Thursday, March 29, 2007

In The Beginning



My first blog! ‘where have you been hiding for the last few years’ I hear you all cry! Well, the simple answer to that is in PhD land! But, now that I am free from the jailer that is higher education I can once again re-join the human race. Well, in theory anyway!

So, why am I the accidental scientist? It all started in a failed attempt to get into medical school. Initially the plan was to do a medical degree after my science degree, but after three years the last thing I wanted to do was to go back to all those lectures, exams and course work. So, naturally I started doing a PhD!! Ok, so I admit the lure of the title of ‘Dr’ was too tempting to resist and three years of a PhD versus seven of a medical degree made a lot more sense to achieve said title. How wrong can one naive B.Sc. be??

Five years, 600 PCRs and one publication later, I finally graduated. So, with my degree under my arm and full of the optimism and excitement of embarking on a scientific career I started my first post doc. Like most people in the UK, I was fed up with the weather and so in a moment of inspiration, or madness (delete as appropriate) I accepted a post doc position in Greece. I’m 19 months into my contract at the moment, but I won’t bore you with the last year, past events will probably creep in along the way anyway.

Will I survive academia, or be tempted away to the dark side (AKA industry)? Has Greece captured me forever, or will I eventually succumb to the safe, conventional route that is going back home? Who knows, only time (and this blog) will tell!!

1 comment:

Su said...

Ophelia,
Welcome to the land of the living. I finished my doctorate in 1994 (started in 1989). I swear I cannot recall any world events that occurred while I was completing my degree. At graduation, a friend gave me a t-shirt that said "Free at Last!"

I was in higher education administration when I started my program (in Higher Education Policy and Leadership), and returned to administration for about a decade. In the last 15 months, however, I have been working in the corporate world and I really like it. Much different from academe, and yet, for me, also much more collegial (believe it or not). So don't rule the corporate side out at this point.

Best of luck to you with your blog. Check mine out, if you like (www.refractedhighered.com). Cheers!

Su