• Question: what is your life like regularly?

    Asked by anon-220353 to David, Shonna, Patrick, James, Deepak, Ambre, Alex on 11 Jun 2019.
    • Photo: James Streetley

      James Streetley answered on 11 Jun 2019:

      I work fairly regular hours, Mon-Fri, roughly 9:30 – 6pm, but I’m not too worried about the exact timings as my job is pretty flexible and I often stay a little later to finish sending emails and other things in front of my computer. I spend most of my working day in front of the microscope, talking with other scientists so catching up with desk work often happens when they have left.

      Outside of work, my hobbies are triathlon and scuba diving so these keep me occupied in the evenings and weekends. Scotland has beautiful countryside a short drive (or cycle) from the city centre, so it’s a great place to have outdoor hobbies.

      Does that answer your question, @potatochild?

    • Photo: David Wilson

      David Wilson answered on 11 Jun 2019:

      pretty normal really, I roughly work from 8:30am-4pm. Sometimes due to experiments I can be busier and I might have to come in earlier or work later and very occasionally I might need to pop in at a weekend. Its good having a flexible job because if I’m not busy or have to get a haircut or want to go for a run during the day I can sometimes finish earlier or do this during the day.
      My normal day isn’t that normal, in fact there isn’t really a normal. I make a todo list at the beginning of the week that will have some experiments, some data analysis, meetings, seminars and time for writing (practising writing about science is a really good skill to learn). Then I fit all these into my calendar.
      In my spare time, evenings and weekends, I spend lot of time with my wife and little boy who’s almost two. If I can make any time for myself I’ll go mountain biking or running in the Pentland Hills which are just outside Edinburgh on my doorstep.

    • Photo: Shonna Johnston

      Shonna Johnston answered on 11 Jun 2019:

      I like to think I have a pretty good work-life balance. My job is fairly flexible and I work different hours each day. In a facility, we support the research and that sometimes mean staying later for patient samples – I work the late shift on Mondays and Wednesdays – generally this means a 6/6.30pm finish but sometimes later if needed. I only work one weekend a year which is when the flow cytometry conference is on. I can’t complain as its usually somewhere interesting – this year its in Vancouver and I’ll be flying out there during this event.
      My evenings are often taken up with helping the kids with their homework or taking them to activities. As they are getting older, I have started some of my own activities – hockey and painting. At weekends, we enjoy going to the cinema and have all been enjoying the latest Marvel films or we catch up with friends and family.

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