Why scientists should communicate hope whilst avoiding hype
“Exciting new line of attack for aggressive breast cancer” … Read more
“Exciting new line of attack for aggressive breast cancer” … Read more
In many undergrad STEM courses, high-stakes exams — such as mid-terms and finals — determine as much as 60-70% of the student’s overall grade. However, this emphasis on tests may be inadvertently putting some students at a disadvantage. Read more
I’ve already written about how PhDs can prepare for and decide whether or not they should pursue a postdoc. Here, I will discuss what more universities and funding agencies should be doing as stakeholders in training and employing researchers. Read more
Individual development plans or IDPs—multi-part worksheets that help junior researchers asses their skills and map out possible career paths—are often touted as valuable training tools. The US National Institutes of Health (NIH), for example, “strongly encourages” IDPs for all graduate students and postdoctoral researchers funded through the agency, and many US institutions have made them mandatory. Read more
You are coming towards the end of your PhD – so what next? There are many options open to you; one obvious one is to apply for a postdoc position. You should think carefully about what you want to do and not just pursue this through inertia. I have supervised many engineering PhDs and some postdocs in my 32 years as an academic. As Head of University College London’s Doctoral School, I oversee the environment and policy for 6000 doctoral candidates and 3200 postdocs. Read more
Many scientists hope to translate their discoveries into something useful and financially profitable. A biologist, for example, might hope to create a new line of health care products. Many use special grants or family resources to establish small companies. However, given the enormous challenges in the healthcare market, virtually every nascent enterprise needs outside funding; whether from wealthy “angel investors,” venture capital, or investment from large pharmaceutical and device developers. Read more
Let’s face it. Job prospects for PhD candidates and postdoctoral scientists are dismal. In 2012, a study on the biomedical research workforce, conducted by the National Institutes of Health and pictorialized by the American Society for Cell Biology, showed that there is a significant number of biology PhDs in the US who have resorted to doing non-science jobs. Those who stay in science face financial penalties: one 2017 Nature Biotechnology study demonstrated postdocs, on average, forfeit 20% of their earning potential within the first 15 years of completing their PhD program. Read more
A report from Vitae, a non-profit science-career advocacy organization in Cambridge, UK, found that while UK universities are seriously considering the mental health of PhD researchers, gaps and shortcomings in the graduate-programme system continue to keep many students from getting help. Read more
I keep my business cards in the top drawer of my desk at work. They are in two bulky boxes and take up a lot of space, but I like them there because I can see them every time I pull out a pen. They are a memento of how very often you can’t foresee where an opportunity lies – and therefore to seize each and every one of them. Read more
This piece was originally published on the BioMed Central blog network, part of Springer Nature. Read more