• Question: What is your favorite aspect of your research?

    Asked by shauno grouts to Shuo, Neil, Martin, Leonie, Lauren, Ciorsdaidh, Alan on 5 Mar 2018. This question was also asked by Coco.
    • Photo: Lauren Webster

      Lauren Webster answered on 5 Mar 2018:

      My favourite bit is doing something that no one has tried or succeeded to do before. This can be from the everyday experiments I do or this can be related to something bigger like the diseases I work on. Science is forever changing and its nice to be part of the change!

    • Photo: Ciorsdaidh Watts

      Ciorsdaidh Watts answered on 5 Mar 2018:

      I love making new molecules that have never been synthesised before (as far as we know). That’s pretty creative on the micro-level I think 🙂

    • Photo: Neil Keddie

      Neil Keddie answered on 5 Mar 2018:

      I love the challenge of making molecules that are really difficult to make and that no one else has managed to make before. Sometimes this takes a lot of time (and frustration!) but the reward when you manage to make it can be amazing (I got my world-record molecule on the front cover of a top chemistry journal 2 years ago – definitely a career highlight for me). Everything we make in the lab is directed at solving problems at a chemical level – at the moment I’m trying to make a new group that can be put in biologically active molecules to improve their properties.

    • Photo: Martin McCoustra

      Martin McCoustra answered on 5 Mar 2018:

      Being able to work on a “big question” such as where do molecules come from in space and what roles do they play!

      I’d also add that I enjoy training new scientists and seeing them succeed. That’s an important part of doing science!

    • Photo: Alan McCue

      Alan McCue answered on 5 Mar 2018:

      It has to be the experiments. Before each one, I predict what is going to happen based on what I know. Sometimes my guess is right which is excellent but the most exciting times are when my guess is wrong. When that happens I learn new things which is excellent!!

    • Photo: Shuo Zhang

      Shuo Zhang answered on 5 Mar 2018:

      I enjoy the moments when checking molecule structure of my recent synthesized chemical. It is like looking up scores for math exams. Very exciting, isn’t it? Whether it’s correct or not, I have taken a giant step forward.

    • Photo: Leonie Bole

      Leonie Bole answered on 5 Mar 2018:

      I love the challenge! To me, there is nothing more exciting than diving head first into a project, learning as much as you can about it and trying new experiments. Research can be very demanding and frustrating at times, but as the old saying goes…hard work always pays off!

      The great thing about science is that you get to meet your heroes. I am extremely lucky to have excellent supervisors whom I greatly admire – they are my role models! Getting the opportunity to go to conferences means that you get to listen to and talk to some of the world’s greatest scientists whose research you have followed closely for years. I think this is definitely the coolest part about being a researcher.

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