Careers are ongoing. Skilled graduates often change direction and, typically, the modern worker will change careers several times during their working life.
Stephen Scully is undertaking research in experimental physics at Maynooth University. After a degree in electrical and electronic engineering from DIT (accredited at the time by Trinity College), Scully worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 15 years. He had a layman's interest in astronomy and cosmology and in his spare time devoured information on the workings of the universe.
An opportunity arose to go back to college and he considered whether to leave the world of work.
“I spent one year studying for a higher diploma in experimental physics at NUI Maynooth, to test the waters, and to see if I liked college,” he says. “I came out with a first class honours, and I knew this was the right route for me.”
Although he enjoyed his job in the pharmaceutical industry, Scully says that the pull from astronomy was too strong for him to ignore. He investigated options for astronomy, and decided that Maynooth was the best fit.
Scully applied for the John Hume scholarship and a doctoral teaching fellowship to help pay his way through college. He was offered both, and chose the fellowship. For his doctorate he is working as part of an international team, co-ordinated by the European Space Agency, on a major protect to detect background radiation from the Big Bang: if they find the necessary evidence, it will be a major moment in our understanding of how the universe formed.
What’s next? “I’d hope to take on postdoctoral research in Maynooth for a few years, and take it from there,” says Scully. “I could also move back into industry. I have options.”
