Alice Young (United Kingdom)
| My name is Alice Young and I'm doing my PhD at EMBL in Heidelberg! |  |
I sometimes wonder how I ever got into Science. At school I was interested in so many different subjects, and could quite happily have taken up a career in any one of them, so what made me decide to study Natural Sciences at university?
I believe I have always had an inquisitive mind. In everything I do I want to know how, why, what if... I enjoy learning and finding out new things, and find it immensely satisfying when I am able to piece things together in my mind like a jigsaw puzzle. Studying science enabled me to develop these skills and put them to practical use.
My course at university was very broad; in the first year I was able to combine studying mathematics, chemistry and several different areas of biology. As I progressed through the course, I could pick more specialised areas to study, and in effect, tailor the course to my own interests, as well as trying out areas that were completely new to me.
With hindsight now, it is perhaps no surprise that I ended up specialising in biology. I have always been interested in, and have great respect for living things. The only professions I ever seriously considered pursuing involved working with living beings. medicine, veterinary science... but it was only later that I realised that what really appealed to me about these careers was understanding the underlying science.
At that point it became clear though that by staying in basic academic research I would be able to pursue the areas that interested me most within science, without being hindered by the mundane duties and responsibilities that more applied professions might impose. And that's what I love about my work - the great freedom to pursue your own interests and develop your work accordingly. Of course there are practical limitations to consider, but enthusiasm and novel ideas are highly valued and you are encouraged to keep enquiring, thinking, testing, extending, challenging...
However, scientific work isn't just about focusing on your own work. The scientific field is a highly active, dynamic network in which there are many collaborations between people from different labs, different institutes, different countries, different specialities... and communication is extremely important. Most major scientific discoveries are founded on work carried out by many different people working together or separately, which is then fitted together to give an overall understanding, but each contribution is important.
It's true that scientists are often very focused, highly motivated people, but thinking, talking and doing science isn't all that they do. All the scientists I work with have keen outside interests, which they pursue fanatically, whatever they may be: music, sport, culture... and often quite obscure or extreme hobbies. "Work hard and play hard," and "Don't miss an opportunity when one arises," are two mottos that I believe certainly apply when working in scientific research, as indeed in all walks of life.