• Question: Can you be a scientist and work from home?

    Asked by jeevan to Arttu, Ceri, James_M, Philip on 22 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Arttu Rajantie

      Arttu Rajantie answered on 22 Jun 2011:

      Yes, you can, at least if you are not doing any complicated experiments. In principle I could do my research from home. Often I work with people in countries, anyway, and use email and skype to talk to them. However, it is still very important to actually talk to people in person at least sometimes. Also your employer or whoever pays you would usually expect you to be around at least some of time, either to teach or even just to talk to others. But you can work from home a lot if you want.

    • Photo: James M Monk

      James M Monk answered on 22 Jun 2011:

      It depends what you are doing – if you are writing a paper then it may even be easier to work at home rather than be distracted at work by other people. On the other hand, if you need to chat with people about work or take part in the experiment then you need to be at the lab or the office.

      So sometimes it’s better to work at home, sometimes better at work.

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