Greg Kelly • Professor of Biology • Adjunct Professor of Physiology and Pharmacology; Paediatrics • Scientist • CHRI • Western University

Greg Kelly • Professor of Biology • Adjunct Professor of Physiology and Pharmacology; Paediatrics • Scientist • CHRI • Western University

Describe your research to a kid or a grandmother.

Embryonic development may be considered as an almost cancerous-like growth, but one where the embryo follows strict guidelines. Normal events rely on communication from one cell to another. However, disrupting signaling has dramatic effects. We use mouse embryonic stem cells and zebrafish embryos to identify and catalogue the events seen in normal development. In the end, identifying what is “normal” allows us and other researchers to better understand what happens when these events go wrong.

If you had a car sticker or door poster, what would it say? 

Follow your heart, but first consult your brain!

Alternate career?

Chef at a 4 star Michelin restaurant.

Piece of advice to a newly-minted undergraduate student.

Go after the job of your dream and never let anyone shut those doors for you.

What has your research taught you about the world around us?

Research has taught me perseverance and patience. Nothing comes easy and if it's easy it would have already been done. The longer I am in the game the more I realize that you cannot do science 24/7 so hobbies and alternative interests are a must. In this regard, get involved in something you are passionate about, but don’t spread yourself too thin. There are many things that are going on right now, but we have endured hard times before. If anything, in my opinion, we have to focus on the health our planet - we have not been good stewards and if we don’t do something dramatic and soon, we and our offspring are going to suffer.

Eva Zehentner • Postdoctoral Researcher • University of Zurich

Eva Zehentner • Postdoctoral Researcher • Prepositional Complementation Across Time and Space • Department of Language and Linguistic Science • University of Zurich

Describe your research to a kid or a grandmother.

I’m a historical linguist, with a focus on medieval English. This means I deal with texts that were written well before Shakespeare. More than texts and stories, I am interested in how the language of that time worked, and how it has changed over time. I look at changes in grammatical rules, or in specific patterns speakers used to express certain meanings.

If you had a car sticker or door poster, what would it say? 

The Latin quote Sic transit gloria mundi (‘Thus passes the glory of the world’) – this sort of matter-of-fact, un-agitated approach to the transitory nature of life resonates well with me. I’ve actually got the phrase tattooed on my forearm, next to an image of a super-sweet and very pink, traditional Viennese pastry – a perfect combination of slightly gloomy and decadent, in my view.

Alternate career?

This is a pretty hard question – my field of study/research doesn’t really come with a clearly defined job profile, and sometimes it feels like the main reason I’m in academia is because I don’t know what else to do (which can be both bad or good, depending on the day!). I guess the most obvious option at this point would be some sort of teaching, editing or other research-related activity, but I think in a parallel universe, I’d maybe go for a career in visual arts (not much easier, to be fair).

Piece of advice to a newly-minted undergraduate student.

There’s two things I feel quite strongly about. First, I’m very much against studying as quickly and efficiently as possible, which is increasingly becoming the norm/ expectation/ requirement – I’d love for students to be able to take time to explore and engage with their studies beyond a superficial level. Second, I think we need to foster the idea in students that a career in academia should be sustainable and compatible with a healthy work-life balance, rather than maintaining the status quo.

What has your research taught you about the world around us?

In general, doing linguistics has made me more aware of the fact that language variation (for example, people using different regional dialects, or using informal ‘slang’) and language change is not something to frown upon or be upset by, but something super fascinating we can study! I’m also really interested in how language is connected to other human behaviours, like how we perceive and categorise objects and events in the world, as well as similarities between language change and other types of cultural (and even biological) change arising from collective behaviour, such as fashion trends, or stock market developments.

Bruce Rawlings • Postdoctoral Researcher • The University of Texas at Austin

Bruce Rawlings • Postdoctoral Researcher • Evolution, Variation and Ontogeny of Learning Lab • Department of Psychology • The University of Texas at Austin

Describe your research to a kid or a grandmother.

I try to understand why humans have such advanced technology as smartphones, schools, biomedicine, and live all over the planet, while our closest living relatives, chimpanzees, are refined to a few places in Africa and have used the same tools for thousands of years. To do this, I study humans' and chimpanzees' ability to create new technology, and to learn it from others.

If you had a car sticker or door poster, what would it say? 

If I could make one up it would be: I like chimpanzees slightly more than I like children (and I'm a parent). 

But I really like "Travel is about the gorgeous feeling of teetering in the unknown." by Anthony Bourdain. It perfectly captures why I love to travel.

Alternate career?

Sensible-ish answer: a football (soccer) player. I was decent as a youngster.

Dream-world answer: a travel writer. I'd love to be paid to try new things in new places.

Piece of advice to a newly-minted undergraduate student.

Academia is a strange career. You do years and years of training: masters degrees, PhDs, postdocs etc., and in the end the earnings can be modest compared to say industry. Your job involves your work being constantly evaluated by really really smart people which is daunting and can be tough. But, you are paid to learn about whatever you want and you directly contribute to humans' knowledge about the world. That's rare and cool.

What has your research taught you about the world around us?

People vary so much around the world, but in every culture learning from others is fundamental to functioning in society.