What are the essential strengths and weaknesses of leaders in science? Strong scientific leadership is vital in driving scientific progress and innovation. The scientific community needs leaders who inspire others, make ethical decisions, and effectively communicate their findings to experts and the public.
Young scientists often struggle with the problem of being obliged to include authors in the author list who may not have contributed substantially – or not all. In particular, partners who only provide technology, patient samples, genetically modified organisms, or general infrastructure may be a reason for debate, although the research would be impossible without their contribution. How can you handle this problem?
Stress is a rather typical aspect of most research projects because every research project has five characteristic emotional phases: You start with naïve enthusiasm, become competent and disillusioned, you want to give up (the stress phase, slump or dip), you recover, and finally, you round up and exit. How do you survive PhD stress and postdoc stress?
There are many good reasons to go abroad. However, there are also a couple of unpleasant side effects of mobility that nobody dares to talk about.
Many PhD students and most postdocs want to pursue a career in academia. However, 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? What should you do?
Scientists are often excellent in their fields of expertise, but they may lack the leadership skills necessary to lead teams and manage projects. A leadership action plan is an efficient method to develop the necessary skills to become a group leader and pursue a successful career in science.
Becoming a long-term postdoc – isn’t this attractive? When discussing career paths in life sciences with postdocs, we hear on a regular basis the wish to escape from the “rat race of the professors” by accepting a kind of long-term senior postdoc position in academia. The idea is to obtain a permanent position (and thus a safe job in economic turbulent times), which encompasses at the same time an intellectually stimulating and creative profession with some (but not too many) responsibilities. Is this what you want?
For any scientist pursuing a career in academia, bibliographic metrics such as impact factors or citations are essential for measuring the impact and relevance of their research. But which bibliographic metrics are relevant, and which are misleading?
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.
Young researchers often ask: what is the ideal length of a postdoc? There are many different answers which depend on the field, the country, the university, the supervisor and funding institutions. To get good advice on the best length you should strategically investigate your field. Get some ideas here.