• Question: Do you have a full time job as a scientist and work from early in the morning till late at night and what do you do in those hours?

    Asked by danjerous to David, Helen, Ian, rhysphillips, Sarah on 22 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Helen Fletcher

      Helen Fletcher answered on 21 Jun 2011:

      My science job has been very flexible. I’ve had some weeks/months where I have worked late nights and weekends and done a few experiments up to 4AM. This has been to meet a deadline for a grant, paper, conference. I’ve also had times when I’m waiting for something I’ve ordered, an experiment hasn’t worked as expected or I’m just having a break to read and think. On these days I can work from home, take the afternoon off, have a 3 hour lunch break, come in at 11am etc etc. As long as the work gets done no one minds!! I love the flexibility and on balance think I spend more time working because I feel free to structure my work time myself. At the moment I’m working pretty much 9-5 to fit with nursery hours because of the baby but when she’s older will start to work with more flexibility again.

    • Photo: David Corne

      David Corne answered on 21 Jun 2011:

      My full-time job combines both research and teaching, also with some management responsibilities. Research all year round, teaching becomes about 30% of the job between October and April. It is not a 9–5 job, so sometimes I arrive at work 0800, and sometimes at 1130, and sometimes I just stay at home. On some days I’ll just visit the zoo in the afternoon, and on other days I’ll be writing a scientific paper at midnight.

    • Photo: Rhys Phillips

      Rhys Phillips answered on 22 Jun 2011:

      I usually work from about 8 or 8:30am til about 5:30pm and leave early on a Friday. However this varies – my hours can be flexible so if I need to leave early for something I can do. Yesterday I presented the Radio Cardiff Breakfast Show 7-9am so didn’t get into work til 9:30am which is also fine. Sometimes the hours will be longer so I can travel to a lab or meeting elsewhere.

    • Photo: Ian van der Linde

      Ian van der Linde answered on 22 Jun 2011:

      I work very variable hours, and like the other two scientists who work at Universities, I make my own schedule depending on what I’m doing (writing, conducting experiments, etc) – the only restriction is that I must make sure I am there for teaching, which is about 10 hours per week on average during term time.

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