Sports Scientist

Sports scientists require the ability to analyse physical and sporting performance alongside the ability to apply scientific ideas and principles. They work with sports coaches and sports therapists to improve the performance of individuals and teams, work with doctors to help people improve their health through exercise and work with hospitals and other health organisations in areas such as cardiac rehabilitation. When they are not directly working with athletes, sports scientists work on research projects to gather new information on a wide variety of sports-related topics. They use specialist equipment to measure the effects of things such as sports shoes, clothing and nutrition on an athlete’s body and offer advice on the design and manufacture of sports equipment.

Attributes: collaborative, resilient, communicator

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Solar Energy Engineer

Solar energy engineers are experts in utilising sunlight to generate electricity. They create solar cells that collect and store the sun’s rays. They work with clients to design, plan and implement solar energy projects for cities, businesses, and homeowners. They manage anything from large-scale municipal projects to home rooftop installations. Solar engineers may need to report on the efficiency, cost and safety of a project. Computer skills are essential for creating designs and testing photo-voltaic systems.

Attributes: committed, imaginative, organised

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Electrical Technician

Electrical technicians are responsible for designing, developing, testing, maintaining and repairing electrical wiring and equipment. Machinery used around the world such as computers, communication equipment, navigational devices and medical monitoring machines rely on the work of electrical technicians. Work can vary from dealing with circuit breakers and electrical wiring to working in research and development, conducting experiments, testing new designs, and collecting data. Others might specialise in computer programs, such as Computer Aided Design, in quality control or in aerospace testing flight equipment.

Attributes: focus, organised, attention to detail

Colour Technologist

A colour technologist uses the science and technology of colour application and its subsequent performance. They are responsible for developing and producing dyes and pigments for manufacturing areas such as textiles, paints and inks for printers. Colour technologists can be involved in all stages of the production process, from design to testing and marketing. Work may include developing new dyes and pigments to provide specified colours, monitoring colour reliability during production, testing the colourfastness and stability of dyes and pigments under simulated conditions over typical life-spans and refining processes for the production of dyes and pigments to save costs and minimise environmental impact.

Attributes: creative, organised, attention to detail

Systems Engineer

Systems engineers design and create systems to meet specific needs by combining and integrating people, components and processes into a whole system and ensuring each of those components work correctly. Systems are used in industrial processes to increase output, but a toilet, a refrigerator, an air conditioner, an automatic iron, a car and even the human body are all systems. Larger systems include moveable bridges, manufacturing plants or the International Space Station.

Attributes: collaborative, imaginative, resilient

Biological Anthropologist

Biological anthropologists make comparisons between humans and other animals in order to understand human uniqueness. They compare species across time to unravel the evolutionary history of humans over the last 5 million years. They investigate variation in human development and health, exploring the differences in humans today and in the past.

Attributes: resilient, hard-working, patient

 

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Palaeoanthropologist

Palaeoanthropologists study the origins and development of early humans using fossil remains. They use biological evidence such as fossilised skeletal remains, bone fragments and footprints alongside cultural artefacts such as stone tools which were made by early humans to discover how the human species developed and evolved.

Attributes: patient, passionate, committed

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Geneticist

Geneticists study genes and the science of inherited traits passed down through generations. They study living organisms, from human beings and animals to crops and bacteria. Research is a major part of a geneticist’s job. They conduct experiments to determine the origins of particular inherited traits, such as medical conditions and seek and use this information to adjust genetic material to modify existing traits and create new ones.

Attributes: observant, creative, curious

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Ecologist

Ecologists are concerned with ecosystems as a whole, studying the numbers and distribution of people, plants and animals and how these organisms interact within their habitats. Ecologists usually specialise in a particular environment such as terrestrial, marine or freshwater. They use surveys to identify, monitor and record organisms within an ecosystem and may study the affects of the removal or return of predators over time.

Attributes: collaborative, organised, resilient

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Evolutionary Biologist

Evolutionary biologists are specifically interested in knowing more about the evolution of plants and animals. They seek to discover more about the history of life on earth, how organisms have changed and developed over time and the causes of this evolution. They cover a vast range of work from looking at DNA in the lab to studying how individual species have evolved in a particular ecosystem.

Attributes: imaginative, open-minded, resilient

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