• Question: What do you do in work on a typical day?

    Asked by LunaB on 14 Mar 2023. This question was also asked by anon-352437.
    • Photo: Lucien Heurtier

      Lucien Heurtier answered on 14 Mar 2023:

      Well, there is no day which looks like another because as a researcher you can be very autonomous and choose what you want to do each day.

      Usually in the morning I arrive around 8h30 and grab a coffee at the cafeteria of my university and I work from there on my computer for a couple of hours. I read the new scientific papers that appeared that morning (there are new papers every day!). Then I have a few meetings, or I do some calculations I need to do.

      I have lunch around 12h30 with my colleagues, and we usually have a nice coffee chat after (it’s nice to not talk only about science!).

      In the afternoon I usually have meetings, or attend some seminars. Sometimes I would spend hour with some colleagues about what great new theory we could invent, which is a lot of fun.

      Sometimes I also need to write an article to present the findings of my research to the world, or to prepare some presentation if I am going to a conference soon.

      Sometimes I need to program a new simulation and use the super computer of the university to obtain results about my theories.

      I usually end up working around 6pm, and go home. In the evening I try to not work and instead enjoy a good time with my family or friends. But sometimes I dream about physics because is my passion!

      I hope that gives you a good idea of what my day looks like. Feel free to ask more!

      Lucien

    • Photo: Barak Gilboa

      Barak Gilboa answered on 14 Mar 2023:

      In my job as an imaging expert I work with biologists to use images of human cells that were stained with special fluorescent colours. The cells are given different treatments which can affect both the intensity of the stains as well as their shape and texture. my job involves helping the biologists get the best images of their cells from the microscope, as well as analyse their images in order to quantify the differences between the different treatments. So some of my day goes into meetings to plan for experiments or discuss results, as well as taking images in the microscope and doing the relevant analysis.

    • Photo: Vicky Fawcett

      Vicky Fawcett answered on 15 Mar 2023:

      My day typically consists of coding – taking data from telescopes, using code to plot nice graphs and using them to try and answer a question or test an experiment.
      If I find cool results I also write them up in a paper so that other astronomers can read about it, and also present my work at conferences to tell other scientists about it.

      I sometimes get to visit telescopes which is really exciting – I was recently in India visiting some radio telescopes!

    • Photo: Christian Killow

      Christian Killow answered on 15 Mar 2023:

      Hi,

      My days vary but in general I’ll spend around half my time at my computer and half doing hands-on tasks.

      If I’m at my computer I’m sending emails, writing reports, or working on technical aspects of the projects I work on.

      My hands on work consists of investigating new technologies that might be of interest for our products, building demonstration products, or helping find problems in the Assembly department when they are building products.

      Sometimes I go out to meetings either in the UK or abroad, or I go on trials to test some new hardware.

      I hope that gives you a flavour 🙂

      Regards,
      Christian.

    • Photo: Fergus McKiddie

      Fergus McKiddie answered on 15 Mar 2023:

      My typical day involves starting by checking the prepared radioactive tracer injections for each patient to make sure they are correct and within the safe legal limits. I then check all the images taken of the patients and ask for extra ones and possibly CT images as well if needed. I then write a report on each patient which describes what is visible in the images and what that means. I also teach postgraduate students and supervise PhD students and am responsible for the local training of trainees on the national training scheme. I am also involved in a lot of cancer drug trials, especially on the imaging side of things.

    • Photo: Stuart Clare

      Stuart Clare answered on 17 Mar 2023:

      There is a bit about this in my profile:

      A typical day will be a mix of meetings with the staff or students I supervise, meetings with other medical researchers about the things that they want to do on the MRI scanner, and time spent at the computer looking at images or other data.

Comments

  • Photo: Bernice

    Bernice commented on :

    My day starts with a gym session, then I head back home to start work about 8:30, I was working at home long before home working became a thing! I look at emails and answer student questions and problems, then I do my projects, this may be writing or reviewing course content, exam questions or essay questions. I will usually have a chat or Zoom call with one or more of the industry experts I work with, then finish around 6.