Research lives and cultures

Dr Narine Hall is an Assistant Professor and Program Director in Data Science at Champlain College (USA) in Vermont. Her experience in industry and start-ups has been key in innovating tools for educators during the pandemic. 

Experiencing the frustration of more limited interactions with her students during tutorials at the beginning of the pandemic, Narine put into action her entrepreneurial and computational skills. She started to develop an interactive online platform that could replicate some of the key elements so critical when teaching face-to-face.

 As an academic with teaching and research responsibilities, her move into setting up a start-up and becoming a CEO in the middle of a pandemic was embedded in her core commitment as a professional to creating products and solutions derived from research, that could make people’s lives easier.

She is now CEO of the start-up In Space which is transforming interactivity in online classrooms. (https://inspace.chat/)

Listening to our conversation will prompt your thinking about:

• What kind of entrepreneurial experience is available to you that could fuel your interest for the world of start-ups and industry?
• Have you considered “your fit” to your current institution or to the position you are applying to? 
• Why all our varied experiences are part of constructing our path.
• What are you doing to lift up those who are coming behind on the career path?
• Who are you reaching out to to be part of your “village”?

 I write a blog post for each Podcast episode, inspired by the many themes discussed with my guests. The blog posts prompt you in your reflection journey.

Access all podcasts and blog posts inspired by the Podcast interviews from: https://tesselledevelopment.com/podcast

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Get in touch for questions, queries or to suggest a brilliant contributor: [email protected]

Dr Marta Milo is a research scientist who has demonstrated her courage in different ways, by working in a male dominated discipline, by retraining as a biologist and by daring to leave the relative stability of an academic position to embrace a new career in industry.

Her ethos in building her career is based on a deep sense of curiosity and a desire to build trusting collaborations.

Her aspiration to make the most of her knowledge, skills and research maturity, as well as a strong commitment to make her research count for cancer patients have been the driver for her recent move into the pharmaceutical industry.

Listening to our conversation will prompt your thinking about:

• How open are you to listen to researchers from other disciplines?
• How much attention are you paying to language when developing research conversations outside of your specific research area?
• What is your own approach to giving and receiving feedback?
• Do you really know how you want to contribute to research? Will this drive your next career step?

About Marta

As a computer science and applied math research scientist, a move to biomedical sciences could have remained a distant encounter, but not for Marta. Her curiosity and thirst for knowledge motivated her to continue her training in biology. After a Wellcome trust fellowship that enabled her to extend her biological knowledge, Marta continued her career through a fellowship in Bioinformatics, before moving into an academic position in Computational Biology at the University of Sheffield.

Since 2020, Marta has taken the challenge of moving into industry. She is now Research Data Science Lead at AstraZeneca.

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 I write a blog post for each Podcast episode, inspired by the many themes discussed with my guests. The blog posts prompt you in your reflection journey.

Access all podcasts and blog posts inspired by the Podcast interviews from: https://tesselledevelopment.com/podcast

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Get in touch for questions, queries or to suggest a brilliant contributor: [email protected]

Dr Katharina Jähn-Rickert discuss with Dr Sandrine Soubes about collaboration.

Not many people can say that they have had one of their experiments taken into space. Whilst Katharina did not get onto the astronomer career track, it did not stop her from having some of her experiments on bone biology make it into space.

I ask Katharina to reflect on her approaches to initiating and developing collaborations. She experienced early on the good and the ugly in collaboration, when she lost access to some equipment that was needed for her research. This led her to revisit her approach to her research and opened new doors of interest. Katharina talks about taking the time to get people to know where you are coming from research-wise. She reminds us that much of the challenges in research environments are not the experiments, but the big egos of some researchers.

The conversation will get you to think about:
 

Could the loss of a research avenue become the best gift for your research direction? 

Could an organic approach to initiating collaboration through just engaging in one-to-one deep conversations be the formula for the shy and introvert researchers? 

Do your collaborators know what drives you regarding your publication outputs?


I write a blog post for each Podcast episode, inspired by the many themes discussed with my guests. The blog posts prompt you in your reflection journey.

Access all podcasts and blog posts inspired by the Podcast interviews from: https://tesselledevelopment.com/podcast

Register on the mailing list to receive Podcast updates: https://tesselledevelopment.activehosted.com/f/5

Get in touch for questions, queries or to suggest a brilliant contributor: [email protected]

Dr Curtis Asante is Associate Director of Members' Programmes at the Microbiology Society.  He spent some time in the US as a Postdoc, before embarking in his post-research journey; this has taking him from working as an editor in a prestigious scientific journal to being a project manager for a research network (UKRMP),  a research funder (Research Cancer UK) and a learned society (Microbiology Society).

When he started his career with a PhD in neuropharmacology, Curtis may not have predicted that he would live such a diverse professional life.

As a black scientist, Curtis has become involved in work to foster diversity in organisations. The impact of doing Equality and Diversity work has reshaped his professional identity as a change maker. His leadership has been built in part through taking the opportunity of becoming the co-chair of the Race Equality and Equity network at Cancer Research UK.

I write a blog post for each Podcast episode, inspired by the many themes discussed with my guests. The blog posts prompt you in your reflection journey.

Access all podcasts and blog posts inspired by the Podcast interviews from: https://tesselledevelopment.com/podcast

Register on the mailing list to receive Podcast updates: https://tesselledevelopment.activehosted.com/f/5

Get in touch for questions, queries or to suggest a brilliant contributor: [email protected]

Dr Doris Tran is an engineer working in the biomedical field. After an industry-funded PhD, she quickly transitioned to working in industry. Like many PhD graduates, she also had a period of asking herself whether she should do a Postdoc or move into industry. When I asked her what PhD students should do to be able to move more easily into industry, she felt that PhDs are already doing quite enough. She thinks that industry has a role to play in enhancing its openness in identifying the potential of researchers as valuable employees in industry.

When I asked her about tips for researchers to navigate the research environment, she mentioned "kindness". It is not a word we often hear in the research world. Kindness is not an outdated commodity...it is more relevant than ever to challenge the research culture.

Doris now works at Scanco Medical as a product manager and is at the forefront of interacting with academics, not as collaborators anymore but as clients for the devices sold by her company.

I write a blog post for each Podcast episode, inspired by the many themes discussed with my guests. The blog posts prompt you in your reflection journey.

Access all podcasts and blog posts inspired by the Podcast interviews from: https://tesselledevelopment.com/podcast

Register on the mailing list to receive Podcast updates: https://tesselledevelopment.activehosted.com/f/5

Get in touch for questions, queries or to suggest a brilliant contributor: [email protected]

Many researchers ask themselves how they may know what the right time is to move into industry after a research career in academia. There is probably not a single right answer as it will completely depends on your experiences and context.

Dr Nicolas Bonnet is someone who has recently made the jump and who is keen to create close connections between academic and industrial research. He shares with us some elements in his research career path.

This will get you thinking about:

·      Why early conversations between PI and Postdocs matter to help transition towards research independence

·      How seeing your capacity to develop new research ideas as an endless process support your research transition

·      What equilibrium are you seeking between the happiness of your family and your research career aspiration

Get the shownotes: https://tesselledevelopment.com/research-lives-and-cultures/shifting-to-new-research-roads

I write a blog post for each Podcast episode, inspired by the many themes discussed with my guests. The blog posts prompt you in your reflection journey.

Access all podcasts and blog posts inspired by the Podcast interviews from: https://tesselledevelopment.com/podcast

Register on the mailing list to receive Podcast updates: https://tesselledevelopment.activehosted.com/f/5

Get in touch for questions, queries or to suggest a brilliant contributor: [email protected]

Dr Amy Lam is an intellectual property and commercialisation specialist for medical and life sciences, who made the leap from working as a neuroscience researcher. She has now extensive experience in her field. She reflects on the past, the choices she made and her transition into IP.

Through listening to our discussion, you will be able to think about:

·      Why asking the question “What are you going to do next?” to ourselves or those we supervise, is always helpful not just at endpoints

·      What types of activities an IP specialist actually does

·      How considering the experiences you gain through each role as a treasure hunt is a helpful metaphor in navigating careers

·      Where you live and work- can you make this an active choice instead of feeling that circumstances are forcing you into restricting options

·      When do you know that you need to transition to something new in your professional life

Get in touch with Amy: https://www.ip-pragmatics.com/bio-page/?bio=3968

Shownotes for this podcast episode can be found here: https://tesselledevelopment.com/research-lives-and-cultures/huntingfortreasures

Access all podcasts and show notes from: https://tesselledevelopment.com/podcast

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Dr Robin Morton works as science communication manager at the University of Edinburgh at the Centre for Regenerative Medicine in the Institute for Regeneration and Repair. Robin started his research career as a scientist working in neuroscience for his PhD, then doing a Postdoc in learning and memory. Robin then “jumped into industry” for several years before returning to an academic environment, where he had the opportunity of working in different project management roles.

He shares his path into working as a science communication manager and provides some valuable ideas about how researchers/ research leaders may want to explore perspectives about the role of research communication.

This will get you thinking about:

· When is the right time to get started with your research communication?

· Why seeing yourself as a science/research communicator is just part of
the job?

·  Who could your audience be?

·  What is gained from deep listening and 2-way communication?

·   How you may get surprised by the possibilities that engaging research participants may bring?

Access all podcasts and show notes from: https://tesselledevelopment.com/podcast

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Get in touch for questions, queries or to suggest a brilliant contributor: [email protected]

Grant writing is a pillar of any research life. Convincing funders to give you the cash to work on what interests you is a painful process. Building resilience in the process of grant writing is a must to thrive in research.

In this interview, I ask Marysia what her own approach has been to get started with grant writing. Based on her extensive experience as a research leader, I ask her how she advises early career researchers to think about grant writing and transition into research independence.

About Marysia:

Marysia is a Wellcome Trust Investigator and Professor of Developmental Neurobiology in the Department of Biomedical Science at The University of Sheffield. 

What a pleasure to interview Marysia as she was my very own PI when I started working as a Postdoc a great many years ago. She was an amazing PI who gave me lots of opportunities and supported me a great deal during my postdoctoral time.

Get in touch with Marysia:

https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/biosciences/people/bms-staff/academic/marysia-placzek

Find out about:

·      How thinking small may lead to great rewards in fellowship applications

·      What shifting to collaboration mode instead of competition mode can bring

·      How (as a PI) you can support your Postdocs explore their transition to research independence

·      Why “Just do it” may need to be repeated over and over to researchers who lack confidence

·      How exposing yourself to deep criticism in research is part of building your research resilience

If you want to be updated each time I publish a podcast, you can join my mailing list and I will share with you the Podcast link and the shownotes. Get the Podcast insights directly into your mailbox by joining my mailing list here

You can find all of my Podcast episodes on my website: www.tesselledevelopment.com/podcast

You can get this episode shownotes here on the website.

You would think that starting your 1st fellowship straight out of your PhD with a PI who has just left for a sabbatical could be quite challenging and frustrating. It turns out that for Ralph this perceived challenge became a massive learning opportunity. 

He learned to build a team without the classical hierarchy observed in most labs. This influential experience shaped his perception of what it means to work well in teams, and how he has now structured his own research group in a way that promotes the research leadership transition of others.

 
About Ralph

Ralph Müller is Professor of Biomechanics in the Department of Health Sciences and Technology as well as Deputy head of the Institute for Biomechanics at ETH Zurich (Switzerland).

Get in touch with Ralph:

https://www.bone.ethz.ch/

Find out about:

·      How the departure of your PI on a sabbatical could be the best gift you get to boost your research independence   

·      What building trust with your research team could look like

·      How not rushing the recruitment of your 1st PhD students may be a wise choice

·      Why your leadership approach is a journey of reinvention

·      How transparency in promotion panels can turn the hidden process of ranking academic performance into a collective learning opportunity

 If you want to be updated each time I publish a podcast, you can join my mailing list and I will share with you the Podcast link and the shownotes. Get the Podcast insights directly into your mailbox by joining my mailing list here

You can find all of my Podcast episodes on my website: www.tesselledevelopment.com/podcast

You can get this episode shownotes here on the website.
 
Get in touch to become a contributor to the podcast: 
[email protected]