• Question: Does your work ever get boring?

    Asked by dom1234 to Duncan, Grant, Julie, Nik, Rachel on 12 Mar 2013.
    • Photo: Rachel Edwards-Stuart

      Rachel Edwards-Stuart answered on 12 Mar 2013:

      The good thing about being a scientist is that everyday is different. Since you never know what the result might be from an experiment, you never know what you will need to do next. I would hate to have a predictable job. And sometimes you get really strange unexpected projects, liked when I helped some friends stabilise a 6-tonne chocolate waterfall, or when I was asked to recreate Willi Wonka’s gobstopper where the flavour changes from tomato soup to roast chicken to blueberry pie.

    • Photo: Grant Campbell

      Grant Campbell answered on 12 Mar 2013:

      Probably the most boring thing I do is marking exams – but it’s also one of the most important things I do, as the decisions I make about what marks to give affect my students’ lives and careers.

    • Photo: Duncan Gaskin

      Duncan Gaskin answered on 14 Mar 2013:

      Yes sometimes it does. If you have set a lot of the same things up or do the same process over and over again it can be a bit boring. Also I find some of the paperwork I have to do a little tedious…..

      But the other bits of the job, the variety and challenges vastly outweigh the dull bits and make my work the fun it is.

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