• Question: how long did it take to become a scientist?

    Asked by jenanA on 25 Sep 2025. This question was also asked by Master Iysa.
    • Photo: Niamh Topping

      Niamh Topping answered on 25 Sep 2025:

      That’s a good question! I think all scientists will have a different answer to that. For me, I would say when I started doing research projects at University, so in my 3rd and 4th years of my degree (my degree was a total of 5 years, longer than normal as I went to the Netherlands for a year and I was doing a Masters course). I think every scientist will also say that you never stop becoming a scientist! Because you’re always learning new things.

    • Photo: Emily Walls

      Emily Walls answered on 25 Sep 2025:

      A lot of people have different opinions of when they class themselves as a ‘scientist’. For a long time my dream was to be an astrophysicist, and I was unsure at what stage I could call myself that! I remember when I went to a conference; in my third year of university, I spoke to a girl slightly older than me and she said, ‘I call myself an astrophysicist because I do science and research day in day out – why shouldn’t I call myself that?’ which really stuck with me! So going off that definition, probably since my third year of university when I started to do group research projects, science is a process of learning, doing, and trying again, so I think a lot of people don’t think of themselves as a scientist until a lot later on, but I think it starts earlier in your career!

    • Photo: Kevin Burke

      Kevin Burke answered on 25 Sep 2025:

      I wanted to be a scientist from the age of about 16, and studied science/maths based A Levels, and then a Physics degree, so after 3 years of study I called myself a scientist. However, I then discovered the world of engineering, and went into an aerospace engineering career ( after a 12 month ‘conversion’ course!). I still used my science education every day, as that forms the base of much engineering work. You don’t have to work in science to be a scientist

    • Photo: Kirsty Lindsay

      Kirsty Lindsay answered on 25 Sep 2025:

      I didn’t have a “standard” journey, so mine took 13 years: 3 years for undergrad, 1 year back at work, 1 year Master’s, 2 years back at work, 6 years for PhD.

    • Photo: Vicky Fawcett

      Vicky Fawcett answered on 25 Sep 2025:

      I did 4 years studying maths and physics at University and then spent 4 years doing a PhD (a long research project) in astronomy.

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