• Question: what do researcher sientists do

    Asked by anon-220940 on 18 Jun 2019.
    • Photo: Marianne King

      Marianne King answered on 18 Jun 2019:

      Research scientists are often trying to come up with an answer to a question or problem, using science to achieve this. For example I want to find out what a type of brain cell called astrocytes are doing in a disease called Rett Syndrome. To do this, I have to grow astrocytes from patients with Rett Syndrome and then do experiments on them to find out what they might be doing differently to normal astrocytes. There are so many research scientists doing all sorts of different things, it’s a really varied and exciting thing to be!

    • Photo: Nina Rzechorzek

      Nina Rzechorzek answered on 18 Jun 2019:

      Marianne has it in a nutshell – a research scientist typically designs experiments, and collects and analyses data to answer a question or solve a problem (these things can overlap!). ‘Experiments’ and ‘data’ are very broad terms – data collection could be from cells in a lab, or from survey responses from human volunteers, or from machines that measure the structure of molecules or how many earthquakes there are in a given time. There are endless career opportunities in research; you could work for government laboratories, environmental organisations, specialist research organisations or universities in pretty much any field. So think about the things you are most interested in, and I can guarantee there will be research going on in this topic somewhere in the world. When I was at school my mind would often wander and ‘day dream’ (there are research scientists looking at dreams); whilst I was daydreaming I might be staring out of the window (there are research scientists working on glass and other materials); if my teacher caught me they would try to attract my attention (there is plenty of research going on into education and how to improve it). Take your pick and keep asking questions!

    • Photo: David Wilson

      David Wilson answered on 18 Jun 2019:

      Marianne and Nina have given some great answers.
      Another thing Research Scientists do is work together and collaborate with each other. Sometimes we don’t have a skills, tools, facilities or experience to do an experiment we want to. That’s when we ask for help; someone in the room next door, the lab on the floor below, another city in the UK or somewhere else in the world entirely. We love helping each other to get the work done, I find it a really supportive job for this reason.

    • Photo: Kaitlin Wade

      Kaitlin Wade answered on 18 Jun 2019:

      These are all great answers already. What researchers do it is essentially test hypotheses to answer a particular question of interest – what causes cancer? how can we prevent type 2 diabetes? how do we control for inequality in the population? These are all massive questions and require is to collaborate with other research, potentially those that do similar research but with different methods. For example, epidemiologists (like me!) and lab-based scientists.

    • Photo: Ettie Unwin

      Ettie Unwin answered on 19 Jun 2019:

      Research scientists vary greatly depending on what area of science they work in. In addition to what has been said previously, in the more physical sciences, like engineering, you might make something e.g. a robot and try and teach it things or build a structure and see how it would fail in an earthquake.

    • Photo: Matthew Bareford

      Matthew Bareford answered on 20 Jun 2019:

      Marianne has explained it pretty much perfectly along with all the others.

      Another thing researchers do is to engage with the public, like with you guys here. We work to help show the public what is currently being researched and how it can benefit them in some way. We also help to shape future government policy in healthcare, environment, engineering, etc. through our discoveries and advice.

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