Question: Would you prefer to have a different job or in your opinion is being a development coordinator the best job there is?!

Mike Whitfield answered on 11 Nov 2016:

That’s a good question. When I was doing my PhD I wanted to have a career as a scientist, but when I was working at Trinity College in Dublin I started to think about different options. Being a scientist is great, but it’s also very competitive – there are lots of budding scientists and not so many jobs!

I got interested in science communication. I often feel that I am better at telling people about science than actually doing it! So working as a development coordinator at a science journal gives me an opportunity to tell people about science – plant science in this case – and think of new ways to do so too, which is pretty cool.