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Julia Kempe couldn't bring herself to choose between physics and maths, nor between two graduate institutions. So she did two Ph.D.s at once in quantum computation.

For behavioral scientists considering a career in public polling research, it helps to have a fascination with numbers.

"Interactive museums have sprouted around Italy and across Europe as the European Commission and individual nations have placed science-and-society issues higher on the agenda."

Sandrine Etienne-Manneville "knew exactly what she was doing, where the project was going, and what needed to be done," says former postdoc supervisor Alan Hall.

"A mother is continually training in how to manage her time and organise her work. This is key [to success in entrepreneurship], beyond having guts and imagination," says Claire Dutertre.

"This choice was more practical because you try to build up a career, and if you do what people are already doing, you need to be very good, but also lucky, to make it," says Edwin Cuppen.

There is often more to a job in a nanotech company than ordinary R&D work.

The majority of those working in academic tech transfer have come from a background in scientific research, so there is a need for professional training in technology transfer.

Although "the researcher is free to do whatever he wants," says Marché, "I will be working in a team, so I will necessarily get interested in their field of research."

In Spain, "Most people integrate into an existing and functioning lab," which gives them less freedom," says de Nalda Minguez.

RyC fellows have a harder time fitting within the Spanish academic system unless their university decides to make a welcoming gesture.

This is an unusual position; I will have little bureaucracy and limited teaching.

"Cases very soon demonstrated a great capacity for working with software and developing systems, a capacity that is unfortunately quite exceptional in experimental biologists." --Systems biologist Alfonso Valencia.

Once hired, a chemist’s opportunities are limited only by his or her career ambitions and the company’s needs.

Our own awareness of our primary driving force is perhaps of greatest help when we need to make tough career decisions.

Van Roon's experience at DSM has been "rewarding, because we started an entirely new group; we are learning and making progress."

Go abroad for some time. That is how I got into a field that I could make a significant contribution to.

"I still need to worry about money," says Graham Smith. The difference now is that he does not have to bring in money because of profit targets but "because of my curiosity about how the universe works. That's a very different motivation."