Question: How old are you? as it seems like you have done alot in your work so far!

Jen Gupta answered on 13 Jun 2011:

I’m 24 – might seem old to you but I still feel like I’m a kid sometimes! After my A-levels I did 4 years at university which meant that I got a Masters of Physics (MPhys) at the end. A lot of people go to university for 3 years and get a Bachelors degree and then do a separate (postgraduate) Masters afterwards. Doing a 4 year university course meant that I could go straight into my PhD and I’m now in my third year. Hopefully I’ll finish in December this year.

While I was an undergraduate doing my first degree, I spent the summer between my 3rd and my 4th year working for 6 weeks as a summer student at the Jodrell Bank Observatory. This was a bit like the work experience that you do while you’re at school but I got a bit of money for it! That summer I started the project that I’m working on now so I got a bit of a head-start compared to other PhD students. However sometimes I feel like I will never do enough work to finish my PhD, especially because I get distracted by making podcasts and organising events for the public to go to so that people like you can come along and learn more about astronomy!