Since Sir Peter Gluckman is a very busy man, I didn't ask as many questions as I didn't want to take up much of his time, but he still gave very interesting,long responses.

 

 

'At what age did you want to be a scientist and why?'

 

'Well I started off going to university to do Mathematics and then I switched  to medicine, but when I went into medicine I thought I was going to be a medical scientist. So certainly by the middle of medical school at about the age of about 19 I had done my first research project, and then I knew I wanted to stay in science.'

 

 

 

'Who has been your greatest influence professionally on your science career and why?'

 

'Two people actually, one was Sir Graham Wiggins who was a famous New Zealand medical scientist… he was a great friend to me when I came back to New Zealand in 1980 from the United States. He helped support the development of my independent laboratory, he’s a very wise man and would repeatedly give me advice on the research that he did. I think he was probably the greatest ever New Zealand scientist and should of got the Nobel Prize.'

 

'The second was a person in America a professor I went to study with between 1976 and 1980 when I was already a qualified doctor and scientist.  I went there for advanced training and at the time he was the most famous person in the world for research into hormones in children and he was a very, very distinguished American medical scientist and even now at the age of 88 he continues to give me advice. All through my career he has been a friend, a supporter and one who one could discuss many hard questions with.'   

 

 

 

'What three attributes do you think you require to succeed in todays competitive world of science?'

 

'The first thing is you’ve got to work very hard; there is no doubt about that. Secondly you’ve got to have a willingness to have a broad knowledge of science and be willing to look beyond your own narrow distant inspiration and thirdly you have to be a good collaborator, because most science these days, particularly cutting edge science needs to involve different skills, different people, bigger teams and you have to be a good collaborator. The fourth thing I will add is you’ve got to be committed to excellence, second-rate science is a waste of money and a waste of effort and so much in science that is published is not innovative, not ambitious and I think one has to be ambitious to do good science in whatever field you are in.'

 

 

 

'What one piece of advice would you give to a young person embarking upon a new career path?'

 

'Don’t look backwards, look forwards make sure you are doing something you are enjoying and make sure you are willing to take advice from people who are well networked and experienced in whatever field you go into.'    

 

 

 

'What does an average week of work consist of and how many hours a week do you put in?'

 

'I have a role as the Prime Ministers science advisor, I have my own research in the university of Auckland and I also run an international research contortion and a laboratory in Singapore. So I have many lives, but I guess I am working from 8 o’clock in the morning to 9 o’clock – 10 o’ clock at night Monday to Friday, and I will probably put in on an average weekend an average of 6-8 hours of work as well, but sometimes more. Whatever you do to be successful you have to work hard, I’ve got a complicated life, probably more so than most people. If you are doing international science you are only as good as your last work.'

 

 

 

'What did you have to sacrifice in order for your science career to survive?'

 

'In any career this is unfortunate, on the one hand you are working hard establishing your family and having children and on the other you also have to work very, very hard on your work.Every person who is successful in every area of endeavour always has to deal with work life, balance and the fact that you’ve got to put the time in to succeed.'

 

 

 

What is the greatest challenge you have faced and how did you overcome this?

 

'Well there are different kinds of challenges, I think the challenge of being in internationally focussed science and living in New Zealand is tough. You’ve got to do a lot of travel; you’ve got a lot of time zone issues. I think one has to have an understanding family, one has to recognise the real benefits of living in New Zealand and all the benefits of New Zealand society and recognise that the upside outweighs the downside and be positive.'          

                                       

Peter goes onto explain the many difficulties you may see associated with any chosen career path. Peter idetified that being positive is key and is a great strategy to use to overcome your greatest challenges and will also help finding a solution much easier and faster.

 

 

 

'In your own words what is the key to success?'

 

'First enjoying what you do, you can’t succeed if you don’t enjoy what you do. Number 2 is you’ve got to be prepared to not only be good at what you do but to put the effort in to stay good and stay at the cutting edge. I think if you get arrogant, over confident, egotistical and rely on your past performance then you have a big problem. I think it’s a matter of enjoying what you do but recognising that to be successful tomorrow you have to put the effort in today.'