Career progression
1. Pharmacology BSc
2. PhD student
3. Governance and Policy (prospective)
Aiden is a PhD student at the centre for cancer research and cell biology, Queen’s University Belfast
What is your career pathway to date (including your education)?
I studied for my undergraduate degree at the University of Aberdeen, graduating with first class honours. I then went straight into a PhD at Queen’s University Belfast in the same year.
What do you do? What does a typical week look like to you?
My work is primarily lab based. I spend a lot of time in cell culture labs, setting up cells for experiments. Typically, this involves growing cells in culture, harvesting them for protein and examining intracellular protein levels. I also regularly work with microscopes, to examine morphological changes in these cells.
What do you like and dislike the most about your current position?
Work in the lab requires a high level of understanding, so I enjoy being able to use information I have gathered previously or found in published literature. I also enjoy using critical thinking to evaluate results generated in the lab. The difficulty with the position is that experiments often fail, and so need to be repeated. This can be repetitious and disheartening as it feels like a waste of time.
How do you see your career further progressing in the future?
In the future, I would like to progress into governance & policy within science, as I think scientists, and not politicians, should be making decisions about science. This position may be within either the private or public sector.
What three pieces of advice would you give someone keen on developing a career in your area of work?
When beginning a PhD, you will be leaving a university where you’re likely one of the most intelligent graduates. You will not be when you begin your PhD, you’re there to learn, not to know.
It’s okay to not know what you’re doing or where you are going, most people don’t.
It’s just as important to close doors on opportunities as it is to open doors, not every opportunity will suit you.