Whilst recently reading over John Hawk’s excellent weblog I came across this entry on embracing personal experience on the rise through science. The link to the original blog entry, here at DeepSeaNews.Com, concerns how personal experiences can be shared and related to give inspiration to aspiring scientists. The entry, by Kevin Zelnio, details his experiences of how he ended up pursuing a career in marine biology. Especially important is his message concerning that whilst his story isn’t unique, his personal details are, and that we all have stories inside of ourselves that can be shared and can help enthuse and inspire other people who are struggling on the path to start a career in science.
As I have blogged about many times before, my bone condition has helped to shape my life to a certain extent, and has largely changed it for the better. My undergraduate degree, alongside my own medical experiences, have helped me pursue an education in which I have a keen willingness to engage with and to pursue at a higher level. I enjoy producing art (in a somewhat limited sense!) & enjoy both making and listening to music immensely; I’ve taken part in things in which I’d never thought I’d get a chance. However, this is only a part of my life. Whatever I end up doing in the future, I will certainly not regret one day that I have lived. I won’t bore you with details but I may produce a more personal update sometime in the future, if it will make inspiring reading!
Self Portrait Of My Hand & Foot!
Another part of the picture here is the presentation, research and results from the academic world and the wider release of the results in the public sector. As a recent post by Kristina Killgrove, here at her blog Powered By Osteons, discusses the recent results concerning the US consultation on public access to scholarly work, with some stiff reactions from the AAA & AIA (whom, for some unfathomable reason, are against Open Access). As more academics than ever are blogging and sharing research from a number of fields around the world, it is perhaps surprising to find this sort of structured defensive of research that, previously, can take years and even decades to become available to an often very interested public. As detailed on the blog post, the academic blogs are having a field day in criticising the reactions from the AAA & AIA. The letter regarding the comments from the AAA is found here
The personal experiences of scientists pursuing careers and the turmoil that they have been through are perhaps now more than ever what a lot of people need to hear, especially in the field of archaeology and archaeological sciences. As the jobs market constricts nationally & the world economy shrinks, it can be especially disheartening to pursue a dream and realize that sometimes things are just outside of your control employment-wise. More students than ever are pursuing Master & PhD courses whilst competition to gain a job becomes stiffer then ever; certainly as more qualifications are required, alongside extensive site and commercial experience to become a competitive employee.
As I enter my second semester as a graduate student at the University of Sheffield, I’m starting to realize that I should soon start job hunting and sending out my own CV. What happens after September when the course finishes, I certainly do not know! However, I shall take comfort knowing that the path to a science career is not an easy option to take, that I shall sweat to become what I want to be, and to know that working hard can indeed sometimes have its benefits.
These Bones Of Mine 
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