• Question: What is your daily routine at work?

    Asked by Ayayai to Chris, Hayley, Jimi, Maddison, Omur on 15 Mar 2016.
    • Photo: Jimi Wills

      Jimi Wills answered on 15 Mar 2016:

      The first things I do are:

      If I started an experiment yesterday, I do the next step of the experiment…
      Then check the mass spectrometers are okay – and respond to anything urgent
      Check emails and respond to anything urgent
      See what new experiments I need to start and plan my afternoon (if I didn’t already plan it yesterday)
      Process data on the computer from experiments that were finished yesterday
      If I have time, write a bit more of the software I’m writing to automate a lot of the work we do so it can be done quicker and with fewer errors

    • Photo: Maddison Coke

      Maddison Coke answered on 15 Mar 2016:

      Mine changes every day depending on where I am in a cycle of an experiment. But as I run the lab with my machine you always have to check you emails and the machine first thing to make sure it is still working- I then check what experiments I have planed for the day. I work in about 4 labs so I have to be pretty organised with my experiments but also means I have a lot of different work to do every day.

    • Photo: Hayley Moulding

      Hayley Moulding answered on 15 Mar 2016:

      My daily routine always changes but usually I go into the office for about 9am! I then pop to the fridge to put my lunch in there! Then I get myself a lovely cup of tea and some water before I settle down. I turn on my computer and open my emails. I usually try and answer all my emails firstly! Sometimes that can keep going for hours though so need to be careful! Usually I will then open my stats and do some maths. I will have a look at my data and see what I am doing for the day.Sometimes I have meetings and then sometimes I have to go and do some interviews with families. Usually I am in work until 6pm. I could be reading papers and having conversations (sometimes I am on twitter too!!).

    • Photo: Omur Tastan

      Omur Tastan answered on 16 Mar 2016:

      My daily routine starts with me looking at my notebook to see what I need to do. I make a list pretty much everyday! That list has the experiments that I need to set up or check the ones that I already set up. Once I decide what to do first, I get on with it. This generally involves some fly work. So, I spend some time in the fly room and dissect some fly larvae brain if I need to and stain them with different markers to label my stem cells and the rest of the cells. Then, I go to the confocal room and start imaging my previously prepared samples.
      This sounded like one of those cooking shows. “Here is one that I made earlier 🙂 ” Anyways, I need on average two hours per sample to analyse them well enough. So it takes a lot of time. Then, I have lunch or teac/coffee with friends and chat to people and read some research articles. And, go home in the end of the day:)

    • Photo: Chris Conselice

      Chris Conselice answered on 16 Mar 2016:

      My daily routine varies quite a bit. If I am in the office, I will arrive early at around 9am and do email and other busy work. Then I may teach for a few hours, have meetings with students, write proposals, read papers, and write my own papers if I have time. I also often have meetings about administration and teaching with other professors.

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