Career Q&A in 2022

Neuroscientist Gina Rippon describes how and why she tackled the nature–nurture debate in her book The Gendered Brain, and the media furore it caused.

Engineer-turned-sociologist Erin Cech describes how she coined the term ‘passion principle’, which challenges the belief that people should love their jobs.

Conservation biologist Kay Van Damme works with locals on the Socotra archipelago to help save ancient trees and colourful invertebrates.

Running the Uganda Cancer Institute is a chance to put my vision for treatment into practice, says Jackson Orem.

Farmer and environmentalist Joshua Zake shares what he has learnt about advances in sustainable agriculture with small-scale farmers.

Paediatric-health researcher Mary Nyantaro wants more investment in and mentoring for the research workforce.

Cutting out single-use plastics was the beginning of a sustainability transformation, says Jane Kilcoyne.

Cyril Boateng is helping to connect members of the African diaspora to their ancestral lands through geophysics research, using skills he acquired during a PhD and postdoc in China.

Pharmacologist Janetti Francischi drew on folk wisdom and chemistry to turn used cooking oil into microbe-fighting soap during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ludovic Slimak, a cultural anthropologist at the CNRS and the University of Toulouse — Jean Jaurès, describes his research and the changing face of archaeology in France.

Lalah Rukh talks about the joys — and challenges — of nurturing young learners’ passion for science subjects.

Ten years after their profession got its name, research software engineers seek to swell their ranks.

Petar Puškarić made a beer from marine yeasts during his master’s degree in ecology.

Government scientist Priver Namanya Bwesigye’s research career is focused on genetic engineering and Uganda’s staple food.

The UK Institute of Physics has turned to young social-media stars to get more schoolchildren excited about the subject.

Ecologist Eulogio Chacón Moreno sought fellowships abroad amid a worsening economic crisis in his home country.

María Constanza Meza Elizalde wants to change fire laws and attitudes.

Christin Godale campaigns for bigger research budgets and better care for people with epilepsy.

Conservationist Charlie Gardner explains why he joined Scientists for Extinction Rebellion and its civil-disobedience protests.

Rose Okoyo Opiyo says women need help balancing family demands if Africa is to narrow its PhD gender gap.