depends really,

majority of the time it's a company who wants me to do it. They effectively bankroll it and I go out and do whatever it is I'm looking at. Then I come back and either write it up as a paper or present it keynote stylee. Usually depending on what it is I'm doing I can get about 3-4 weeks of field work in then about 1 or 2 months to write it up

There are occasions where I have personal projects that I work on that I either seek sponsorship from a company, apply for government funding, etc. I have two of those on the go at the moment but they will probably take me a year or so to finish judging by my calendar this year. I'm lucky in that the two main Uni's here let me use their facilities if I need them. To be fair I couldn't really do it without their lab gear. It works well for both of us though. I help them out with bits and pieces (the odd seminar) and I get their kit to use. Plus and can rope in some of the students sometimes to help if needed.

Posted By: NCFC4life, Jan 8, 11:40:00