Botanist

Botanists focus on studying plant life. There are many different areas that botanists can specialise in - from plant anatomy to genetics to marine botany to paleobotany (studying fossilised plant remains)! Depending on their role, botanists could be identifying and recording plant species, searching for new species, studying the effects or pollution on plant life, or presenting research in books or academic conferences. They need to be able to analyse information and share this with others - so it's important to have good communication skills. Some botanists will teach at universities, so they need to have good teaching skills and be able to design courses. For a teaching or research post, you would need a postgraduate qualification such as a master's degree or PhD. For other botanist roles, you usually need a degree in a subject such as botany, ecology or plant biology. Botanists can earn betwen £22,000 (when they're starting out) up to £55,000 once experienced.