Do you work alone or as part of a team?

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Question: Do you work alone or as part of a team?

Asked by iamchloe to Chia-Yu, Helen, Matthew, Matt H, Rhod on 14 Jun 2013. This question was also asked by abbiee61, ckgandblue, xxeilidhxx, lweb1234, obeylevss, tapardy.
- Rhodri Jenkins answered on 14 Jun 2013:
  
  Good question! Though not quite as simple as it may seem to answer.
  
  I’m a PhD student, and generally every PhD student has a set amount of time (Normally 3-4 years in the UK) to solve a specific problem, or to study a specific area of science. Mine is making fuels from the stuff that microbes make. Or trying to, at least. So, in that respect, I work alone on my project. Which can be quite daunting!
  
  However, I also work in a group (led by a Professor) where each persons projects are linked. For example, someone in my group is trying to find out what conditions the microbes grow best in, or which specific microbes make the best fuels. Someone is trying to see if we could feed the microbes wood or waste which would be brilliant seeing as there’s so much of it about. We all try to support each other and share knowledge to benefit the group …
- Matthew Hudson answered on 15 Jun 2013:
  
  A little of both!
  
  I work in the ‘aviation technology’ team at Shell. There are 8 of us covering all the different things that go into an aircraft (fuel, oil, grease), so we all work together. However, there are some projects that I am in charge of, so I lead them on my own.
  
  If the project requires lab work (which many of them do), then I have a lab team that help me out in the lab. They get to do all the fun stuff with chemicals and big machines in the lab and then I collect the data from them.
  
  Working as a team is a great way to get more done, as each person in the team is likely to have a special skill that no one else has, so by working together you can get more done and find the best solutions!
- Matt Carnie answered on 15 Jun 2013:
  
  Both!
  
  I generally have my own little project that I’ll be working on but that will be part of a bigger project with others. Often different people are experts in different experimental techniques and so you might need their help to measure or make something in a certain way and vice versa.
- Chia-Yu Lin answered on 16 Jun 2013:
  
  As a researcher, we need to trained to be independent. You need to develop your own research and your expertise. Once you have developed your own research, and when it makes other people interested, then it is the time that you can work with other people as team to carry out a much bigger project.
  Therefore, most of time, I work alone, and once other people need my expertise, I will contribute myself as part of a team.
- Helen Pritchard-Smith answered on 18 Jun 2013:
  
  As a PhD student I work alone/independently on my research project (this is not always the case, sometimes there are teams of people within a group working on the same area) .
  
  I also work as part of a research group of 22 people who have a wide range of expertise, i present my results once a month in group meeting and get help and advice from them.

Question: Do you work alone or as part of a team?

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