Science is global enterprise

Editor’s note: This year marks the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up, and huge changes have been made in Beijing, capital of China, over the past 40 years. We have invited 40 foreign experts to participate in a series of interviews named “New Era, New Insight” jointly hosted by GMW.cn(The official website of Guangming Daily) and the Information Office of Beijing Municipality and share their “Beijing Stories”. The following is a part of the interview with John Speakman, a professor from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology at Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Science is global enterprise

I think they really didn’t believe that it was going to happen.

We had sort of previous experience what I’ve thought I might go to Australia but actually that didn’t come to anything.

I think my children just thought: China is just going to be like Australia. He is never actually going to go there.

And it was quite exciting for them that we will be move in and we will be live in a different country and meeting different people.

So it was just really exciting time in our lives.

And they were one hundred percent support of making the move.

You know just having this new adventure in our lives and I am really grateful for them, for the support they give to me.

Because otherwise I think it could be really difficult to do this.

Weather in here is very difference.

Because obviously in the summer: it’s super hot.

You have this very nice time of the year in spring and autumn, when the city is just beautiful and it’s full of flowers in the spring. We enjoy going out in Beijing, wandering around in the town, going to small cafes, doing all these sort of things. And that’s very different than the life we had back in the UK.

So when the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology said they will willing to support my application, then that for me was a really good thing.

I don’t speak Chinese.

It’s not a big problem in my work for two reasons.

First is that almost all the stuffs in the institute speak very good English.

So it’s possible to into interact with them on the daily bases.

And meeting state I attend, I have a PA (personal assistant), and she sits with me and translates what’s happening in the meeting.

So I have a good feel about what’s going on and what’s happening in those meetings. But they are relatively and minor differences.

I think the point is that researches are global exercise

If we going to do repeatable research, it should be the same all over the world, it shouldn’t be any differences between what student does in the lab here in China and what student does in the America and what student does in the Europe. If we can make that harmony across all the places, that’s how we get repeatable science. And I know that there are institutes in China to bring people at all sort of levels into the country and to do research at the highest level.

[ Editor: zyq ]
 

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