SCIENCE & TECH
THE PRESSURE TO SUCCEED: WHY SCIENTISTS ARE PRONE TO
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f the latest COVID-19 pandemic has taught the world anything, it’s that scientists will be in high demand from now on. This is not only reflective of the need for innovation in Health Sciences but also for specialists that can tackle challenges such as climate change. However, as the globe requests more help from STEM experts, the same people are facing a mental health crisis as never seen before. According to the reports published by UC Berkeley and the University of Arizona in 2014 and 2015, over 50% of the interviewed have an unhealthy worklife balance. The data collected by both institutions emphasised how little is done to encourage students 28
to take a step back from their studies and focus on their personal lives. Although this may not seem something universities have to do, it is important to realise that mental health issues have a dramatic impact on people’s livelihood and can affect their academic productivity. Jeff Clements, a postdoctoral fellow at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, states that the pressure to succeed in his research caused him to feel extremely anxious. In his article published by Nature, Clemens goes on by saying that one of the factors most affecting his mental health is being able to reproduce his experiments times and times again. From a non-STEM perspective, this MENTAL HEALTH
