• Question: do you think there is pressure on you as a scientist to discover new things?

    Asked by anon-224648 to Simon, Selen, Paul, Nawapat, Natalie, Katy on 14 Nov 2019.
    • Photo: Natalie Fowler

      Natalie Fowler answered on 14 Nov 2019:


      I really like this question, you’ve really thought about the science setting. I think maybe scientists in the labs may feel more pressure for this than me, I don’t really do any discovering. The pressure on me is to treat patients as best as I can; considering finance, resources and time. I think members if the public who might not know about all the different types of scientists might expect us to be discovering new things all the time because this is what is shown in movies.

    • Photo: Simon Brown

      Simon Brown answered on 14 Nov 2019:


      Good question. I think if you are in research, then yes. But there are many roles within science. As a technician, no.

    • Photo: Paul Laurance-Young

      Paul Laurance-Young answered on 14 Nov 2019:


      I agree with everything Natalie and Simon have said

    • Photo: Nawapat Kaweeyanun

      Nawapat Kaweeyanun answered on 17 Nov 2019:


      Although I have not experienced this myself, I would say yes. Research scientists need to ask the government for money to do their work. The problem is that other scientists are also asking for the same money. So we have a contest where scientists try to make their research the most interesting, and this means discovering new things. Also, research scientists gain prestige from discoveries, and this leads to better jobs/income. The reason I have not experienced these things is because I am a student. Once I become a professional, I would have to face this pressure.

    • Photo: Katy Bruce

      Katy Bruce answered on 18 Nov 2019:


      Personally, yes, but generally as a scientist, no. The reason I have a lot of pressure on me to discover new things is because it is a fundamental requirement of gaining a PhD, so if I don’t discover something new, I can’t write my thesis and I can’t graduate! Having said that, a “discovery” can have many guises and doesn’t need to be Nobel prize winning stuff. It also doesn’t have to be a positive discovery either. By that I mean, it could be that you “discover” that a technique doesn’t work or something doesn’t exist. Research is all about finding answers, understanding the world around us better and then, perhaps most importantly, communicating this to the rest of the scientific community and ultimately the public. It is important to share scientific results, even when these are negative as it saves other scientists a lot of time and effort trying to replicate experiments which aren’t going to work!

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