Monthly Archives: October 2016

Nature India Photo Contest 2016 is now open!

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After two immensely successful seasons, the Nature India Photo Contest is back with its 2016 edition. 

The theme for this year’s contest is simply “Nature” — but, as always, we will be looking for some inherent connect of your photo with science — the more the science element in your photo, the merrier!

NI Photo Contest collage

The theme for our inaugural photo competition in 2014 was “Science & technology in India”. Last year, it was “Patterns”, and both years we saw some breathtaking entries from across the world. You might want to take a look at the winning entries of the Nature India Photo Contest 2014 and 2015 for some inspiration or the entries that made it to the top to get an idea of what we look for while selecting winners.

As for the prizes — three lucky winners chosen by our editorial and design team will be featured on Nature India. The winning entries stand a chance of being on the cover of one of our forthcoming print publications. The winner and two runners-up will receive a copy of the Nature India Special Annual Volume 2016 and a bag of goodies (which includes Collector’s first issues of Nature, November 1869 and Scientific American, August 1845; and some other keepsakes) from the Nature Research Group.

The contest is open to everyone – any nationality, any age, any profession. The only keyword for the subject of the picture is: ‘Nature’ — from the tiniest to the biggest, the quirkiest to the simplest and from the disturbing to the placid. You could use whatever camera you wish to – even your cell phone – as long as the photograph you send us high quality, unedited, original, in digital format and of printable quality. Just make sure you are not violating any copyrights. Also, no obscene, provocative, defamatory, sexually explicit, or other inappropriate content please.

Photographs will be judged for novelty, creativity, quality and printability.

Please send your entries in jpeg format to npgindia@nature.com  with your name and contact details. Please mention “Nature India Photo Contest 2016” in the subject line of your email. The photograph must be accompanied by a brief caption (please see the photo captions here for reference) explaining the subject of the picture along with the date, time and place it was taken . We will accept a maximum of two entries per person. The last date for submissions is November 25, 2016. If you are on social media, please use the hashtag #NatureIndphoto to talk about thecontest or to check out our latest updates.

So, get, set, click and send!

Finding job satisfaction as a science strategist

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Let’s talk career with Naturejobs

Every week, Indigenus brings you some interesting and relevant posts from sister blog Naturejobs, a leading online resource for scientists in academia and industry who seek guidance in developing their careers. The blog delivers a mix of expert advice and personal stories to help readers review, set and achieve their career goals.

This week we have Naturejobs Editor Jack Leeming speaking to Gautham Venugopalan. After completing his PhD and postdoc at The University of California, Berkeley in the biophysics of cancer cell growth, Gautham completed a science policy fellowship sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He describes how that experience led him to a job as an analyst at Gryphon Scientific, a consultancy focused on public health and national security.

Gautham Venugopalan

Gautham Venugopalan{credit}Richard Novak{/credit}

Tell me how you planned your career path.

I could tell you a story that I thought I should do this, and then I thought I should do that, and it all prepared me for this grand thing. But let’s be real. That’s not how that works.

Why did you get a PhD?

I have a history of just jumping off and doing things that I’ve never done before.  I went into the biology program in my senior year. And I decided to try grad school. At the time I was thinking, all these programs that I’m applying to are really solid, I’ll have an interesting skill set that I can use to do something, and I’ll work that out.

Did you do much outside the lab during your training?

I ended up starting a nonprofit in grad school with a few of my friends. I spent time at the career center at UCSF; I did a fellowship at the U.S. State Department.


And when did you decide you wanted to be a consultant?

I didn’t sit there thinking I want to go for a consulting job as much as I found a job that had a lot of the mix of things that I wanted professionally and personally.

What does it take to do your job?

In any consulting role, you have to be comfortable with ambiguity. If there wasn’t ambiguity, they wouldn’t be hiring you.

They want people who can understand complex scientific concepts. They want someone who can understand both the big picture and the details, and communicate that strongly to other people who don’t have the same expertise. Can you explain biology to someone who is setting policy, or to someone who is using that to make a decision?  Can you distil things down and make evidence-based recommendations?

You said planning for interviews guided how you wrote your resume. What did you mean?

I went to an interviewing workshop, and the thing that they really emphasised was being able to tell stories in interviews. You think about it from this perspective: what is the story you would tell someone who wants to hire you? You want to make sure that the things you are focusing on are the things that people want to hire you for. No one cares in my current job if I can run PCR or do sterile cell culture, but that was a big chunk of what I was doing.

It’s very different if someone is going to hire you for your hands than for your perspective.

Instead of writing a resume, I wrote stories about how I would answer the questions in the interviews, and that helped me think how I should write those bullet points on my resume. It was a lot easier for me to go from storytelling to bullet points than to think “these are the most important things I’ve done.”

You can read more from Gautham here.

Nature India partners with British Council for FameLab India

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Famelab PosterNature India is parterning with the British Council for the debut of the international FameLab competitions in India. FameLab is one of the biggest science communication competitions in the world, where young researchers compete to explain a scientific concept in just three minutes.

Nature India will support the training of the young researchers in the run up to the final competitions in India, scheduled in January 2017. Along with trainers from the UK and our science communication workshop partners Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance, we will train young scientists in presentation and communication skills.

FameLab was started by Cheltenham Festivals, UK in 2005 and British Council got involved with it two years later. The competitions have now expanded into a  global programme taking place in 27 countries with various partners. Nature India is happy to be associated with the competitions in India.

Researchers in India can apply to be part of the competitions here. If shortlisted, they will be invited to attend regional training sessions aimed at grooming them for the national competition. The winner of FameLab India will travel to the Cheltenham Science Festival in the UK to represent India at the FameLab International grand final.

Nature India will be part of all four regional workshops in India training the contestants in science writing and science communication:

South India 27-29 November 2016 University of Kerala
East India 04-06 December 2016 KIIT Bhubaneswar
North India 08-10 December 2016 IIT Delhi
West India 13-15 December 2016 IIT Bombay

In the run up to the competitions, here‘s Nature India‘s guest blog series on the British Council website that hopes to get the attention of all budding science communicators.

So come, join the fun of talking science!

What are scientists good at (other than science?)

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Let’s talk career with Naturejobs

Every week now, Indigenus brings you some interesting and relevant posts from sister blog Naturejobs, a leading online resource for scientists in academia and industry who seek guidance in developing their careers. The blog delivers a mix of expert advice and personal stories to help readers review, set and achieve their career goals.

This week we have a guest post from Naturejobs journalism competition winner Ashish Nair. Ashish is a researcher who discovered to his amazement that his written thesis apparently described a cogent, well-executed PhD project – despite all evidence to the contrary. He now invests more time in his writing. He is especially interested in travel and science journalism.

The cornucopia of skills owned by scientists

In today’s competitive world, it’s become increasingly common for scientists to question where their skills and knowledge will fit outside the lab. Academic research is a harsh place, littered with the victims of funding decisions and research projects that didn’t quite go to plan. The idea, even amongst scientists, that we are highly specialised professionals with no role outside the lab has become a persistent limitation in this search. So, what is the need for a scientist in any other capacity?

Ideas-naturejobs-blog

{credit}TOPP_YIMGRIMM/THINKSTOCK{/credit}

The truth is that the average scientist is no mere lab rat. We are highly creative individuals, and our art is funneled through a labyrinth of practical parameters and peer-review procedures to yield solutions to real-world problems. After all, what is the scientific process? We identify a problem or a gap in existing knowledge. We then process reams of information that have been validated by repeated parsing through the filters of academic cynicism, slowly creating a solution to the problem.

Ashish Nair

Ashish Nair

Finally, we make this solution a reality, using a disciplined approach to cut through the dross and reveal the gold within. On the way we have to navigate practical considerations such as gravity; animal ethics; proteins that won’t refold properly. It is this unique combination of creative energy and attention to practical detail that is the soul of good science; and is applicable to any field and vocation.

More importantly, science demands that we constantly learn. We’re all into highly adaptable individuals who have the drive and mental flexibility to adjust ourselves to new skills and occupations. Even the academic cynicism we’re required to cultivate is a valuable tool outside of science. We’re expected to judge a concept and its application quickly and efficiently; not just in terms of practicality, but also in terms of financial realism. No board of bankers is more hard-headed than a panel of grant reviewers. This also enables us to tell snake oil from the next best idea. We know what’s really present in that new miracle pill or skin treatment and if we don’t, we know where to look for answers.

By the same token, scientists are also excellent salespeople. After all, we have to market our research to secure funding from oft-skeptical donors who may not have the understanding or patience for the fine detail. A successful scientist is armed with a range of verbal and written presentation skills, allowing them to showcase their work in the best possible light. And that’s a talent worth having, no matter your profession.

In summary, the average scientist is a wholesome blend of technician, odd-jobber, salesperson, researcher, writer, presenter and a general jack-of-all-trades. Even chefs, since we prepare buffers and broths on a regular basis; and which human epicurean is more difficult to please than a dish of cells requiring just the right amounts of antibiotic and growth supplements? Finally, we are also teachers. We learn skills and techniques from our supervisors. And we pass them on in turn. The question, therefore, is not what alternative occupation may suit a scientist. It should be which occupation deserves the repertoire of skills and knowledge that only a scientist can bring.

[Originally posted on 29 Aug 2016 | Naturejobs]

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What does it take to be a mentor?

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Let’s talk career with Naturejobs

Beginning this week, Indigenus will bring you some interesting and relevant posts from sister blog Naturejobs, a leading online resource for scientists in academia and industry who seek guidance in developing their careers. The blog delivers a mix of expert advice and personal stories to help readers review, set and achieve their career goals.

We kick off with a guest blog by Nirmala Hariharan, an adjunct assistant professor at UC Davis’ School of Medicine, where she mentors in and researches molecular signalling pathways for basic cardiovascular sciences.

Being a great M.E.N.T.O.R will help you just as much as your students, says Nirmala Hariharan

Guest contributor Nirmala Hariharan

Mentoring is one of the most crucial roles played by faculty on a day to day basis. As a mentor, you provide scientific and technical guidance, and serve as the pillar of support for your team of students, postdocs and trainees. Mentoring can consume a lot of your time, and be very demanding, but has several long term benefits that will help you run a successful lab. Here’s what a great M.E.N.T.O.R provides for their students.

Nirmala Hariharan

Nirmala Hariharan

Motivation. You’re the constant source of motivation for your team; you need to see the big picture and guide your team through the ups and downs. You’re the leader that inspires excellence and encourages scientific innovation. As a good mentor, you must recognise the true potential of your mentees – even if they don’t – and know how to bring out the best in them. In short, you should make them realise what they’re capable of.

Emotional Support and Connection. As a mentor, you need to provide emotional support to your mentees as they struggle to find their place in science. Career decisions are strongly impacted by the irregularities of life generally, so be willing to discuss and share incidents from your life that helped you tackle problems in science, and balance your personal life with your work.

Connecting with your mentees on an emotional and personal level helps them recognise that you’re available when they need support and encourages them to reach out when they need it. An emotional connection helps in building a mutually beneficial, professional relationship of respect and friendship, which will hopefully last for many years.

Networking. One of the most important roles of a mentor is to help mentees build strong professional relationships by introducing them to your own network. Conferences are fantastic avenues to network, and giving credit to your mentee and directly introducing them to your friends and colleagues has tremendous advantages for both of you.

Teaching. A good mentor has to be a good teacher. Your day to day tasks will include teaching experimental procedure, scientific concepts and writing, and helping with data analysis and general troubleshooting. Mentoring requires tremendous patience and – importantly – also requires allowing your mentees to make mistakes and learn from them themselves.

Opportunities for Career Growth. Providing opportunities for your mentee’s career growth is extremely important, so make sure to discuss goals often, and encourage mentees to think about their progress.

There are many ways you can provide opportunities for career development to your students – review their CV and professional materials, encourage them to apply for awards that demonstrate their excellence, discuss potential job opportunities and alternative career choices, and teach them how to excel at self-promotion. The more your mentees grow in their careers, the more satisfaction and recognition you’ll get for being an awesome mentor.

Role model. Ultimately to be a good mentor you have to be an excellent role model. Practice what you preach, demonstrate integrity in your professional and personal interactions, and show by example how to balance work and life. Be resilient, handle rejections, efficiently manage time and make sure to be a caring mentor.

It’s never too early to learn how to mentor – start now if you haven’t already. Mentoring is different from classroom teaching and requires hours of personal interaction. Getting over your inhibitions or issues with communication are important to excel as a mentor. Have patience and keep developing as you mentor people with different personalities. Remember it takes time to build trust with your mentee and you’ll get better with time and practice. Get feedback, and take suggestions and negative critiques seriously, so you can improve.

Being a mentor means being a ‘Guru’, a Sanskrit word that literally means ‘one who dispels darkness’ – a person that shows the way to pure knowledge. Mentoring is one of the most rewarding and exciting aspects of being a faculty member. Enjoy the ride because the more you give, the more you get back.

[Originally posted on 01 Feb 2016 | Naturejobs]