In order to get grants or academic positions it is often necessary to show scientific independence. But how do you do that? The following strategies will help young scientists to develop and demonstrate scientific independence.
Read More
Young scientists often get contradictory advice whether they need teaching expertise to become a professor or not. Every university will confirm that teaching is the core expertise of a professor, however, successful researchers may see teaching as a waste of time and unimportant to get a position.
Read More
Choosing the best postdoc position for your future career in science is essential. However, most young scientists have no plan how to find the position(s) that fit best and how to choose with care. A number of key questions will help you to find the postdoc position which fits your needs, talents and skills.
Read More
Young scientists often think that a long publication list is crucial for an academic career and that obtaining multiple co-authorships are a clever strategy to make their publication list longer. Is this true?
Read More
We all know that scientific fraud is bad for science and society in general. However, apart from these general considerations it is necessary and effective to make young scientists aware of the fact that scientific misconduct ruins their personal integrity and destroys their careers. The following 16 personal reasons will convince most young scientists that scientific misconduct is a bad idea.
Read More
Young scientists often struggle with the problem that they are obliged to include authors in the author list who may not have contributed substantially – or not all. Especially partners who only provide technology, patient samples, genetically modified organisms or general infrastructure may be a reason for debate, although without their contribution, the research would be impossible. How can you handle this problem?
Read More
Many PhD students and most postdocs want to pursue a career in academia. But is it a good idea to admit that you want to become a professor? Would you appear overambitious or pretentious? Or does it ruin your career to hide your ambitions from potential mentors and decision-makers?
Read More
Many young researchers struggle with their work-life balance. Especially for researchers with a family, it is challenging to divide their time and energy between home and work. The question “is it possible to be a parent and have a career in research?” keeps many researchers up at night.
Read More
Young scientists often produce negative results. All experiments were done correctly – but there was no difference between test and control. They get conflicting advice from supervisors and ethicists. Some say that publishing negative results is a waste of resources and ruins their careers. Others say that ‘not publishing negative results is unethical’ and promotes the reproducibility crisis. What should young scientists do in such a situation?
Read More
Being a professor is amazing: a lot of academic freedom to investigate and teach very interesting subjects and a considerable and secure salary until retirement. However, the way in which to obtain this position can be pretty hard and more than 90% of all PhD holders find a job *outside* of academia.
Read More
