The high of being a scientist.

Today was our Annual Research Day. The best part of the day apart from the gorgeous white chocolate chip cookies and the carrot cake is that we get to see the ongoing research of the entire faculty. The faculty of science is particularly a diverse one with physics, astrophysics, maths, material sciences, forensics, psychology and us the humble biologists. And come to think of it, in our departmental research forums we used to think that biology is so diverse! It’s absolutely fascinating to sit through presentations you have no technical knowledge about and also to talk to people who are not from your discipline. It means refining your language, making it jargon free and exciting for people who may understand the threads but not particularly appreciate the relevance outright.
I found the entire day to be an absolute high and I would recommend every university and faculty to organise one. I don’t know what about it particularly made me feel so good. Was it just the sugar overload from the cookies or the natural high of talking to like minded people or the fact that most research students have similar experiences and grievances and that you are probably not the only one self doubting your capabilities. According to me and possibly the judges the quality of posters and the oral presentations were so competitive that even we students struggled with our votes for the student prize.
There is some fascinating research ongoing at UCLAN. From calculating the age of the universe through its composition of gases to chat up lines as male sexual behaviour study. From social behaviour and gaming culture to ecoli detection with superior methods to glioma cell research to building a database for forensic analysis of knife wounds on bones to essential oils, altitude training benefits for rugby players and novel methods to cleaning up pesticide water to modelling polymer structures for building computer chips. I haven't even covered a third of it all.
We are a very small group of sports physiologists among biology and most of the time we get overwhelmed by all the cancer research and stem cell research of our department. However, today was as much our glory day as much as the life savers’ as we call them. We were all as important with our individual pieces of passion that came together and created this wild atmosphere of a young vibrant lot each passionate about what they wanted to achieve, each looking outwards as much as introspecting inwards. It was a stop-time moment to reflect on the littleness of our contribution to the vast information bank of science and a chin up moment for being such an integral part of it.
Today was the day when we, as well as our professors were reminded of why despite the recent outcry about appalling pay checks in academia we still belong here. Today no matter who won the shield everyone left the camp a winner.