Last year, a friend of mine was applying for highly competitive PhD scholarships at Oxford, Cambridge and EMBL-EBI. She spent countless hours filling in applications, going through interviews, getting rejected and trying again. This process was tough – especially because she almost always made it into the final round. It was a learning experience for all of us. Read more
Many of our scientific journeys began long before we stepped foot onto a university campus. We may have had lifelong fascinations with the natural world, a desire to make some positive change, or simply a love of learning. We aspired to become like our science heroes, the Marie Curies and Bill Nyes of the world, and so embarked on the path towards becoming a scientist. Read more
A light grey room is filled with 23 grey desks, scattered in pens and books. In one corner sits a refrigerator packed with snacks. Next to it is a rice cooker. The walls are covered in pictures of fun lab memories. Amidst the clutter, some students joke and laugh; chat with a professor about their experimental procedures; analyze data on their laptops and unconsciously wrinkle their brows. Read more
This condensed social media guide for scientists provides key facts about how researchers report using social media and concrete examples of how you can use LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook to network, exchange scientific ideas, or advance a career. This is an all ages guide designed for scientists at any career stage. Read more
Good management can make an enormous difference in the success and productivity of any team. Unfortunately, new managers are rarely chosen because they have demonstrated skill at managing people. After 10-15 years of training, many scientists will be expected to run an academic lab or manage a team outside of academia with little experience and almost certainly no formal training. The kind of smarts and the types of skills that it takes to be a good scientist are not the same ones it takes to be a competent manager (much less a really good one). While getting your PhD or doing a postdoc, few science trainees have opportunities to work on their emotional intelligence or to hone their delegation skills. Read more
When I was in graduate school, I learned to create classes using backward design. Backward design encourages setting goals and then planning a course of action to meet those goals. This strategy can be applied to almost anything in life. “What do I want for dinner?,” for example, can transform into “I need dinner to be quick” or “let’s get rid of what’s about to go bad in the fridge.” … Read more
A degree in science is just one stepping stone on a long path with varied exits, curves and about-turns. Choosing wisely is not always an easy task, but there’s no right way to success: there’s a whole lot out there to choose from. Read more
That a career in science is demanding is unsurprising. But alongside long hours spent in the lab grappling with abstract concepts, the number of years of education it takes to enter the professional ranks and the increasingly unstable nature of such employment, exists a further demand: money. It’s no secret that science costs money — building the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and sequencing the human genome cost around €3 billion each — but what is less obvious is that entry to a career in science often requires considerable personal financial sacrifice. Read more
Publishing better science through better data journalism competition winner Erica Brockmeier … Read more
Scidata publishing better science through better data competition winner Jonathan Page. Read more