In the last week I’ve had two people tell me that I’m not allowed to refer to myself as a scientist because I’m “only” a PhD student. I feel like it’s one of those things that you should allow to pass by you without so much as a glance, but something about this is really bothering me.
Firstly, this is quite simply disrespectful, gatekeeping, elitism nonsense.
Secondly, I am more qualified than both of these people and yet they felt the need to mansplain ‘scientist’ to me (I think this is what bothers me most about this). I often encounter older men who find my qualifications intimidating. Just stop it.
Thirdly, you can absolutely be a scientist without having a PhD. I worked in cancer research for a year as a research assistant prior to starting my PhD. I published two scientific papers during this time, including a first author review.
Fourthly, I’m a PhD candidate, not a PhD student. It takes years of study and research experience before you can become a PhD candidate. I’ve worked in cancer research for 6+ total years now with 4 years of undergraduate study on top of that.
‘Scientist’ is not a title to be earned, rather it’s someone who does science, regardless of their age, qualifications or status.
We have undergraduate students who come to our lab to do science – they’re scientists. Heck, we even have high school students who come to our research institute to do real research projects in the lab – they’re scientists too.
Photo by Robynne Hu on Unsplash
