Shadow A Scientist’s Post

📢 Embarking on a #PhD is more than an academic pursuit—it's a transformative journey filled with daily challenges and discoveries. Each PhD student's path exemplifies resilience, adaptability, and a strong drive to contribute to society. Your journey, marked by extensive reading, experimental trial and error, early mornings, late nights, and moments of breakthrough, deserves recognition for the dedication and hard work it embodies. At Promega, we understand this journey deeply, having walked the academic path ourselves. That's why we created the Rising Researchers Award. This award is our way of supporting and acknowledging emerging scientists like you. We want to celebrate your efforts as a PhD student and the impactful contributions you are making. Your work is seen, valued, and essential to the broader pursuit of knowledge that drives us all forward. If you're currently pursuing a PhD in the #lifesciences, this award is for you. It's time to elevate your path to discovery! 🌟 ➡️Join our program: https://bit.ly/4bUHS3z #Singapore #Phdstudents #PhdsinSG #Sgscientists #Sgresearchers

Telling my scientific story in front of 100+ PhD students at this year’s MGC workshop was guaranteed to be fun 🤩 I cannot think of a better audience than a room full of young, talented scientists, learning how to perform research of their own and shaping themselves as the leaders of tomorrow! I still consider my PhD years one of the most exciting and transformative times in my own career. Beyond presenting our work on individual and forensic (epi)genomics, and how we are unraveling novel biological uniqueness, we reflected on important questions: - What drives you to do #research? - How can you cause #impact with your work? - What does it take to thrive in #academia? Among others, I hope to have convinced them that: 🌟 It is important to find one’s intrinsic motivation to research, to make the journey as much productive and enjoyable as possible. 🌟 Meaningful questions for impactful science always stem from society. Connect with the right and diverse stakeholders. 🌟 Plan ahead but stay flexible! Follow your passion, your gut feeling and allow yourself to fail and be wrong. 🌟 Today’s research is so much more than performing experiments and analyzing data. Strong transferable skills will make you stand out. 🌟 While PhD is a lonely road, walking it in the right ecosystem, surrounded by peers and mentors, is the key to success. Many thanks to the organizing committee, and particularly Dion Zandstra, for the opportunity to deliver this #keynote speech. *** The Medical Genetics Center South-West Netherlands (MGC) research school unites PhD students and other researchers from Erasmus MC and Leiden University Medical Center, to consolidate and strengthen the knowledge and research qualities among the involved institutes, with the overall goal to increase the quality of life. #PhDworkshop #MGC #ErasmusMC #LUMC #PhDtraining

Stijn Schouppe and Pavel Chalupnicek from #Vlerick’s Research Dean’s Office participated in the 2024 EFMD Doctoral Programmes Conference at Nova School of Business and Economics in #Portugal last week. The conference explored how to foster human-centred doctoral research in the digital era. Key takeaways included: 👉 Digitalization in doctoral programmes has brought many benefits, but it also raises questions of accessibility and inclusivity since the shift to digital delivery has often happened rapidly and without considering e-learning readiness of potential participants, especially those coming from disadvantaged and under-represented groups 👉 Despite the shift to digital delivery, personal relationships remain crucial – chief among them the relationship between the doctoral candidates and their supervisory team which provides grounding in doctoral training and socialization into the research community. 👉 Digitalization can deepen some of the challenges on the doctoral journey, including loneliness and isolation, or work and personal life boundaries. 👉 The use of AI in research is already causing profound changes, and could lead to “arms race” among academic institutions undermining research cooperation. 👉 Outsourcing many “routine” research tasks to AI is forcing us to rethink the idea of a doctorate as a “research apprenticeship”. #EFMDdoctoral #EFMDevents #doctoraleducation #phd #DBA #ai #research 

Most PhDs discount their skills What exactly does that mean? In my conversations with PhDs, I've noticed a recurring theme: many believe their skills aren't at a high enough level to be valuable in industry. For instance, working in an academic setting like an immunology lab, running flow cytometry with 13 colors across different machines may seem routine. Yet, these skills are far from ordinary outside of academia. It's a paradox—we take our specialized skills for granted, assuming they're commonplace, while simultaneously undervaluing their significance. Transitioning to industry, we fail to recognize that our expertise in areas like flow cytometry is actually rare and highly sought after. Another common example is presentation skills. In academia, giving multiple presentations a year feels like second nature. However, in the broader professional world, effective presentation skills are a valuable asset. It's time to stop discounting our skills and gain some perspective! PS: Co-founding Alma.Me with Angela Priest, who has worked in various roles up to the C-level in industry, from startups to unicorn companies, she was the one who brought awareness to me about my skill level in certain areas. When she shared with me how impressed she was with certain skills of mine (which I was not aware of), I realized that my PhD had equipped me with skills that are extremely valuable in industry. Having a mentor in industry can provide invaluable perspective and help you recognize the significance of your expertise. Let's start acknowledging and leveraging the unique skills! Have you ever discounted your skills? #phd #academia #skills

I like how Elena Hoffer, PhD interpreted the graph image below. Being a subject matter expert does not mean a lot to people unless they learn what they can do with an expert of your caliber and type. In other words, degrees and experience “do not speak for themselves.” Those are just requirements and preferences; they get you to the door (the hiring manager or interview). It is still up to you as a subject matter expert to sell the benefits of your knowledge and the skills you have acquired through the journey. Remember this tip for your next interview!

If this graphic was done for master's degree, I'd say I used to see master's degree holders as expert problem solvers. 🔍 🏆 But... ✋ ....now that I have a master's degree, I think of more along the lines of being a more seasoned learner instead. 🧠 🔨 Yes, I may have a more in-depth understanding of statistics and more confidence in myself than where I was when I got my bachelor's degree. At the same time, I still have more to learn, given how much the field of statistics and biostatistics is evolving every year (especially in light of the rise of AI tech and ChatGPT). Sometimes, it feels overwhelming as I feel I have to learn everything all at once with all this new technology and innovation coming out. 😫 🔬 💡 Perhaps, it's the product of me being #actuallyautistic and #neurodivergent and just overwhelemd with a lot to focus on ♾️ 😪 . Even further, it's probably like the abundance problem that comes with online movie streaming - so many movies to watch at your fingertips, but so many it's hard to pick which one to watch or spend your time and energy on. 😲 With all these challenges in mind, I think in the end, the best lesson to keep in mind is that I'm only human. I can't realistically know everything everywhere all at once (yes, that movie - my favorite by the way 😉 ), but I can focus on continuing to learn little by little each day at my own pace. Thus, I find that part of what makes a higher degree valuable isn't just the extra knowledge and experience, but as mentioned in the post below, it's the personal skills you get along the way too. Communication, critical thinking, having a "warrior" mindset when it comes to challenges, and many others... Those skills are what makes you valuable as a graduate degree holder and what makes you capable to learning and overcoming any obstacles along the way, which also includes learning new things. Don't let anyone get you to feel you're not smart enough because you're "deficient" in one area, you made a mistake, or you don't have the same experience level as someone else. 😁 💪 The fact that you managed to make it this far and reach your personal milestones (i.e., getting a degree or diploma or certificate, finishing a project, etc) is already proof enough that you CAN learn and you DO have potential. Remember it, even if you doubt yourself! Happy Friday, everyone! 😁 ❤️ ............................ #postgradlife #graduatedegree #selfconfidence #lifelonglearner #beinghuman #nobodysperfect #gradschoolreflection #feelgoodfriday #motivation #actuallyautistic #neurodivergent #burnout

Registrations are now open for the 2024 EUA-CDE Annual Meeting #cdeAM2024. This year’s conference, entitled “The role of data in shaping #doctoral education”, will take place in Barcelona from 26-28 June, hosted by Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) 🇪🇸. Join us to exchange ideas and address topics such as the role of #data for the strategic development and quality of doctoral education, duration and completion rate of #doctorates & data management and stewardship #skills at the doctoral level, among many others. EUA-CDE Annual Meetings are the main yearly gatherings in Europe of academic leaders, senior academics, doctoral education professionals, #postdoctoral researchers, doctoral candidates and other #research stakeholders active in this field. Register by 14 May to benefit from the early-bird fee (standard fee registration applies as of 15 May and until 12 June): 👉 https://bit.ly/cdeam24_l #DoctoralEducation #FAIRdata #AI #Researchassessment #Phdlife

Breaking Barriers, Shaping Tomorrow- Join the Journey of 25 Transformative Research Projects with AUTH Medical Physics & Digital Innovation Lab! DAY 11 - Introducing ManagiDiTH - Master of Managing Digital Transformation in the Health Sector! Master of Managing Digital Transformation in the Health Sector (ManagiDiTH) is a four-year project launched in January 2023, funded by the European Union. The programme will be developed in a transnational and intersectoral project during 2023–2026 led by Iscte – University Institute of Lisbon. The project consortium won the European Advanced Digital Skills competition of the Digital Europe programme launched by the European Commission, managed by HADEA. The objects of the project are the development of training references for level 7 of the European Qualifications Framework in the digital health sector, the creation of a multidisciplinary learning ecosystem, and the introduction of a pedagogical model that prioritizes problem-oriented learning strategies supported by digital tools. Learn More: https://lnkd.in/dg-bBMDD

A PhD trains you in deep, critical thinking, research, and problem-solving in a specific domain. These skills can make you more adaptable and help you manage complex tasks, but whether this leads to effective multitasking across different professions depends on how transferable your skills are, your interest in those areas, and your ability to apply your knowledge to diverse contexts. Multitasking successfully often requires cross-disciplinary learning or experience, especially when moving between academia & Industry.  

Are we focusing on developing more subject matter experts or cultivating critical thinkers with expertise in Malaysia? Time and again, this topic is discussed at higher academic management meetings: Are our efforts aimed at producing individuals with deep specialised knowledge in specific fields, or are we prioritising the development of critical thinking skills that enable individuals to analyse and address complex issues effectively? There is a significant difference between someone who merely summarises information and someone who intellectually processes the matter and generates new ideas 💡.