How to succeed as a scientist
Subtitle: from postdoc to professor
By: Barbara J. Gabrys and Jane A. Langdale
Contributors: Langdale, Jane A.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Cambridge; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 211
ISBN-13: 9780521765862
Subjects: Science; SCIENCE / General; Vocational guidance
Description: "This unique, practical guide for postdoctoral researchers and graduate students explains how to build and perfect the necessary research tools and working skills to build a career in academia and beyond. It is based on successful training workshops run by the authors: first, it describes the tools needed for independent research, from writing papers to applying for academic jobs; it then introduces skills to thrive in a new job, including managing and interacting with others, designing a taught course and giving a good lecture; and it concludes with a section on managing your career, from how to manage stress to understanding the higher education system. Packed with helpful features encouraging readers to apply the theory to their individual situation, the book is also illustrated throughout with real-world case studies to enable readers to learn from others' experience. It is a vital handbook for everyone seeking to make a successful scientific career"--

"This book is based on a series of twenty workshops developed by Jane Langdale in 2005 for postdocs in the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford. The topics were subsequently extended by Barbara Gabrys to cover other disciplines in the Mathematical Physical and Life Sciences Division at Oxford. The motivation for the workshops and for the book, stemmed from a desire to help postdocs gain a thorough understanding of what being a successful academic entails, and to provide a set of tools to help them achieve that goal. The book can also act as a foundation for others who wish to run their own series of workshops - in each chapter we give an example of how we cover the topic"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note: Preface; Part I. Becoming an Independent Researcher: 1. Managing your time; 2. Giving a good research talk; 3. Writing a quality research paper; 4. Handling scientific criticism; 5. Writing grant applications; 6. Tools for managing research projects; 7. Is there life beyond academia?; 8. Applying for a job in academia; 9. Applying for an independent research fellowship; Part II. Thriving in Your New Job: 10. Handling new roles; 11. Learning from other people; 12. Managing people; 13. Building a research group 1: doctoral students; 14. Building a research group 2: recruiting and supervising postdocs; 15. Interacting with others; 16. Designing a taught course; 17. Giving a good lecture; 18. Beyond lecturing; 19. Mentoring; Part III. Managing Your Career: 20. Managing stress; 21. Taking on new challenges; 22. The higher education system; References; Index.