Postdocs are in a sandwich position between the crazy professor and other staff members. They need leadership and management skills to perform well. However, at most universities, there is no specific training to prepare postdocs for their current and future functions.
You see these big science stars who publish in Nature and Science. They have huge grants, a massive machinery of high-class technology, and a big team of highly ambitious postdocs and PhD students who hope to publish in Nature or Science. However, you are not like that. How do you handle feelings of inferiority when you compare yourself to these science stars? And how do you become better anyway?
Making a career in science is the result of careful planning, making many complex decisions, luck, and regular course corrections over a longer period (I presume 5 to 10 years on average). To find your dream job in science, you have to invest quite a lot of thinking and work. Finf here eight tips will bring you much closer to your dream job in science.
Social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and TicToc are everywhere. Many scientists wonder whether they are missing out on something and ask themselves: “Should I create public LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and TicToc profiles as a scientist?” The surprising answer is “No”!
After several decades of fighting for equal rights for women in academia, there are new rules and guidelines on the European and national level to support the career of women in science. One strategy is to aim for an equal distribution of genders in all academic settings. Surprisingly, these critical strategies for gender equality have some unwanted side effects that impair specifically the careers of young female scientists.
Interestingly, most young and often more mature researchers can not easily define what “a successful career in science” means. This question is highly relevant – for example, when looking for a new position, joining a scientific community, or hiring staff members. What is your idea of a successful career in science?
How to get more funding? Avoid these mistakes! Writing grant proposals in life sciences is tedious, and evaluating grant proposals is even more tedious. Quite often, the reviewers end up with a small number of outstanding proposals and a vast number of excellent proposals, which have to be ranked based on tiny differences in quality.
If you feel like you’re always walking on eggshells, your supervisor may be a narcissist and abuse you emotionally. Narcissists often use manipulation, control, and gaslighting to keep their staff members in line. Characteristic signs include micromanagement, excessive control, constant criticism, and put-downs. What can you do to get over narcissistic abuse?
When discussing success in science, there is a vast number of success parameters that are mostly incompatible with each other. I have listed below – in random order – several success indicators in science that may help characterize a person, a group, or an institution as “successful in science.”
There are many science job websites where scientists can upload their CVs to find a job. Thus, should you create and upload several professional CVs on these job websites?
Probably not!
