• Question: About how much money have you spent on being a scientist?

    Asked by anon-176392 to Stephen, Simran, Paul, Mark, Jenny, Ali on 13 Jun 2018.
    • Photo: Ali Hill

      Ali Hill answered on 13 Jun 2018:


      Hi D2 eclipse,

      Another good question! A good scientist will spend a lot of money on science, but none of it is theirs! Sometimes people will pay you to do some research for them, and that’s always a good one.

      If you work for a company or university they’ll often pay your travel for you to go to conferences, where you can talk about the research you do, and meet other scientists, who you can hopefully work with in the future.

      Most recently I’ve had a brand new nutrition lab (aka my bat cave) installed at work – it’s got 10 mini kitchens in it, and I use it to teach university students how to be nutritionists, and show athletes how easy it is to cook healthy, suitable foods. Again, not my money, but it’s SO PRETTY! It’s like the inside of the Bake Off tent. But with less Mary Berry.

      I had to take out a student loan when I did my first degree at university to pay for my fees and so I could afford to study, and sometimes I do some qualifications to make me a better sports nutritionist, but I think that’s about it in terms of my own money.

    • Photo: Jenny Shepperson

      Jenny Shepperson answered on 13 Jun 2018:


      I went to University a while ago, when student fees were lower, but I still have a large loan to pay off! But I don’t worry about this, because it just automatically comes out of my pay (only since I’ve started earning enough) – and for me going to Uni was worth it. When I studied for my Masters (after your first undergraduate degree), I studied part time, and online, which meant that I could still work whilst I studied, so I didn’t have any debt from that. Then, when you study for a PhD (which involves researching a topic that noone else has, for about 3.5 years), you actually get paid to do this! So it’s a bit like a mixture being studying and having a job.

    • Photo: Mark Kirkwood

      Mark Kirkwood answered on 15 Jun 2018:


      Luckily, went I went to university, fees were much lower, so I didn’t really spend that much on the whole thing. I also lived at home, which saved money, but drove my mum crazy!

      Once you have a degree, if you do a PhD, that is a paid position.

      As Jen said, don’t worry too much about loans, because you start to pay them off when you are earning more money.

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