Multifaceted, multidisciplinary – so many career possibilities

The CSIR focuses its research efforts in diverse arenas, which means that scientists, researchers and engineers have a range of multidisciplinary fields in which they can vest their interests.

A computer scientist, for example, could find him or herself applying their skills to research efforts in anything from designing aircraft; to collecting spatial data used in town planning; to developing algorithms for controlling the behaviour of robots. At the CSIR, career paths are seldom linear. As scientists are exposed to so many different opportunities, many choose to grow in a whole new area of interest they had not considered before. A physicist working with condensed-matter, for example, could discover he has an interest in nanotechnology, lasers or synthetic biology and advance his career in that direction.

The following pages feature some of the areas of interest at the CSIR, and the diverse career types within such an area.: