Tag Archives: Gaia Donati

Postdocs and early-career researchers: be more than a name on a website

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After a few months working as an associate editor at Nature Photonics, chief editor Oliver Graydon asked Gaia Donati if the role was what she had imagined it to be. She answered that in most aspects it had, with one significant exception: she hadn’t realised that finding referees to assess submitted manuscripts would be such a daunting task. Here, Gaia urges peer reviewers to make things easier by setting up a personal web page outlining their research experience and interests.

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Don’t stay in the shade, says Gaia Donati {credit}Patrick Michelberger {/credit}

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Open research: Open up to open access

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Six myths about open access were addressed in an open research workshop at the 2015 Naturejobs Career Expo in London.

Guest contributor Gaia Donati

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{credit}Image credit: Gaia Donati{/credit}

How open-minded do you feel about open access publishing?

The Open Research workshop at the 2015 London Naturejobs Career Expo, led by Mithu Lucraft (head of Open Research Marketing at NPG) and Ros Pyne (Research and Development manager of the Open Research Group at Springer Nature, who manage the Open Research portal), explored several myths about open access publishing, now a well-established alternative route to disseminating scientific results.

Myth 1: Open access benefits readers, but not authors

Open access is great for readers, but the advantage for researchers may seem less obvious at first. A study of open access and subscription-only PNAS articles found that earlier, more frequent citations characterize the former category when compared with the latter. A more recent study of the citations for papers published in Nature Communications (before it became fully open access) seems to confirm these findings and extends the observations to downloads and social-media interest, with open access articles experiencing higher downloads. Interestingly, these also appear to be sustained over a longer period of time – “attention lasts longer,” said Lucraft. In this way, open access – together with similar initiatives such as open data – may well be a primary route to accelerate and facilitate science while ensuring reproducibility. Continue reading →

Careers in academia: Different options

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The traditional career path in academia isn’t the only option available for scientists, say panelists at the 2015 Naturejobs Career Expo in London.

Guest contributor Gaia Donati

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L-R: Frances Ashcroft, James Hadfield, Frederique Guesdon, Lisa Fox and Anna Price. {credit}Image credit: Julie Gould{/credit}

Are you close to finishing your degree, and tempted by the academic environment you came to know well? If yes, then you’re in good company: according to the Vitae Careers in Research survey from 2015, 77% of researchers in the UK aspire to a position in academia, and 60%  expect to find an academic job. However, the Royal Society estimates that only 3.5% of PhD graduates land a permanent position as researchers or lecturers. But all hope isn’t lost: alternative options for those wishing to stay in academia exist, as panelists discussed at the Naturejobs Career Expo in London on Friday 18 September 2015.

The panel offered a refreshing perspective on some options that allow scientists to maintain the link with academic research without facing years of potential postdoctoral insecurity. Dr Anna Price, chair of the panel, left academic research because she lacked a specific question to answer as a scientist. As the head of Researcher Development at Queen Mary University of London, she now works with researchers on planning their careers and honing their transferable skills. Price is well aware that academia is a competitive sector; for this reason, and from her own career development perspective, she introduced four panelists to talk about traditional academic positions as well as roles at the crossing between research and management. Continue reading →

Career paths: Planning your route

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Mixed impressions about your ‘dream job’ should not let you down when they do not match your initial expectations, says Gaia Donati.

Guest contributor Gaia Donati.

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Dream jobs might not always be what you expect.

Planning a career path is a bit like committing to a relationship – you go through phases. First comes the infatuation, leading you to enthusiastically catch any opportunity to establish contacts and gain experience in your chosen sector. As you discover previously unsuspected facets of your ‘dream job’, a few doubts arise: you may find out that the competition is fiercer than you expected, that permanent positions are scarce or that it will take years for you to earn a decent salary. All of a sudden you question your choice altogether, and you are left with a menacingly dark cloud over your head.

Having defended my PhD thesis in experimental quantum optics at the end of July, the idea of my ‘dream career path’ must now become real – it’s time to find that job. I decided I would look into a career in science publishing and journalism, but as I moved the first steps in this direction I found myself surrounded by doubts and unknowns: do I wish to leave academia? What if I keep hopping from one internship to another?

After a few years in the laboratory and a stint at cutting-edge research for my PhD project, I ruled out the postdoc option. My future occupation should combine my love for science with my passion for communicating scientific advances to wider audiences; as a journalist, Continue reading →