Early career researchers have an essential role to play in the move towards open research, says #SciData17 writing competition winner Sarah Lemprière.
Category Archives: Collaboration
Using design principles to inform scientific posters
Amanda Butler, Amy Chan and Helen Lycett share their knowledge of making great posters.
When it comes to communicating science, there’s a lot to think about. Design is an important and often overlooked aspect —many researchers focus most of their efforts on content.
But design deserves at least equal, if not more, attention. Fortunately for scientists, design is a science and can be learned. Get more scientific with your design — it’ll help you get a message across.
Posters are a popular way to showcase new research to the scientific community. The use of intelligent design principals is vital to maximise the impact of your poster. Here’s some advice for making better posters. Continue reading
How will open data advance scientific discovery?
SciData writing competition winner Sarah Lemprière explains how making the world’s deluge of data open will help science
As a global population we are generating more data than ever before. The International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates that by 2020 over 80 million gigabytes of data will be produced every minute. Each second, the world will generate enough data for a 50-year-long Netflix binge. Scientific investigation is a big part of that: every day huge amounts of data are generated on everything from the behaviour of supernovae to the 3D structure of proteins in the brain. When the world’s largest radio telescope comes online in 2020, it alone will produce 180,000 gigabytes of data a minute.
Previously, most of this scientific data would never be made public — the need to produce a compelling story for a journal article means that many datasets showing ‘negative’ results will never be published.
Building skills through a gig
Some researchers are providing short-term services such as writing science news articles and consulting on industry products to bolster their skills outside the lab. These side gigs can be valuable for career development, says Josh Henkin. (See related story here.)
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The power of data shared
In a world of interdisciplinary research, we need to make data freely available, says Katie Ember
Better Science through Better Data writing competition winner Katie Ember
Every Monday in the University of Edinburgh’s School of Chemistry, the Campbell group gather in Room 233 for a lab meeting. If you’re hosting the meeting, you bring cake. Or you forget and everyone pretends they’re not feeling a bit hungry and disappointed. Then, two scientists in the group present that month’s work.
Every Friday in the Centre for Regenerative Medicine, a fifteen minute cycle from the School of Chemistry, the Forbes group file into the first floor meeting room. After battling with the “motion-activated” lights, we all talk through what we’ve achieved that week.
The reason I go to two lab meetings in one week is because I’m attempting to detect liver damage using laser light. It’s multidisciplinary and it’s hard: requiring input from biologists, physicists and transplant surgeons from different institutes. The end result is that I spend about four hours each week not doing science but discussing it. Whilst this may seem like a strange way to do research, I cannot overstate how important it is. Continue reading
Turning scientific scrutiny on science itself
A proactive approach could help researchers contribute to solving many of the problems they encounter in academia
Naturejobs journalism competition winner Jiska van der Reest
Communication: talk to peers and the general public
Effective communication will improve the value of scientific discoveries, says Eleni Wood
As scientists, our work is often driven by data collection and results. But a key step in the scientific process, and one that increases the value of our findings, is the effective communication of our investigative processes and results. Science communication is not only important within our fields for the advancement of our disciplines – communication to other audiences also influences the public perception and credibility of scientists and the work we do.
Finding mentorship
A quest for the perfect mentor might be doomed from the start – but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try
Naturejobs journalism competition winner Eileen Parkes
Having spent years trying to find the perfect mentor, I’ve learned there is more to mentorship than first appears.
Mentorship is given when someone with expertise and experience takes an aspiring scientist under their wing, to share their knowledge and advice, and to provide support and guidance in career development. It is distinct from coaching, or sponsorship, where the coach can give critical feedback or a sponsor may intervene directly in a protégé’s career. Importantly, mentorship is driven by the mentee, who should define their own needs for mentorship and career development.
Breaking the curse on science
Open data can help us avoid inherent biases in our work, says Ayushi Sood
Better Science through Better Data writing competition winner Ayushi Sood
Recently, an economist friend told me that “scientific inquiry is inherently cursed.” At first I was offended. But I had to agree after he elaborated further – science today suffers from something economists enigmatically call the “winner’s curse”. Continue reading
Video: Can old data help us with new science?
Old photos, logbooks and papers are a gold mine for fields such as ecology and climatology. In this short video and accompanying feature, meet the researchers who have turned to historical materials to investigations scientific questions about long-term environmental changes.