Sometimes, things go wrong in academia. The experiment isn’t working; you can’t find your results; the money is running out and you haven’t got any more. What can you do about it?
At the Naturejobs Career Expo in London this September, a panel of four academics got together to discuss their wildly different careers. Jim Usherwood from the Royal Veterinary College only spends his time doing research. Anita Hall from Imperial College London only does teaching. Lorraine Kerr and Louise Horsfall from the University of Edinburgh split their time (with different percentages) between research, teaching, business and management.
In this short film, Usherwood and Horsfall give some great advice on how to deal with things when they go wrong.
Usherwood recommends building a support network around you that can serve two purposes. One will be a group of friends that will come to the pub with you and commiserate with you. The other will be someone (your partner, perhaps) who can help you see the bigger picture in life.
Horsfall has been forunate and has not had anything go wrong…. yet! Come the end of 2014/beginning of 2015, she will be coming to the end of two grants. At the moment, she’s got two “irons in the fire” but they aren’t confirmed. “Make sure that you’ve always got something,” she advises.
Read more about How to navigate an academic career and about all the other conference sessions and workshops at the Naturejobs Career Expo in London.
Other Q&A videos from the Naturejobs Career Expo, London 2014
How important is having a mentor in your academic career?
How do you achieve work/life balance in academia?
Should I apply for a fellowship or a postdoc after my PhD?
What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced as a woman in science?
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