I would just try and follow in their footsteps and if I had children i would encourage them to do whatever they liked as long as it made them happy. I always wished I was artistic so maybe I need to meet an artistic partner and hope that my children turned out artistic so I could have lots of nice free paintings 🙂

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