• Question: What is your greatest achievement?

    Asked by anon-205645 to adeliegorce, Gabriel, Jose Angel, Kathryn, Russell on 5 Mar 2019.
    • Photo: Kathryn Boast

      Kathryn Boast answered on 5 Mar 2019:


      A tricky question! It can be hard to judge your own achievements I think – and other people will see them differently. I think my biggest achievement might be finishing my PhD (the qualification where you learn how to do research). I had to work so hard for it, and I really struggled sometimes. But in spite of everything I managed to finish it, and I passed the exam at the end, which not everyone was expecting!
      A couple of other things I’m really proud of too:
      * I organised a two-week long trip to America for my choir of 30 people. We sang eight concerts in seven states and travelled over 1,000 miles! I did all the travel plans, the fundraising, getting visas, finding venues and accommodation, and everything went really smoothly!
      * I’m quite proud of the philosophy thesis I wrote in my final year as an undergraduate at university. The title was “What is the difference between space and time?” and I had to think really hard!
      * I spent three months working at the Houses of Parliament (where MPs and government work) in their science office. I wrote a document about digital evidence that was sent round to all the MPs and is now on the parliament website!

    • Photo: Russell Arnott

      Russell Arnott answered on 12 Mar 2019:


      I guess the thing that I’m most proud of is taking my punk band on tour across Europe 4 times. I never had music lessons and taught myself guitar. I sat down in my bedroom and wrote these silly songs then took them to band practice and we formed them into proper songs.
      And the fact that other people wanted to hear these songs I’d written in countries all across Europe. It was a great feeling (and a bit bemusing). Getting to see parts of Europe I’d never been before and getting paid to do it was great.

    • Photo: Gabriel Gallardo

      Gabriel Gallardo answered on 12 Mar 2019:


      Every day I try to be better at what I do, and every day I try to be a better person. My greatest achievement is keeping that up for the rest of my life. It’s hard, but it’s worth it.
      Some things I’m proud of:
      • I’m living alone for the first time in my life, so I’m learning to cook, clean etc and keep myself company.
      • I have a semi-important position in my experiment now. I’m in a niche where I’m the best person to do a particular job, and I love doing that job.
      • I’ve tried to help some friends through difficult times in their lives. I’m glad these times have passed for them. 🙂
      I also believe that the best is yet to come!

    • Photo: Jose Angel Martinez-Gonzalez

      Jose Angel Martinez-Gonzalez answered on 13 Mar 2019:


      It is difficult for me to decide which is my greatest achievement.

      At the scientific level, you could think about getting the project that I am developing right now, in a competition for funds internationally. He is also the supervisor of a doctoral thesis that obtained an honorable mention. Or maybe my own thesis had that mention. However, I believe that my best achievement is still to come.

      On a personal level, I believe that continuing in science, with all the difficulties I have had throughout my career is my main achievement. And it is something that I have to thank the people who are closest to me, for continuing to support me every day.

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