Hi all. I have just graduated with a degree in zoology and always aimed to work in wildlife conservation. However, though I am still fascinated by ecology, ethology, evolution and the like, I am feeling a little disillusioned with the prospect of protecting animals for a living. I am due to start working as a lab volunteer in the IoZ on chytridiomycosis (the disease that is killing off all the amphibians). I'll mainly be doing realtime PCR and general sample preparations, so I don't necessarily have to go into a career as an amphibian conservation crusader. In my final year, I did a module on parasites and infectious diseases, and was lectured on African trypanosomiasis and other diseases that affect impoverished regions. Also, my girlfriend has just graduated from med school and I have been very inspired by the work she does as a hospital doctor. I suppose, I was just wondering what peoples' opinions are. I feel torn between doing a PhD on something that would be adventurous and fun, e.g. behaviour of moose in the boreal forests of northern Europe, or something that would involve a lot of hard graft in the lab but may be ultimately highly rewarding for myself and beneficial for mankind, e.g. cures for cutaneous leishmaniasis or something. Is there anybody working in either of these fields who may have had similar thoughts at some point? I mean, what is the ultimate joy of being a scientist, a lot of knowledge, the ability to have an influence on the natural environment, the ability to have an influence on the lives of people in need? This is a bit of an odd, rather philosophical sounding question, but hey, I am having a bit of a crisis.

Thanks,

Mark. 8-)

Hi Mark,

I'm sort of on the same boat. I have the option to go into conservation (which doesn't pay as well as research) or biomedical research (which pays much better).

My advice is ... take some time off (maybe a year), do a bit of both as practice, maybe even go abroad try it out. Basically give yourself some time. Even though I always believe that if you really love something you'll be great at it and you'll always have work.

It can be hard to work out what kind of thing to pursue if you have a number of apparently different interests. One thing someone once said to me that I've found quite useful is basically to try to differentiate between the things that make you go 'Huh, that's interesting - I'd like to see the results of that someday' and those that make you go 'Oooh, that's an interesting question. *I* want to find out the answer'. Another thing to consider is the kind of tasks you enjoy/find frustrating, as different types of research have different day to day existences.

Have you ever considered something that might sort of bridge the two interest areas/methodologies, such as veterinary epidemiology? Otherwise, I'd echo the advice to get some practical experience of each.