• Question: How long have you had to study (how many years of education have you done) to get into your current field of research?

    Asked by ✔Harvey M✔ to Anne, Arthur, Rose, Ruhina, Thomas on 15 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Ruhina Miller

      Ruhina Miller answered on 15 Jun 2015:

      After my A-levels I needed 4 years at university for my degree before moving onto a PhD (I spent time in industry inbetween but this isn’t a requirement)

    • Photo: Rose Simnett

      Rose Simnett answered on 15 Jun 2015:

      After doing my GCSE’s (2 years) I then did my A levels (2 years) and then a masters degree at Newcastle University (4 years). I am now in the 3rd year of my PhD and so in total I have been studying for 11 years.

    • Photo: Anne Canning

      Anne Canning answered on 15 Jun 2015:

      I studied Chemistry and Biology at A-Level (2 years), then obtained a Masters of Chemistry at university (4 years), I’m now in my second year of my PhD, so so far 8 years! (it will be 10 by the time I’m finished).

    • Photo: Thomas Farrugia

      Thomas Farrugia answered on 21 Jun 2015:

      Like Ruhina, Rose and Anne I studied Bio and Chem at GCSE and A Level, so that’s around 4 years, and then took 3 years doing Chemistry at Undergraduate level at University, then a 1 year Masters by research, and then started my PhD. So in total that’s around 8 years, but I think I could have gotten into my current field with 7 since my masters was on a topic different to what I am currently working on.

      You could probably remove GCSES too – it would be possible to get into Chemistry straight via A Level, with some background reading, so you can probably shorten that time further.

      The fun thing about PhDs is that it is possible to easily jump across into new disciplines within your field, and you can jump around even more after finishing it – some new members of our group come from biochemistry or physics backgrounds – it’s their first time doing actual chemistry! As long as you’ve got a good grounding in science and have the will to learn and push yourself you can do this quite regularly!

    • Photo: Arthur Wilkinson

      Arthur Wilkinson answered on 23 Jun 2015:

      I did day-release from work for 4 years doing BTEC in Polymer technology, 3 years at University (BSc in Polymer Science and Technology) and 4 years doing a PhD giving a total of 11 years. You also have to worked in a relevant area after your PhD before you can get a University Lectureship (I worked in industrial research for 2 years after my PhD).

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