• Question: Do you ever get the chance to work abroad? Or have you had the chance to be able to?

    Asked by janieolver to Anna, Craig, Richard, Shane, Sue on 16 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Craig McKenzie

      Craig McKenzie answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      Hi Janieolver – yes I get the chance to work abroad.

      In my career I have worked in France, Canada, Ireland and The Netherlands (Holland). I also sometimes teach at a University in France (Toulouse) and I work with the French scientists there and have French, German, Swedish, Cypriot and Polish students in my class.

      We often work with scientists from other countries who have knowledge about things we are not experts in. It is quite common for us to travel to meet up with other scientists to talk about what we are doing in our research or to learn new things. In fact I will be on the train to London tomorrow to go to a conference on forensic science on Saturday. It’s not abroad (well a bit if you are from Scotland!) but i’m looking forward to the meeting so i can talk to lots of other forensic scientists.

      Science can be a great way to meet people from different countries and cultures. I like to travel!

      Would this be something you would like to do?

    • Photo: Sue Carney

      Sue Carney answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      Hi janieolver. Yes there are lots of opportunities to travel. I’m working on some projects at the moment that might mean I get to travel to the Middle East to help train some of their new forensic scientists. I’ve worked on a few military police cases in the past which meant travel abroad to attend court hearings in whichever country those armed forces were based in. The last one I worked on was in Germany. As Craig says, there are also lots of scientific conferences to attend, many of those abroad, and I’m hoping in the future I’ll have the chance to do that. I’ve only managed to get to conferences in the UK so far.

    • Photo: Anna Williams

      Anna Williams answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      Hi Janieolver,
      Yes, I get the chance to travel quite a lot.
      I quite regularly get to go to conferences in the UK and abroad, where I present my latest research and get to know lots of other scientists from all the world. The last one I went to was in Chicago, but before that I went to Milan, Hong Kong, and Dallas to name a few.
      My work with a mass disaster company also means that I get to travel, but I don’t get much sightseeing done when I’m abroad! Last year I went to Egypt to do some teaching of their State Security Police (like MI5). I was training them how to deal with the dead after a mass disaster incident such as a bomb or a plane crash.
      A career in science is definitely a good way to get to see the world!

    • Photo: Shane Pennington-Cooper

      Shane Pennington-Cooper answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      Hello Janieolver,

      The only place I have been regarding science is Kenya, it was a fantastic trip to learn about how certain tribes lived without modern day technology. It was certainly an eye opening. I am hoping to travel to UTAH so I can carry on with my research so I can help create a cure for cancer without using chemicals. Unfortunately this requires money and because I self fund all my research I am hoping to gain funding from the wellcome trust by winning IAS or by another association.

    • Photo: Richard Case

      Richard Case answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      Hi janieolver,

      I always get invitations to speak at conferences abroad, but this is usually at my own expense, so I unfortunately turn these down. I would also like the opportunities to train overseas in the future.

      When the tsunami happened in Thailand in 2004 I was given the opportunity to go to Thailand and help with the operation to identify the dead, but I had to decline as I was in the middle of preparing for my wedding. I know lots of people who went over there and did an amazing job in very difficult circumstances. This is known in forensic circles as Disaster Victim Identification (DVI).

      If a similar disaster on that scale happened again (which I hope it doesn’t), then my name is down for consideration to go and help. I though I might have been on standby for the recent events in New Zealand in Japan, but they were never required.

Comments

  • Photo: janieolver

    janieolver commented on :

    Thank you for your answers, they are very interesting to read! And yes, when I’m older I would like to travel (because I like languages too) so… it’s something I’m very interested in! So thank you for your very helpful answers! ;):)