As people try to keep social engagement during self-isolation, citizen science offers a unique opportunity.

Defined as "public participation and collaboration in scientific research", citizen science allows people to use technology to unite towards a common goal —from the comfort of their homes. And it is now offering a chance to contribute to research on the coronavirus pandemic.

With so many of us staying home, this could help build a sense of community where we may otherwise feel helpless, or struggle with isolation.

Anyone is welcome to contribute. You don't need expertise, just time and interest. Projects exist in many forms, catering to people of diverse ages, backgrounds and circumstances. Many projects offer resources and guides to help you get started, and opportunities to collaborate via online discussion forums.

Scientists worldwide are racing to find effective treatments and vaccines to halt the coronavirus pandemic. As a citizen scientist, you can join the effort to help tackle COVID-19, and other infectious diseases.

Foldit is an online game that challenges players to fold proteins to better understand their structure and function. The Foldit team is now challenging citizen scientists to design antiviral proteins that can bind with the coronavirus.

The highest scoring designs will be manufactured and tested in real life. In this way, Foldit offers a creative outlet that could eventually contribute to a future vaccine for the virus.

Another similar project is Folding@home. This is a distributed computing project that, rather than using you to find proteins, uses your computer's processing power to run calculations in the background. Your computer becomes one of thousands running calculations, all working together.

Putting together a career development plan can be a difficult experience. 【小题1】 Here are some simple steps to get you started in the right direction.

【小题2】 Think about your career development and improve your goals. Make sure they are specific, relevant, and most importantly, inspiring to you. You have to want to achieve them!

In order to move towards to achieving your objective, it’s important to have a good understanding of where you are now, as well as what skills and knowledge you’ve already attained. By having a clear idea of what you want to achieve and where you are now, you’ll find it much easier to map a path between the two.

Once you are clear about where you want to go and where you are now, it’s time to review all the possible options to help you bridge the gap. 【小题4】 Write down as many options as possible. Once you have a complete list, work through each option in turn, identifying the pros and cons.

The final stage is about committing to what action you are actually going to take. It’s important to decide the steps you need to take to achieve each objective and create the actions. As a student, you will constantly be adding to and changing the path of your career plan. 【小题5】

Jenny is a telecommunications(电信) engineer. Excited about a new life, she decided to move with her husband and children to Australia. There, she did not find a job in her field. Every week, Jenny was applying for more than a hundred jobs advertised on online job advertising platforms. She now works as a cleaner at a small Malaysian cafe.

“I’m still looking for a job in my field in Australia. I’m not sure why I don’t hear from headhunters(物色人才者). I don’t get replies. I even try different roles. I even applied for factory work and customer service roles. I can’t get into any of them,” she says. Jenny has more than 10 years of work experience and a good command of the English language.

Jenny is one of many highly skilled migrants who struggles to find a job matching their qualifications, experience, and skillset. “I don’t think they recognize my qualifications. I showed my CV(简历) to many people, including some of my friends who are working in the field, and everyone says I’m qualified. I feel discouraged and sometimes lose the hopes to be able to work as an engineer in Australia. I am fed up with it,” she says. Finally, this creates the conditions where women like Jenny probably are often forced into jobs well below their skill level.

As Jenny notes, downward career mobility doesn’t only result in lower wages; it quickly makes women have low self-confidence. “It is a disappointment. I don’t feel like applying for jobs in my field anymore. Even if I work and gain Australian experience, I will be judged and will never be rewarded for who I am. So, I decided not to further my career and disappoint myself. I had to, choose between my passion and reality, So, I choose the reality,” she says.