Cory
Der Admin
Joined: 02 Oct 2008
Posts: 19
Location: San Marcos, Texas
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 Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 9:44 pm Post subject: Six Tips for Junior Researchers |
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This is from the American Psychosomatic Society:
Six Tips for Junior Scholars
The page is here and it has some good quick advice.
Jane Leserman, PhD, University of North Carolina
While participating in the career development workshop at APS, it became clear that some of the presenter’s career trajectories were orderly, linear and logical. Other panel members had career courses resembling trees growing in shaded forests, bending every which way to reach the light of day. As a medical sociologist doing psychosomatic research, my career course more closely followed the circuitous path. After some soul searching about how I managed to stay employed and active in psychosomatic research during 17 years on soft money, I came up with “Six Tips for Junior Scholars”. These won’t help you win any races, or get you a ride on the New York subway, but they might help you stay in the driver’s seat while riding on your chosen career path.
1. Good, Good, Good, Good Collaborations
It is unlikely that any one person will have all the skills needed to do multidisciplinary research. Collaboration with other professionals can help you get access to the skills and expertise that you may lack. Examples of good collaborators might be subspecialty physicians (e.g., cardiologists, oncologists, gastroenterologists), research scientists (e.g., immunologists, neurobiologists, psychologists), and other professionals (e.g., epidemiologists, statisticians). Remember, a good collaboration involves working with persons who have complementary skills; do not try to duplicate yourself. It may be tempting to work with people who have similar backgrounds, but it is hard to justify duplication on a grant, and responsibilities are less clear cut when our primary skills overlap with others. Collaborators (or mentors) who have a good track record with funding can also be extremely useful. Learning strategies for getting funding are skills that we all need.
You may wonder what you can do to entice other professionals to work with you. Often the promise of future publications is enough to get an immunologist to discount your assays or a subspecialist to diagnose your patients. To make collaboration work, you will need to make clear agreements at the start about how decisions are made, the responsibilities of each person (e.g., who will do what), and authorship/leadership issues (e.g., who will be first and last author, who will be principal investigator on the grant). You may feel that, “we are all reasonable people” and that, “everyone will be fair.” But it is best to be clear and up front in the beginning so that there are no misunderstandings and everyone knows what to expect.
2. Have your Hands in Just Enough Pies
Throughout your career you will likely juggle the issue of specialization versus diversification. While it might be ideal and feel less scattered to have one line of research, it helps to have some other irons in the fire. With the current funding climate, it is good to have several alternative game plans if your primary project does not get an enthusiastic response from reviewers. Having several collaborations and areas of research will make it less devastating if one project gets the hook.
3. It’s Not Science Unless it’s Published (i.e. learn to write and write often!)
You may have the most interesting, earth-shaking research findings, but if you do not publish them in peer-reviewed journals, it is not science. The ability to write clearly is one of the most important skills you need if you are to succeed in research. If writing does not come easily to you, then take a scientific writing class or workshop. Scientific writing is like any other skill, it can be learned.
4. Develop a Specific Research Skill
During your career, it is useful to develop a particular research skill or set of skills that is useful in a number of different venues. For example, if you have learned to perform a special assay, it may be useful in several areas of research. Your expertise could include knowledge of a specific laboratory methodology, a difficult measurement tool, a diagnostic procedure, or the ability to write clearly. By providing your skill on several projects, you can accomplish both collaboration and diversification.
5. Get Real
When designing research projects, avoid the grandiose and impossible. While it may be tempting to want to change the world, make sure the research topic you select is doable. Don’t start your career designing multisite treatment studies, or research where it is near impossible to recruit enough patients. Research should be fun. It is not going to be fun if you design a nightmare. It’s also not likely to get you the preliminary data you will need to get funded.
6. Have a Shoulder to Cry on
We all need someone to whine to and hold our hand when we get a nasty review on a paper or grant. Early in our careers it may be difficult to tell when a review is a clear “reject” and when a few well-crafted revisions might yield a publication. Seeking the advice of mentors or more experienced investigators can help put reviewers’ comments into perspective. Remember, no matter our age, or experience level we all struggle with feeling inadequate and feeling like imposters from time to time. It helps to develop a thick skin so that in tough times we can jump right back in the game. |
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