• Question: Do you ever get hoildays or are you always working

    Asked by Ross0123 to Arthur, Clare, Daniel, David, Tora on 11 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Clare Harding

      Clare Harding answered on 11 Nov 2014:

      So its up to you. My friend has just booked a 5 week holiday to Australia so we definitely can get holidays!

      The work I do involves lots of looking after cells and parasites and no one has ever told them about weekends so sometimes I need to come in to look after them. But the good thing is if I finish all of my work I can go home whenever I want.

      Also, we get to travel with science, this year ive been to Germany and Switzerland, and you can take holidays then and get free flights 🙂

    • Photo: Arthur Dyer

      Arthur Dyer answered on 11 Nov 2014:

      Yep, much like Clare I work with cells and viruses which seem to me to always need feeding at the weekends or when I want a day off!

      We can take time off just like anyone else but it’s often quite hard to find a point to stop your experiments so that you can start again in a week or two and not be massively behind.

      You do get to travel to conferences though (which are normally in pretty places abroad and you sit and listen to other scientists from all round the world) if you count that as a holiday.

    • Photo: Daniel Parsons

      Daniel Parsons answered on 11 Nov 2014:

      Hi there,
      If I am honest, I did not take many holidays for many years – but I did lots of fieldwork in the USA and South America during this time – and I also did not have a family! Now, I have a wife and two children and they make sure that we go on holiday! We went to France last year and I learned how to body board on the beach, which was great fun!
      I do have to admit to looking at the sand and the mud on the beach and the patterns that have been made by the waves – a bit geeky hey – so even on Holiday I am still thinking as a scientist! I guess its like a film star going to the cinema on holiday!

    • Photo: Tora Smulders-Srinivasan

      Tora Smulders-Srinivasan answered on 12 Nov 2014:

      I do go on holidays with my family — about 2 holidays a year that are about 2 weeks long, usually. We go visit my parents and my husband’s parents on those.

      I do work a lot at night and on weekends because there’s always so much to be done! But I enjoy it…

      I’ve been trying to answer more questions from you guys at nights too, like right now! Busy in the lab all day! 🙂

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