• Question: What happens if you run out of ideas to research?

    Asked by anon-231600 to Mark, Liam, Laura, Kasia, Gina, Felix on 13 Nov 2019.
    • Photo: Liam Gaffney

      Liam Gaffney answered on 13 Nov 2019:

      This is a great question and one that we are always asking ourselves. Luckily, I work in a couple of collaborations with other scientists and we meet regularly to discuss our ideas and that helps to promote even more ideas. Usually we have too many ideas and have to filter out the best ones because we only have enough time and money to work on a few at the same time.

      I am currently writing a research proposal with my colleagues. That goes to a panel who have to decide which universities have the best ideas and how to split up the money for the next 3 years of research. If our ideas are judged to not as good as the others, then the number of students and scientists working on our projects will start to go down and we’ll have less money for new equipment and travelling to conferences and experiments. So I hope that we keep up our good research ideas!

    • Photo: Mark Johnson

      Mark Johnson answered on 13 Nov 2019:

      Hey – great question! Scientists are always trying to think of new ideas to research, and usually we have far too many to actually go and do all of them. These days, a lot of science is done in big teams, so we have regular meetings to talk about our ideas and decide which ones to spend the most time and money on.

      Right now, the team that I’m part of is planning how we’ll upgrade our experiment over the next few years. It’s really exciting to hear about all the amazing things that we might go and try to do in the future. One of the best parts of being a scientist is trying to come up with your own ideas, and then convincing other people that they’re worth investigating!

    • Photo: Laura Sinclair

      Laura Sinclair answered on 14 Nov 2019:

      Great question.

      Luckily for us, there are lots of unsolved questions in the world. Sometimes when you’re trying to solve one question, more questions arise! Research is all about answering questions. Scientists attend meetings, workshops and work in collaborations all the time so you’ll soon be inspired with a new question or two.

      Science is not black and white, we do not know all the answers and we refine our knowledge and theories all the time!

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