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Asked by anon-285897 on 4 Mar 2021.
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Chris Thomson answered on 4 Mar 2021:
I have had to get used to remote working a lot more. I spend time talking to other scientists across the world every day, but I’ve had to get used to using video chat with my own team, who are normally in the office next door, but now, sitting in their own homes. It was tough to start with, but I think you can get used to anything.
To be honest, it hasn’t affected me a whole lot – I have carried on working throughout the pandemic without many problems.
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Miriam O'Duill answered on 4 Mar 2021:
Our chemistry research labs shut down for a while during lockdown, but were able to re-open quite quickly with new safety measures in place: In addition to our regular protective equipment (lab coat and safety glasses), we wear masks and face shields. We always keep a 2-metre distance to other scientists, and only a set number of people are allowed to work in the lab at any one time to help with this. We also get tested for covid regularly.
Because coronavirus can spread through the tiny water droplets we breathe out (also called aerosols), fresh air and ventilation are very important indoors to ‘blow away’ those droplets. We are fortunate in the chemistry lab, because we work in fume hoods. These are designed to suck large amounts of air out of the lab to prevent us from breathing in any toxic fumes. But they also help blow away those air droplets which makes working in a chemistry lab safer than working in an office at the moment (with regards to covid transmission). -
Phil Thorne answered on 4 Mar 2021:
Pharmaceutical research is deemed essential so we have carried on, albeit with changes. Staff are split in to 2 shifts for lab work of 6 hours each 7-1 & 1-7. We also do 1.5 hours remote on admin tasks to make a 7.5 hour working day.
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Michael Walford answered on 4 Mar 2021:
At first, the lockdown/ coronavirus had no affect on my work. I work on a large site, with labs and offices and people working in a wide range of departments. All people who worked in the office were told to work from home, but as i work in the lab, we continued to come to work
The first lockdown allowed us to catch up a bit on the amount of samples we had
We have then continued to work as normal, with less people on site and most of us work in the labs alone, we are able to social distance relatively easily
Since Christmas it has got a lot more difficult. There are much less samples to test currently, I think due to a lot of other companies having furloughed staff/financial problems. I have started working from home a bit more, I only come in when I am required in the lab. I am also finding the situation has intensified my mental health problems, which makes the work I do have more difficult to do. The recent announcement of a possible end and being able to see my family is providing a bit of light at the end of the tunnel -
Jesko Koehnke answered on 4 Mar 2021:
Everything that is not Corona-related research has slowed down a lot, it is difficult to buy chemicals and equipment. People cannot work the way they usually would because we have restrictions on how many people are allowed in the lab at any one time. And people graduating are finding it difficult to get jobs at the moment. Few people are willing to hire someone they have never met in person.
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Martin McCoustra answered on 4 Mar 2021:
I think the other scientists have captured the essence of the impact of COVID… working at home, no access to laboratories, research students and assistants on furlough. Nothing really moving forward.
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Zahra Rattray answered on 4 Mar 2021:
I have found it really difficult as with many parents- During the first lockdown, my baby was 10 months old. I have had to balance childcare with designing online teaching and running a research lab. The key is for us all to be kind to each other, because everyone is experiencing their own difficulties with the pandemic.
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Amy Sanders answered on 4 Mar 2021:
During the first big lockdown we lost 90% of our workload. My hospital laboratory runs all the blood tests from GPs in a really big area and a lot of the routine blood tests people book were cancelled. We also ended up working in two teams so we could socially distance, it’s quite hard to move analysers around so we had to move the people instead!
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Nikita King answered on 5 Mar 2021:
We have more restrictions at work in the office/lab – social distancing, only 4 people allowed in the lab at a time, masks. We have also been able to work from home more – this has been quite good as it saves on the travelling time and you have more flexibility (lunches etc).
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Andrew Parrott answered on 5 Mar 2021:
I think my situation is pretty similar to the other answers. Big disruption at first with no lab access allowed, but I can now go back as long as things are planned out properly to avoid too many (or too few) people on site.
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Ane Valera answered on 5 Mar 2021:
I think lockdown has affected you, school kids, and me the same way. We couldn’t access school or university at all, we had to stay at home trying not to get too bored and starting new hobbies. It was four months of reading science stuff, analysing it and trying to rewrite it with my words. No laboratories, no fancy experiments…just reading science the whole time!
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Paul O'Nion answered on 21 Mar 2021:
In some ways it has been good for me as I have still had to go in to work but the roads have been so quiet. It is always good to consider location & travelling when you do get a job. I have 2 hours added to my day every day.
Comments
modelinor commented on :
IMPORTANT: This question and its answers are about coronavirus (COVID-19). The information on this page may be wrong or out of date.
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