• Question: how did you get involved with i'm a scientist get me out of here? What made you do it ?

    Asked by Sophie-May-0615 to Alison, Hannah, Jonny, MarthaNari, Paul on 23 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Jonny Brooks-Bartlett

      Jonny Brooks-Bartlett answered on 23 Jun 2015:

      I was asked to do it quite a long time ago (before Christmas). My supervisor, Elspeth Garman (you can Google her, she’s cool) asked me. I originally said no.
      I like communicating science but I’m more experienced doing presentations, and my written comunication not great. I write like I speak so it doesn’t make for great science articles.

      Then I thought that actually it would be a good experience and I didn’t have to write perfectly, as long as people understood me.
      I don’t usually get to engage with so many school children at any one time so I thought this was a great opportunity to continue doing science outreach, and improve my written communication.
      I saw this round advertised on Twitter and thought I would go for it.

      If I win, I will use the money to do more hands on public engagement too.

    • Photo: Alison Whitaker

      Alison Whitaker answered on 24 Jun 2015:

      I saw a post on Twitter and it looked interesting. I like science engagement projects because they are usually pretty fun to do, and this one is no exception 🙂

    • Photo: Paul Brack

      Paul Brack answered on 24 Jun 2015:

      I had never met a scientist before I went to University to study Chemistry, so I had no idea what scientists did or what they were like. I like doing stuff like I’m a scientist get me out of here so I can give people who are like I was, who don’t any scientists, a better idea of what science and scientists are all about.

      And well, it’s a lot of fun!

    • Photo: Martha Havenith

      Martha Havenith answered on 24 Jun 2015:

      I saw a notice in a newsletter for british researchers, and I thought it was a great way to get young people involved with science. Like Paul, I never really got any idea of what science was like as a job when I was at school. And because my family are mostly artists, I didn’t even think of science as a job. I would have loved to get a glimpse of it earlier than I did.
      I also feel that science at school can drive people away when it shouldn’t. Science at school can be a lot about having the right answers – but when you are actually doing science, most of the time you deal with questions rather than answers. So it’s a lot more adventurous than it can seem, and it’s actually a great approach to life in general, even if you don’t do it as a job.
      Those are the reasons I entered, but it has also just turned out to be loads of fun for me, and made me rethink bits of my science as well. So everyone wins! 🙂

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