Tag Archives: atma ivancevic

Done is better than perfect: overcoming PhD perfectionism

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The most important thing a PhD will teach you is how and when to stop.

By Atma Ivancevic

Sometimes ‘OK’ is OK enough

I submitted my PhD thesis on the evolution of jumping genes in December 2016, four days before Christmas. It wasn’t perfect — in many ways, it wasn’t even good. By the end of my graduate studies, I had hoped to be a proficient programmer and an established scientist with multiple high impact papers. At the bare minimum, I expected to find evidence to support my hypothesis. Instead, my thesis was largely unpublished, my coding was preliminary, and my results were inconclusive. In my eyes, it was a failure. Continue reading →

Abandon ship, or learn to swim: the gamble young scientists must make

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For scientists, there’s nothing more frightening than a major grant rejection. With the scarcity of funding at the forefront of everyone’s thoughts, it’s time to talk about options, says Atma Ivancevic.

Job stability and a career in research are rarely put together. Science is a windy, grueling, uphill climb that might end abruptly at the edge of a cliff. Halloween is a particularly scary time for Australian scientists, as it signals the release of #NHMRC project grant results. Right now, many laboratories are facing difficult decisions due to rejected funding for next year. It’s not a surprise — we see it everywhere — yet it’s a shock that affects the entire scientific community. For early career researchers across the globe, it’s a timely reminder to carefully consider and plan for the future.

So, what are your options?

 

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Surviving academia as an early career researcher: an unreliable guide

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Being an early career researcher is exciting but terrifying. Use this guide to make the most of your PhD or postdoc experience, says Atma Ivancevic.

In today’s cut-throat world of grants and publications, being an early career researcher (ECR) can feel more than a little daunting. As an ECR myself, I can’t guarantee that this will help you make it to the other side unscathed. But I’m still here, and if you’re reading this, you probably are too. Outlined below are the things I’ve learnt during the ups and downs of post-PhD life.

 

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In sickness and in health: the importance of taking regular breaks

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Time away from work is crucial for daily productivity and personal development, says Atma Ivancevic.

A few weeks ago, I took my first sick day for the year. I was mentally and physically exhausted: disheartened by delays and failures in the laboratory, and constantly bad-tempered from headaches and stress. I started staying up late. I stopped exercising and gave up my hobbies. I ignored my friends, partner and family, irritated by the distractions they presented. I prioritized work to the extent that I became miserable and unproductive, existing on bad coffee and fast food.

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I was not alone. Continue reading →

Promoting open science from a pub: the Panton Principles

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Follow the Panton Principles to ensure your data is licensed and accessible for immediate reuse, says Atma Ivancevic.

In a world where scientific discovery is driven by impact factor and funding, the idea of open data may seem idealistic. But the open data movement has been growing since the early 2000s, spurred by the rise of big data and computational capabilities. For the sake of reproducibility in science, we need to encourage data sharing after publication.

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Founders of the Panton Principles at the Panton Arms, Cambridge UK.
Copyright Panton Principles Authors (CC by 3.0).

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#scidata16: Open data should be easy

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There’ll always be reasons not to share data. It’s time we stop making excuses and start making plans, says Atma Ivancevic.

On the morning of October 26, 2016, a group of scientists convened in London to discuss the state of open data. The third Publishing Better Science through Better Data conference kicked off with morning tea, international introductions, and furious scribing from @roystoncartoons. The premise was simple: “Today is all about being open”, said conference chair Iain Hrynaszkiewicz. We settled in to learn the advantages of data sharing at both the individual level and for the scientific community at large.

“Open data should be easy,” said Dr Jenny Molloy from the University of Cambridge as she explained the importance of building a data management plan. She pulled up a poster of a missing black backpack: “CASH REWARD” it read, “contains 5 years of research data which are crucial for my PhD thesis!”  I laughed along with everyone else, internally reflecting how similar my life had been before I discovered version control.

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Think you don’t need a research data management plan?

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How is the rise of data-intensive research changing what it means to be a scientist?

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Data-intensive research requires a new breed of scientist: interdisciplinary analysts who enjoy swimming in data, says Atma Ivancevic.

There has always been an emphasis on the generation of novel data in science. Being a scientist involves progressing from observation to hypothesis to experiment to output. In the past, a combination of scarce data to look at and low throughput machinery to make more has led to limited experimental outcomes.

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Atma Ivancevic

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