Anne Aulsebrook

PhD Candidate

PhD Candidate (Zoology), BS with Honours (Zoology, Ecology & Conservation)

Why I think having a career is like going to the supermarket

I always pictured a “career” as a series of steps leading up a mountain. The journey is sometimes tiring and tough, but there are exciting things to see and do along the way. You persevere, the view gets better and better, and some day, you reach the summit and all your hard work pays off. Instead, now I believe that a “career” is more like going to a supermarket.

There is no recipe for perfect research

On New Year’s Eve, I received a call from my supervisor. He told me that, during a storm, my pigeon shed had flooded. All of my power boards and electrical cables were under about 20 cm of water. Everything was covered in dirt and muck. The pigeons were fine, but everything else was a mess!

Lab truths: Everything I knew about laboratories was wrong

When I was younger, I thought research happened in white rooms. White walls, white floors, white benches, white coats. I imagined that everything in these rooms would be spotless and practically sparkling, like a scene from a skin care commercial. How wrong I was!