Question: Have you ever considered becoming more united with the environment, e.g. becoming a wildlife biologist, botanist or zoologist

Emma Thorpe answered on 9 Mar 2026:

Great question. You will hopefully find that science jobs and educations can be very interchangeable. I studied chemistry and university, and people also on my course went onto be patent lawyers, finance, work in academia, nuclear power plants, work in laboratories or the environment and many others. There was a lot of transferable skills, such as communication – written and presentation. Problem solving and investigation. IT skills. Teamwork. Project management. Data Analysis.

For me and working more with the environment, I think perhaps botany could have been another career option. As plants are all around us and very varied. And it’s interesting to see how they cope with environmental changes, especially with climate change. Animals interest me a little less, although I do like watching the birds in my garden and the red kites which fly over the village quite often.