• Question: How many years have you been carrying out your research?

    Asked by Einstein to Richard, Lesley, Laura, Alex, vediacan on 13 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Richard Prince

      Richard Prince answered on 13 Jun 2015:

      Hi Einstein!
      I’ve been doing research for 26 years. Seems like a lifetime! University lecturers and research managers in industry (e.g. Alex) usually start off by doing a Ph.D. (Laura and Vedia are in the process of doing that at the moment). That is three years of research on one topic and you have to write a thick report at the end called a thesis. If you complete that you get to call yourself “Dr.”. If you want to stay in research after that you do what are called “postdoctoral research” positions. They are usually on short contracts (3 years) and you work in the lab of an expert in the field but are much more independent than a Ph.D. student. You can do them in universities or in industry. I did two of those – one for two years and one for four years. After that, you might be able to apply for a job in a university or in the pharmaceutical industry to run your own research programme.
      All the best
      Richard

    • Photo: Lesley Pearson

      Lesley Pearson answered on 15 Jun 2015:

      I have been working in Drug Discovery for almost 10 years. I spent the first 7 years working for what is called a ‘Contract Research Organisation’, which is a company that does some of the experiments on behalf of another group or company. And now I work for the Drug Discovery Unit, working on a number of different types of projects.

    • Photo: Laura Newton

      Laura Newton answered on 15 Jun 2015:

      Hey!

      I worked for two years as a junior researcher after the end of my degree and now I’m in the second year of my PhD so after that I can become a senior researcher!

      Thanks for your question!
      Laura

    • Photo: Vedia Can

      Vedia Can answered on 15 Jun 2015:

      Hi Einstein,

      Almost 6 years in total now (this includes the time I started my project work during my Undergraduate degree to my current status) in the field of Pharmacology. But I have only been able to test my hypothesis regarding my recent research on Osteoarthritis for the past 2 years.

      Best Wishes,

      Vedia

    • Photo: Alex Agyemang

      Alex Agyemang answered on 16 Jun 2015:

      Hello Einstein,

      I have been doing research in drug discovery and clinical pharmacology for about the past 17 years all with the pharmaceutical industry. Richard has given a detailed summary below so I will avoid repeating.

      Best wishes,
      Alex

Comments