Chris Parkes

Employer: Glasgow University and CERN
Qualifications: natural sciences degree (physics), University of Cambridge; particle physics (PhD) Oxford

Great job! What qualifications and experience did you need to get it?

I completed my first degree in natural science, specialising in physics and theoretical physics, with a final-year project in particle physics. Then I did my DPhil at Oxford on the Delphi experiment at CERN. I'm now a lecturer at Glasgow University, which allows me to continue my research at CERN.

Was physics a vocation for you?

I'm one of those annoying people who always knew what they wanted to do! To start with, I just wanted to be a physicist, but as soon as I arrived at university I knew I'd be doing a doctorate in particle physics. Then I was fortunate enough to obtain a job at CERN. I handed my thesis in on a Friday and started work in Switzerland on Monday. From there on, my career has just been a logical progression. Teaching undergraduates is my latest scientific discovery!

What's it like working at CERN?

There's no better example of an international research community than CERN. Each experiment is carried out by teams of about 500 people from across Europe - and my latest project (on the Large Hadron Collider) involves collaborators from Rio and Beijing. My closest colleagues on the project are in Liverpool, Amsterdam and Heidlberg, and we meet at each other's universities fairly regularly. We also have collaboration weeks three times a year at CERN.

Is communication difficult with so many collaborators from so many countries?

We hold video-conferencing meetings. The language of science is obviously English, so that's not an issue, but I like to think that I can read a paper in any language, as most of it is written in diagrams, figures and universal particle physics jargon!