When I'd think of research big names such as Einstein and Hawking would spring to mind. I’d imagine their enthusiastic announcement of their era defining breakthrough: a speech followed by each member of the audience falling off their chair in surprise at their sheer brilliance before them. On the other hand, I was also aware of the challenges of research, nothing but tedious long hours completing repetitive tasks would spring to mind. Through Laidlaw I discovered that these conceptions were misconceptions; research certainly is not all bland repetition, but neither is it exciting result after exciting result. The true nature of day-to-day research largely revolves around overcoming the reams of smaller challenges researchers face.
My project abruptly introduced me to these challenges by presenting me with tasks which appeared to have a mind of their own. One particularly frustrating example concerned a piece of software I had to use. I hoped that it would take about three days to figure it out, but three weeks passed before I got it to behave. These realities struck a stark contrast to my mental images of research. I was suddenly aware that there was no straight path from A to B, but instead there is a pot-hole of disruption waiting for me every few hundred yards.
I realised that if one grew resentful of the number of challenges posed by a given research project, then before long one would inevitably become incredibly miserable. In order to avoid this, I determined that I should devise a mentality to enable maximal enjoyment of the process. I directed my energies into resolving the problems as they arose (instead of bemoaning the very fact of their existence in the first place), and the more I did so, the more I enjoyed the ins-and-outs of my project, and the more success I subsequently had.
In short, Laidlaw taught me about the practicality of the reality of research. If I was ever to give advice to anyone wishing to undertake research, I would tell them to focus enjoying the ride — approach the challenges as opportunities to ask questions, grow your understanding, and hone your problem solving skills.