What’s up doc? blog for postgraduate researchers

Summary - Vitae - Charting an entrepreneurial career: how researchers can control their professional destiny April 9th

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:10:22 GMT

I'm summarising the excellent research support event I attended -

Vitae - Charting an entrepreneurial career: how researchers can control their professional destiny- http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/56271-593711/Charting-an-entrepreneurial-career-how-researchers-can-control-their-professional-destiny---Bristol.html - Bristol April 9

The main point of this event is that researchers are already undertaking entrepreneurial activity as part of their studies. Entrepreneurial activity doesn't necessarily involve starting your own business. It can be undertaken within a University, company or organisation.

Research is about solving problems so it was emphasized that it's worth recording and noting when we solve a problem, as this could turn out to be important in future entrepreneurial activities.

The difficulties of deciding when to publish, or when to apply for a patent were discussed, with an emphasis on seeking advice (available in universities).

The overall point was that a lone researcher, or any 1 person is unlikely to have all the skills necessary to be an entrepreneur and this is where advice, co-operation and teamwork is needed.

This recent article was cited as an important and useful guide -

Guardian online - How academics can engage with policy: 10 tips for a better conversation - http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-education-network/blog/2013/mar/25/academics-policy-engagement-ten-tips
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'Academics need to look at different ways they can communicate their research to policymakers, says Matthew Goodwin – here's his advice on not wasting their time, or yours'

This free toll helps in creation of a business plane - useful tool for entrepreneurs -downloadable business model canvas http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/canvas

Academic entrepreneurial activities at Bristol and Cardiff Universities were discussed including a way to create forces that feel like real objects, a high tech learning partnership with Bristol Zoo, and this Cardiff entrepreneurial scheme, that may come to Bristol -

iSolve - http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/racdv/students/i-solve/

'We are now taking registrations of interest for the Winter 2013 iSolve Programme

Please email enterprise@cardiff.ac.uk with the subject “iSolve 2013 Registration” or click here:

Based on a programme developed first at MIT in Boston and then extended to Cambridge University, this exciting concept has now been successfully developed at Cardiff University.

iSolve allows entrepreneurial postgraduates and researchers to work with real inventions in order to determine the best route for their commercialisation. Findings from these teams are then presented to a panel of judges alongside a report.'

Below are Vitae tweets from the day -

From Vitae - https://twitter.com/Vitae_news

@DaveJarm: 'Charting the entrepreneurial career' kicked off @Bristoluni with @s4s and @Vitae_news #ented #vitae13
RT @DaveJarm: Kevin Byron 'from Researcher to Entrepreneur' @Vitae_news @s4s #vitae13 pic.twitter.com/PvxdjpEXQD

RT @DaveJarm: Innovation breakthroughs illustrated via the High Jump... @Vitae_news @s4s #vitae13

From Vitae the South West and Wales Hub - https://twitter.com/VitaeSWWHub

Researchers exploring their enterprising skills at goldney hall Uni of Bristol today with @s4s and #vitae13

Many ways to demonstrate pathways to impact. Key qs who might benefit and how? What methods will you use? #vitae13
Great tip for public engagement- give presentations to Uni of the third age- http://www.u3a.org.uk . #vitae13

Andrew Wray from Uni Bristol up now talking about knowledge exchange. Foster 'rolling conversations' w potential partners #vitae13

'Tangents' can prove to be v beneficial in knowledge ex.Arts pgrs working w entrepreneurs Bristol Uni+Bristol zoo
thoughtden.co.uk/zoom

Great panel of researchers who are budding entrepreneurs #vitae13

Kevin Byron talking about the path from researcher to entrepreneur.'innovation is a tool of the entrepreneur 'Peter Drucker #vitae13

Kevin byron using sigmoid curve of world high jump record to illustrate how ideas progress. #vitae13

When solving lesser probs as pt of a larger research project ask who else? Where else? #vitae13
Draw on your personal history of ideas and innovation may follow #vitae13

useful tool for entrepreneurs -downloadable business model canvas http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/canvas #vitae13

Vitae - Charting an entrepreneurial career: how researchers can control their professional destiny

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 19:46:40 GMT

I've booked for this event in Bristol on 5th March -

Charting an entrepreneurial career: how researchers can control their professional destiny -
http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/56271-593711/Charting-an-entrepreneurial-career-how-researchers-can-control-their-professional-destiny---Bristol.html

"This workshop forms part of the Entrepreneurial Institution programme
With increasing international competition, economic challenges, social change and the growing pressures of a complex and uncertain world, unlocking your enterprising capability as a researcher is vital to maximise the benefits gained from your research, to take forward your career or to start a new business." This is because I'm involved in web related research and in mental health and exercise research, have finished my PhD, and have no funding. I want to get back to being a professional research rather than a gifted amateur. I'm also seeing an adviser on Friday, in research meetings and events at the end of this month and booked for a college course on how to be an entrepreneur. Then there's a funding workshop in April that I'm going to. I hope I'll find out enough to be able to collaborate with other organisations to ensure funding for their research and mine.

8 Tips to Publish High Impact

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 08:20:00 GMT

I went for this workshop on planning your publications organised by the Faculty of Life Sciences, The University of Manchester on the 28.11.12. As it turned out, with the catchy workshop title, we had a full house in the 200 seating lecture theatre.

So as a researcher, publishing your results and getting cited are the tenets of staying scientifically active and relevant. We know it is important to publish in high impact journals but what are the key points of getting the high impact publication? or is it OK to settle for mediocre publications? Some agree, some do not.

The main points I took away from this 4-speaker-seminar/workshop are as below:

To get into high impact journals, you SHOULD:

Make your results more widely applicable = wide impact
Use or introduce catchy terms = bite phrases
Use the pre-submission period to submit your abstract into multiple journals at the same time
Address your paper from an interesting perspective = interesting introduction
Write one paper per message
Never underestimate the power of networking during conference/ coffee breaks/ invited seminars = introduce yourself to speakers
Never give up under major corrections/ critical reviews
Outline your experiments according to a cohesive story

Of course not in that order!

Hope this helps.

Science Writing Competition

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 08:20:38 GMT

This competition may be of interest to some scientists (PhD students and early career researchers, meaning that PhD must have been obtained in the last 6 years). It is basically asking you to describe one of a series of articles in lay language, in 800 words or less.

The competition deadline is on 11th January 2013 and if you win, you can get an iPad and have your article published in eLife.

Details on http://europepmc.org/ScienceWritingCompetition as the competition is organised by Europe PubMedCentral.

Does a disability prevent career advancement?

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 08:21:22 GMT

In the November edition of the RSC News, a membership circular for the members of the Royal Society of Chemistry, I read an interesting interview with someone called Audrey Cameron who is apparently the "first deaf chemistry PhD in Scotland". What struck me was the fact that she was discouraged from an academic career because of her disability.

She was first asked about her university experience, explaining that it was a complete culture shock (after moving from a supportive environment of a boarding school for the deaf) when arriving at Paisley University to study chemistry in 1986. Despite the fact that no further support was given ("when I approached the head of department and asked for additional lecture notes, I was promptly told that would not be possible and I would have to work as hard as the other students") she managed to complete her BSc and later a PhD.

She apparently tried to continue with her academic career but was discouraged from continuing - she says, "during my time at Strathclyde and later as a postdoc at Durham, I was repeatedly told that as a deaf person I would be unable to become a lecturer and thus gain career advancement". This led her to applying for a PGCE and becoming becoming a teacher of (including higher grade) chemistry in mainstream schools. She wonders why she was able to teach school-age students ("as a deaf person I was trusted with teaching school children to the highest level") yet "it was deemed that [she] was not capable of lecturing students".

More about Dr Audrey Cameron here: http://www.rsc.org/Membership/175-faces-of-chemistry/all-faces/audrey-cameron.asp

What strikes me from the interview is the unfairness of the situation she describes, of course, but I do wonder whether things have changed a bit. Do you think that in the current era, disabled researchers would still be discouraged from continuing their academic career? And is it absolutely essential to be a lecturer to go further beyond the postdoc stage in an academic career?

Importance of attention to detail

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 08:21:59 GMT

I am one of those people who prides themselves on spotting misplaced apostrophes, weirdly used commas, wrong spellings, misused grammar (of the their/there/they're type and similar), and similar such instances. Maybe it is surprising to hear that English is not my first language, but somehow, despite of this, I have ended up being the person that others often go to for proofreading their documents.

It is thus no surprise that I often find myself amazed at what can be found on blogs, websites, in emails and similar communications. Yes, the increasing prevalence of e-communications and the emphasis on shortness of messages has meant that quick is essential, but does that really mean that checking things before sending/posting them should be ignored?

Even on this blog, I have sometimes been sorely tempted to correct people's grammar (I generally hold back) - if there is one mistake in a post, then I put it down to the person being in a rush, but if there are several of them, I start forming a picture of the person posting it as careless and lacking attention to detail. I know from people who are involved in recruitment that a CV with spelling mistakes will automatically be discarded. So, since blogs are publically available and generally easily accessible by googling your name, shouldn't you be ultra-careful in what you do post anywhere in the blogosphere in order to avoid a potential future employer forming the wrong kind of picture of you?

Or am I the one being over-pedantic and are employers accepting of people's web presence being not all proofread and double-checked before going into the ether?