AsianScientist (Feb. 6, 2017) – Continuing my recent posts giving out career advice, the topic for this month are things to consider when choosing projects.
There will be several points during your career where you will have to weigh up the pros and cons of one project over another. As scientists, it’s mostly likely that scientific merit or whatever intellectual appeal the project has for us is the most important aspect.
However, I’m not going to address issues as to what makes one topic ‘better’ than another in this column, but rather impart information I’ve received or gleaned over the years that are also worth considering.
What are the lab dynamics?
While this list is presented in no particular order, this is without a doubt the most important thing that needs to be considered. If you’ve signed on for a three year project but you can’t get along with the people in the lab… it’s going to be a long three years.
Whenever possible, visit the prospective lab to understand how the team works. While your interpersonal relationship with your prospective boss or lab head is most important, try to meet members of the laboratory and talk with them. Are there many technicians, students, or postdocs? Have they been in their position/s for a long time?
Unless there is a good reason, I would be suspicious of labs that have high staff turnover or research staff that don’t finish their projects. How do the lab members interact with each other? Friendly? Formal? Is there a strong hierarchy or are positions more fluid? Consider your own personality and think about whether you can work well in the places on your list.
How does the lab publish?
Regardless as to whether you want to stay in academia or are looking to move elsewhere, publishing is the basis of a reputation as it shows the ability to run and finish a project—both from a person and a lab. While there are many things that are covered by this topic, a short list of things that should be noted include:
- How often does the lab publish? Is it many times a year or just a few papers?
- If it is many per year, does the lab run a core facility? This can often inflate lab output, but actually reflect the work of only a few people.
- If it is just a few papers, do the individual papers reflect projects that would cover many years’ work? It could be that people run projects resulting in the output of one high impact paper versus many lower impact publications. Decide if you are okay with this.
- How many people from the lab are on the publications? Is it the same few people or is it split across multiple members who change over time?
Which kind of equipment and techniques are used?
Continuing on the topic of reputation, it is worth considering the type of techniques used to conduct the research in the prospective positions. As a very wise woman (my PhD supervisor) once told me: you sell yourself on your knowledge—not only what you’ve studied, but how you studied it.
Depending on your area of research, there will be different cutting edge methods and if you already know them or would like to learn them, this should be a factor. Likewise, there are what I like to call ‘legacy’ techniques in each field that will always be useful, even if they may not be the sexiest ones out there.
For example, if you are biologist, there will always be labs wanting people who can plan animal breeding schedules, run Western blots, or know how to use a microscope. In these multidisciplinary days, you never know when a neuroscience lab might be looking for a mathematician who is an expert at using MATLAB…
Where is the lab located?
Don’t underestimate this criterion. Where you live is very important to where you work because work will (hopefully) not take more than one third of your day. Again, consider your personality type when thinking about the location. Love having a widely varied social life? Maybe going to the isolated town of five thousand people might not suit you. By the same token, if you ‘re into wide open spaces and doing outdoor activities, you might want to think twice about moving to a concrete jungle.
Of course, mine your extended network whenever possible to understand what it’s like living in a particular location. What about language you ask? While English is the international language of research, if where you’re thinking of moving has a different language for daily life, try to learn the local language—it will help you socialize, do your weekly shopping, or deal with bureaucracy.
In summary, when choosing a position, treat it like any other topic that interests you. Research the members of the lab, research the lab’s output, research how and where they’ve done it, and take a look at yourself and whether the situation suits you. Good luck!
This article is from a monthly column called The Sometimes Serious Scientist. Click here to see the other articles in this series.
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Copyright: Asian Scientist Magazine; Photo: Shutterstock.
Disclaimer: This article does not necessarily reflect the views of AsianScientist or its staff
