40 AusTRAlIAN QuARTeRlY OCT–DEC 2017
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are concentrated here in a way that
provides opportunities to access ideas I
wouldn’t have been so readily exposed
to in Australia.
is coming back to Australia
attractive professionally?
It depends on the particular field. If I
were to stay in academia in my subfield
of neuroscience, there would be many
more opportunities available overseas.
I am also considering trying towork in more ‘translational’ roles of
science applied to communication,
policy and education. I think there
would be opportunities in Australia
for this. Salaries are also much higher
in Australia than for many similar jobs
elsewhere, and it is appealing to be
able to contribute to my home nation.
However it does also feel like it can be
easier to access some professionally
enriching opportunities and contacts in
Europe or the uS.
The biggest surprise or most
profound outcome of studying
Os?
In some ways I think I will only realise
what the outcomes of my overseas
experience has been with time.
When I started my MSc in
Neuroscience here I was part of a
cohort of students from all over the
world who had grown up in very
different circumstances, but somehow
had pondered and been troubled by
the same questions. They had experi-
enced the world more similarly than
many of the people I grew up with.
The late-night conversations –
debating both the big ideas and
the gritty details of our shared
idiosyncrasies – and the support that
these relationships have provided,
has profoundly shaped my time here.
So too has being pushed to consider
points of view different from my own,
and being forced to provide evidence