• Question: How do you balance between your normal life and your scientist life? it must be hard.

    Asked by Best Mates to Dan, Jennifer, Luke, Martin, sakshisharda on 16 Mar 2018. This question was also asked by Unicorn.
    • Photo: Jennifer Paxton

      Jennifer Paxton answered on 16 Mar 2018:

      Super question, thank you! It is hard, yes. Science can sometimes be all-comsuing and do you have to work very hard. But usually if you work in science you really, really enjoy what you do and so you actually enjoy the challenges of work. It is important to stay grounded though, and having supportive family and friends to relax and have fun with is very important to me. I always try to have at least one full day off a week and i find that helps to relax me and refocus me too. I always try to take holidays too as it can be very useful to step away from all the thinking!!

    • Photo: Luke Williams

      Luke Williams answered on 16 Mar 2018:

      In academia, so working in a university, there is a huge issue about balancing work and life. I think this is now getting more and more known as a big problem, though I am not sure that the problem has been solved yet.

      I no longer work at a university, I work for the government, and there is a much better work life balance there fortunately. I still feel for those in research, as I am still very heavily involved, and I hope that the balance issue is sorted soon.

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