• Question: How much has your job affected other aspects of your life?

    Asked by anon-214690 to Helen, Farah, Dave, Cheryl, Bastian, Alun on 13 Jun 2019.
    • Photo: Cheryl Williams

      Cheryl Williams answered on 13 Jun 2019:


      My job requires me to work some weekends and late shifts, so my social life can suffer at times! I work full-time and have a daughter at school so sometimes I do have to miss some school events, although I do try to make some. That can be said of any job though. The upside is I do get time off during the week so I can go shopping when the shops are quieter! I have also become a bit of a germ-phobe outside of work, and I can be quite picky about the food that I eat, either at restaurants or take-aways, as I have been involved in diagnosing cases of food poisoning and am quite informed about where the source of the poisoning may have come from. And I am very paranoid about undercooked meat!!

    • Photo: Dave Underhill

      Dave Underhill answered on 13 Jun 2019:


      well, i am presently just doing a 9-5 job that brings in a paycheck – so that doesn’t really (beyond the occasional weekend needed etc which is pretty standard) – however, my research effects my life a lot – I am trying to keep up with it after I have put the kids to bed and walked the dog – I don’t get much of a social life – but that is more to do with not being able to leave the house once the kids are in bed. I still go out occasionally and until very recently played in a gigging band so it is perfectly possible to find the balance between work and life – but not work, life, research, and kids 😀

    • Photo: Farah Elahi

      Farah Elahi answered on 13 Jun 2019:


      It does affect our lives quite a lot – being a researcher at a university means that you are more flexible with your time. So you don’t have to be in the office right at 9pm. So if some people need to leave early or want to come in late and work through the evening they can (this isn’t always the case for all researchers, but generally there is this type of culture). So that’s great. However sometimes if you’re working through a real intense period of research, it can take over your life. So you may be in the office/lab for longer hours than you’d like, and your social life can suffer. The key thing is to balance and to make sure you have dedicated hours where you won’t do work and you’ll socialise, spend time with your family etc. I always make sure to socialise with friends who aren’t doing PhDs – its nice to not talk about PhD work with others!

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