Research lives and cultures

Dr Sara Vasconcelos is an Associate Professor based at the University of Toronto in the Institute of Biomedical Engineering with a research team in the Toronto General Hospital: University Health Network (UHN). Her research focuses on tissue engineering approaches to address cardiovascular problems. Imagine getting your first grant as a PI and not been able to take it because of visa issues for your partner. That’s the arduous path Sara found herself on, before moving to Canada.

Imagine getting your first grant as a PI and not been able to take it because of visa issues for your partner. This is what happened to Sara, who had gained her first grant as a PI while working in the US. Sara had the modesty and courage to go back to a Postdoc position, before applying for a second time to gain independent funding and be able to start a research group in Canada.

Her early experience of the research process at the start of her PhD in Brazil taught her to be meticulous in the planning of experimental work. The level of funding for research is highly uneven across the world and the more limited access to research funding in these early years of her PhD shaped her discipline in being thoughtful during experimental design.

The scope of her learning expanded during her PhD as she was given the opportunity to work in part in the US; the more generous funding situation in the US allowed her to think differently about her research.

As a foreign scientist, learning to work and write in English were important stages in her professional development; she enjoyed learning about different cultures.

Her US PhD mentor in Alabama invited her to come back for an additional research visit before she transitioned to a Postdoc in Kentucky. The Postdoc period was a transition for her work from in vitro to in vivo research.

An ongoing source of support has been a buddy group she is part of, with other women. They meet once a month and support each other to navigate the wave of challenging situation in their academic progression. Protecting time and managing priorities remain one of the biggest challenges. Her buddy peer group is an important anchor when facing the tumultuous time of a building a research team.

Sara feels that the early years of building her team were easier when she still had a small team. Now, with an expanding team, finding a way to manage the many institutional and research demands whilst maintaining a high level of support for her team means revisiting her approach to leading her group.

As a busy research group leader who still wants to hear the details of each research project she supervises, but with new global responsibilities as a team leader on larger multi strand projects, Sara’s approach to supervision, delegation and research leadership is fast evolving.

Sara shares that for her, managing well researchers is about starting from a mindset of curiosity in the way she engages her team member, not assuming that what would work for her will work for others.

Questions are the pivots of good supervision and research management.

Questions take us away from making assumption.

Questions create a space for others to think.

Questions build ownership.

Questions allow clarity in communication.

As a more senior academic, Sara is now involved in institutional committee work. Making change happen in committee work can be incredibly challenging. Sara has learned that having partners/ champions on committees and steering groups help to promote the agenda of what you think need to change. Creating partnership with others to build more voices to influence change is part of what Sara is doing in furthering her leadership involvement.

Listening to our conversation will prompt your thinking:

• What is your approach to adapting to setbacks when things your really wanted to

Prof. Thushan de Silva is an Infectious Diseases Clinician Scientist at The University of Sheffield.

His research journey started during his medical training and continued thanks to several clinical fellowships that have allowed him protected time to build his research portfolio alongside continuing clinical work.

Thushan is currently working as a Senior Clinical Lecturer at The University of Sheffield. He was heavily involved in SARS-CoV-2 research through the COVID-19 pandemic and was recognised with an MBE in 2021 for services to COVID-19 research.

It took Thushan several attempts to obtain a funded Clinical PhD but this did not deter him from following a mentor to undertake a PhD at an MRC centre in the Gambia. This was the perfect hub for a clinician interested in infectious diseases to experience both field work and laboratory research.

This extended period of research in the Gambia during an MRC Clinical Research Training Fellowship and a Wellcome Trust Intermediate Clinical Fellowship provided a fertile terrain to build his research portfolio, but also to understand the culture of undertaking research in a Global South context. This gave him the time to build a strong network of colleagues and collaborators committed to undertake work in the African context.

Researchers often worry about changing research topics at the end of their PhD or Postdoc. Thushan did change his research direction and accepts that it can be difficult to articulate a congruent and powerful narrative about a shift in research direction to the funders. His logic of choice came from feeling more inspired to continue his work on vaccine development instead of remaining in the area of pathogenesis of HIV-2 infection and the molecular epidemiology of HIV-1 and HIV-2 in West Africa.

Identifying the right balance for compartimentalising research and clinical practice is a crucial step for Clinical academics. It is likely that it will require substantial negotiations in the clinical setting and the academic department.

It may be worth encouraging new clinical academics and clinical PhD students to explore what is working and not working for them. They may not know until they have started. Getting them to become aware of what is going to be manageable in the long term is essential. If a pattern of clinical and academic work has been set but is not working, or is just not manageable, encouraging clinical PGR or clinical academics to not give themselves such a hard time, but go back to the drawing board and explore alternative options for work patterns.

Listening to our conversation will prompt your thinking:

• Are the boundaries between your research and clinical responsibilities working for you?
• Are the boundaries between your research and clinical responsibilities working for you, or are you trying to be a superhuman?
• Could you negotiate an alternative pattern of work that would allow you to be more focused and effective in both area of research and clinical practice?
• How are your clinical and academic environments supporting and valuing your dual career?
• What additional research skills could you consider gaining early on in your clinical research life?

Not everyone can say that their PhD recruitment interview took place from an exotic place; well Rebecca started her research career following a phone interview whilst she was travelling in Borneo. To me, this is an interesting career trait of not seeing limitations in a less than perfect situation, but a positive attitude in believing in positive outcomes.

Dr Rebecca Dumbell is a senior lecturer at Nottingham Trent University. She is steadily building a research team having gained her academic position just when we entered the Covid pandemic. She has already acquired many valuable practices as a new PI, from practising routine reflection to co-producing agreements on communication approaches with her team.

It took Rebecca 2 postdoctoral periods prior to jumping into the PI role as a lecturer at Nottingham Trent University. Her transition to gaining an academic position, from the time she started to apply for position seems to have been fairly quick. This likely stems from the many opportunities she took throughout her PhD and Postdoc positions.

She describes the building of her network as being of particular importance in her career transition. Her strategy in choosing opportunities on the basis of what she enjoys has clearly paid off in her speedy transition. She is all too aware that academics need to make wise choices in the opportunities they take. Her mantra of “what can I say no to, to say yes to” written on a Post-it note on her desk is a reminder that staying focused and strategic is needed to not fall into overwhelm.

Listening to our conversation will prompt your thinking:

• How each small leadership experiences build on each other for a transition into an academic role
• How a simple practice of pausing and reflecting is a powerful habit
• Why building research group practices such as co-creating an approach to communication can help everyone in the team

Dr Joby Cole is an Infectious Disease and Acute Medicine Consultant for the National Health Services and an honorary lecturer at the University of Sheffield. He has held several clinical fellowships to enable him to undertake research alongside his clinical work. His current interest to give all patients the opportunity to get involved in clinical research projects as participation improves outcomes. He is also interested in contributing to novel ways of detecting microbial resistance that would allow fast identification of resistance and a faster approach to prescribing to right antibiotics to patients.

Life in research for clinical academics is not a straightforward path. With an initial clinical fellowship and then a Welcome trust fellowship to undertake a PhD, the entry route into research for Joby could have been streamlined. It was not to be, as the Covid pandemic took control of our daily lives. As an infectious disease and acute medicine consultant, the Covid period meant going back full time to the NHS on the battlefield of a Covid ward and having to pause some of the interesting research work Joby had started during his PhD.

As a clinician interested in both basic science and the application of research to clinical practice, Joby sees his role as being an important voice in influencing the direction of research projects that have the potential to contribute to medicine. Bringing in the bedside perspective to his basic science research colleagues and respecting others’ perspectives and skill set are his starting points in his collaborative approaches.

His experience has taught him that there is great value in experiencing being involved in research early on in your career as a clinician, and that getting involved as early as you can in your career makes transitions easier. Being a clinical academic often means being on the look-out for collaborations and funding where the limited time you have for research can be rewarded in a manageable way.

• How taking the time to engage in research conversations matters to explore the right fit for what you want to work on and for what type of research environment you choose to work in.
• How understanding the perspective and specific skill set you bring as a clinical academic allows you to initiate collaboration as a process of complementarity instead of seeing yourself or being perceived as a part-time researcher.
• How your contribution in research as a clinical academics has the potential to influence not only research directions, but also research practice on a much larger scale.

Dr Ruth Payne has a dual professional identity as a Consultant Microbiologist for the National Health Services (UK) as well as a Senior Clinical Lecturer at the University of Sheffield. Her interest in malaria vaccines may have been the starting point for her research career, but her expertise in vaccines became the corner stone of her ability to contribute to the Covid vaccine development efforts.

Ruth entered the world of research as a doctor following her appointment on a research fellowship position that became her PhD work at the Jenner Institute, University of Oxford (2012 - 2016). Her interest in malaria and vaccine development is anchored in a childhood spent in East Africa and in seeing first-hand the impact of this disease. After her research fellowship/PhD, she went back full time to a clinical role in Nottingham before jumping into a Clinical Academic Lectureship position.

Ruth calls herself “an accidental academic” and admits that it was the inspiring and supportive approach of her academic manager/ PhD supervisor during her research fellowship position and PhD that led her to continue a career that embraced both clinical work and research.

Building a research team is never easy but establishing yourself as a new PI when you work 50% time as a clinician and 50% time in research, and then on top of that a world pandemic is forcing you to stop your research…well that is quite a start when you are a new Principal Investigator.

This challenging period has brought her resilience and connections. During the Covid period, her experience in vaccine development enabled her to get involved in many new vaccine clinical trials projects, that she could never have predicted. It allowed her to jump into new projects and build very close working relationships with many new colleagues. It created opportunities to be involved at a national level in policies related to vaccine development (e.g., UK Clinical Vaccine Network, Covid19 task force of the British Society of Immunology).

Listening to our conversation will prompt your thinking:

· How embracing the silver lining of the Covid pandemic created more opportunities and exposure than ever

· How embedding yourself into larger projects creates the economy of scale needed when you get started as a new PI

· Why keeping lines of communication within your network increases your opportunities

Prof. Jason King is a research scientist at the University of Sheffield who progressed his career via the fellowship route. He has spent the last 10 years working as a Principal Investigator and building a team with the ebb and flow of PhD students and Postdoc contracts.

Jason has travelled the country from Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow to Sheffield from his undergraduate degrees to his current role as a Cell Biology Professor. He has held 2 fellowships, following a long postdoctoral period at the The Beatson Institute for Cancer Research.

Jason shares how building a research team can sometimes feel quite haphazard, and is shaped by the opportunities that arise. As a new PI eager to start a new research group, it can be difficult to not take opportunities to recruit team members quickly. However, finding your feet when you are transitioning from a Postdoc into a fellowship may takes slightly longer than you anticipate. There is a fine balance between the eagerness of recruiting team members, the availability of opportunities and having things set up for your group to be functional.

His advice to new PIs would be to take their time at the beginning of their fellowship and not recruit too many people at the same time. Research teams are always in flux with team members joining and leaving. One of Jason’s concerns is the challenge of retaining critical technical skills in the team. Thinking about the transmission of key skills within a team is an important consideration for retaining research expertise.

Listening to our conversation will prompt your thinking:

• How to be not too precious with your research niche but flexible to see it evolve and even pivot
• How constantly appraising your approach to individual team members is needed to best support them
• Why promoting efficient working matters more than assuming hard working

More about Jason

https://jasonkinglab.sites.sheffield.ac.uk/home

Dr Leili Rohani is a research scientist with a specialism in engineering heart tissues for cell therapy. Leili currently works at The University of British Columbia in Canada in the  department of Cardiology and cardiovascular surgery.

Leili has had an itinerant research career across different countries and continents. She started her career as a graduate in Iran, then moved abroad for a PhD in Germany, followed some Postdoctoral positions in Canada as well visiting research periods in Austria and the US. 

Leili is now at the threshold of wanting to establish her own research group and shifting towards research independence.

Her interest in stem cell therapy may see her move either way to industry or academia.

Listening to our conversation will prompt your thinking:

• Do you have a regular assessment of your resources and support system (for work and home) to maintain your resilience?
• How are you broadening your own perspectives through experiencing different contexts (e.g., different countries, various professional settings, meeting other types of professionals than just your usual bubble)?
• What was your last “ah ah moment” that put a buzz in your research life?
• What magic could happen if you started thinking differently about how you are recruiting your team? Could using more evaluation of Emotional Intelligence in your recruitment strategy change for the better the dynamics and effectiveness of your team?

Dr Madeleine Jotz-Lean has always had a passion for mathematics and research, which was nurtured from an early age by her teachers and supervisors. 

She began her publication record early, with 10 articles to her name by the end of her PhD. 

After moving from the US to Sheffield into a lectureship, she became more involved and interested in teaching, as well as equality and diversity, particularly tackling unconscious bias and stereotypes. 

She has also been involved in public outreach, using knitting and crochet to explain complex mathematical concepts to a wider audience.

Madeleine is now a Junior Professor at the University of Göttingen (Mathematisches Institut).

Look at the interactive timeline:
https://academicstories.group.shef.ac.uk/madeleine-jotz-lean/

More recent info about Madeleine:
https://www.uni-math.gwdg.de/mjotz/home.html

Jonna Kulmuni’s love of nature began at an early age but biology wasn’t her strongest subject. 

The challenge was what drove her to pursue a biological career and she fell in love with ants during her Masters degree, where she worked with a very supportive group and continued on to a PhD. 

At the same time, she completed a Masters in Science Communication – an invaluable experience, which has supported her career ever since and seen her become increasingly engaged in public outreach. 

She came to Sheffield in 2014 as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and is always thinking ahead about the next opportunity to apply for funding.

Jonna is now a Principal Investigator at the University of Helsinski.
https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/persons/jonna-kulmuni

View her timeline:
https://academicstories.group.shef.ac.uk/jonna-kulmuni/

Prof. Jim Thomas was inspired by his father to become a scientist but, after not achieving the best degree in Chemistry at Reading, he opted to teach in the UK before going to Western Kenya with Voluntary Services Overseas, where he taught in a rural high school for several years. 

This lent him a great deal of perspective and led him to revisit his childhood ambition of becoming a research scientist, commencing a PhD as a mature student. While his late entry into an academic career would normally mean that path was closed, he continued to pursue it, despite being offered a job in industry with a top company. 

He achieved a high profile Postdoc position with a Nobel prize winner in France but soon returned to the UK, to Sheffield, where he began to apply for fellowships. 

He was awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship but also chose to take on a relatively large teaching timetable to show his commitment to the department and also to get to know students with whom he might potentially collaborate in the future. 

He has also engaged in science communication work, which has honed his skills in terms of writing proposals and technical papers and generally being able to write in a more interesting way.

More about Jim:
https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/chemistry/people/academic/jim-thomas

Access career timeline:
https://academicstories.group.shef.ac.uk/jim-thomas/