The Black Hole

No matter how big the organization or company is, the executive team needs to empower this role.

It is incumbent on scientists to make sure that the ‘loudest’ research isn’t the only stuff we read.

Companies need to define this role as its own standalone position in order to successfully integrate them on the team.

While a fee-for-service system may be justified in a world where transactional exchanges of time and money are commonplace, academic publishing seems to sit outside this because the incentives are not solely monetary.

This person acts as a cross-functional integrator who translates strategic vision into executables and infrastructure.

If you want to build or change something, you need to find a band of people who share that vision.

Most academic scientists are trained to believe that our skillsets and expertise are limited to our own academic focus, but they are completely independent of our field.

A startup company should only be focused on one idea at a time and learning to trust your gut when making decisions will help your team stay on track.

The current process for material transfer agreements involves way too much paperwork and puts unnecessary stress on both researchers and technology transfer offices.

Rarely leveraged at academic institutions, executive coaches can provide invaluable insights and advice to principal investigators.

There is a clear need for additional training at all levels, but uncertainty remains as to how to deliver it all in a fair and systematic way.

Part of being self-aware is recognizing where your strengths and weaknesses lie, and being able to fill those gaps on your team with those who will be both a good technical and cultural fit.

Guest writer Sarah Masefield explains why she created the “How to Thrive and Survive in your PhD” project to help postgraduate researchers connect and help one another.

Once you know what type of brand you are aiming for, you can identify the values that your team should embrace.

This past year has accentuated issues that needed to have some light shone on them and we should be very careful not to push them back in the darkness.

Having a distinct brand that is integrated with your research program’s culture allows your team to define its strengths and intended contributions to a field.

While the advantages of preprint servers are numerous, researchers need to be very clear about the fact that these findings have not been formally assessed by the scientific community.

Branding is the exercise of summarizing an organization’s culture to attract a particular type of employee, collaborator or funder.

There is an opportunity to learn from dramatic changes in behaviour that have been imposed on us.

The academic community is at risk of losing a large percentage of researchers, unless institutions and funding agencies start implementing proactive solutions.