• Question: Would you say that it is possible to become a respected scientist without the funds for university or higher science education?

    Asked by 962curm44 to Daniel, Fiona, Hazel, Jacque, K, Matthew on 14 Mar 2018.
    • Photo: K Sasitharan

      K Sasitharan answered on 14 Mar 2018:

      To become a respectable scientist, we must be able to contribute to the area /topic of our research significantly. That requires years of hardworking in testing our hypothesis and running experiments, all of which requires equipments, chemicals (being a chemistry researcher) and resources. None of this can be complete or even possible without funds. Research is impossible without funds. It is great that the research councils, Industries, scholarship committees etc are showing a lot of interest in supporting people with funds to pursue research and become great scientists.

    • Photo: Hazel Gibson

      Hazel Gibson answered on 14 Mar 2018:

      Absolutely! Especially if you are talking about you as an individual not having the funds because there are loads of options to win funding or resources to help you study if you want/need them. Additionally you can do science without actually working as a scientist. The UK is a country filled with hundreds of so called ‘amateur’ scientists or ‘citizen scientists’. These are people who don’t work in science per se, but enjoy discovering things about the world and just go out and do it! There are so many organizations to help you do this in subjects ranging from astronomy (check out the Federation of Astronomical Societies to find your nearest group) to earthworms (yes, you can join the Earthworm Society of Britain if you have a passion for earthworms…). The only thing you need to become a scientist is a healthy curiosity and to start asking questions about the world. And yes to become an internationally respected scientist professionally is expensive, but you don’t have to have that money yourself, just a whole lot of drive and determination.

    • Photo: Fiona Macfarlane

      Fiona Macfarlane answered on 14 Mar 2018:

      Funds are needed to do research, but this doesn’t mean you need to pay it. Lots of places will award people funding if they have a good project idea. So as long as you are enthusiastic and have good ideas in research you do not need to be rich to do well.

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