• Question: Hi:) How many times a year do you travel regarding your work? What is the best trip you've ever been on? Have these trips advanced your work? :) :) :)

    Asked by robyn to Kate, Kieren, Nicola, Rowena, Roy on 14 Mar 2014.
    • Photo: Rowena Fletcher-Wood

      Rowena Fletcher-Wood answered on 14 Mar 2014:

      My best trip was to Japan! I had an invitation and we had some amazingly hospitable hosts who showed us all round Tokyo. I went by myself and I presented my work and my university so that was a really big deal for my career. Conferences and trips mostly advance your work by making contacts (remember scientists need other scientists!) abd getting us to think our work through as we present it.

      I have also been to Croatia and France. I go to Sheffield a lot where I collaborate and have been to the Diamon Synchrotron near Didcot and European synchrotro in Grenoble. This is pretty cool. I have also visited Chester, London, Keele, Liverpool, Manchester and am visiting Glasgow in April. I guess I travel about once a week on average for a few hours to a week long but it’s definitely not as regular as that.

    • Photo: Kate Nicholson

      Kate Nicholson answered on 14 Mar 2014:

      Usually once or twice a year to conference, the best ones were last summer in Ljubljana where I learned about who else is doing work using Raman on art and historical objects, and went out on some excellent tours and made some new friends along the way. The other fantastic one was when I was doing my PhD and it was my first presentation to people who specialise in crystal growing – it was also on it’s own mountain in Tuscany and once again some excellent food, tours and making new friends in a new research area.
      Making friends is important because these can be the people that examine your PhD and decide if your papers will get published. If they don’t think you’re good enough then your career can suffer. If they like your work they will tell their friends who might then ask for your help which sets off a whole new project.

    • Photo: Nicola Rogers

      Nicola Rogers answered on 14 Mar 2014:

      I usually go to one international conference a year – last year I went to Boston for a week to give a talk and to present a poster – which was a good trip. A couple of years ago I went to a conference in Strasbourg, and when I was doing my masters research I was working in Switzerland at a Synchrotron – so I have to go stay in Switzerland for 3 weeks at a time, three times in one year! It’s always hard work but good fun, and you get to meet lots of international scientists.

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