My 3.5 months of parental leave recently finished and I’m back in the lab. It’s been a fantastic experience overall – I’ve learned a lot and enjoyed my time. The lab did not fall apart (phew!) and the physical removal from the day-to-day of running the group has cleared my head.   I’ve also interacted with […]

The faculty application and interview process spans over months and takes away precious time from experiments and grants. To read the previous articles in this series please visit the links below: The line between successful academic and unemployment is razor thin Academic science does not prepare you for the challenges ahead In an earlier post […]

Editors note: This entry is the third in a series on taking parental leave as a scientific group leader. Could parental leave actually be good for my academic career? Taking parental leave: I’m glad I’m not a postdoc Getting a job in academic science is not easy. The hours are long, the work is intense, […]

With great work funding will come. To read the previous articles in this series please visit the links below: The line between successful academic and unemployment is razor thin In an earlier post I defined the present economic climate for burgeoning young scientists, and the career uncertainty that should be expected if pursuing this career […]

As a group leader, I’m in a better position to take some precious time off.

If professional fulfillment were easy, everyone would do it. Read the previous articles in this series: The door to an academic science career – open or closed? Commencing the academic job search – impetus and deadlines The academic job search – getting your foot in the door Preparing your application package for an academic job […]

This quarter features a guest post from the current Chair of the Canadian Association of Postdoctoral Scholars and several posts from both Jonathan and David.  As always, our guest posts are very popular (and very good!) because the writers have often thought deeply about the issue they are speaking up about – we encourage more […]

The last month has been a pretty topsy-turvy one for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. After it rolled out the first round of applications for its new operating grant application termed “project grants,” it was all set to deliver evidence that its new systems of financial allocation and peer review were superior to the […]

Patience is power. Patience is not an absence of action; rather it is “timing.” It waits on the right time to act, for the right principles and in the right way – Fulton J. Sheen Previous articles in this series: The door to an academic science career – open or closed? Commencing the academic job […]

Today we’re pleased to have a guest post from incoming CAPS/ACSP Chair Joe Sparling on Employment Insurance for early career researchers… Dr. Joseph S. Sparling is a postdoctoral scholar studying neurodegenerative disease in the Hotchkiss Brain Institute at the University of Calgary. He is the current president of his local postdoctoral association (PDAC), an outspoken advocate […]

There are, of course, nuances to formulating a budget, and it’s highly advisable to consult with someone who is experienced and understands the politics of the department you are applying to before committing. To help, I’ve asked my friend Damien Wilpitz of Experimental Design Consulting to contribute a number of articles on the details of […]

In December of this year, a very interesting law comes into effect in the United States. In an effort to address unfair overtime hours across the country, the new law makes it illegal for people to work unpaid overtime hours if their salary is below (a surprisingly high) threshold of $47,476. As our readers have […]

There are, of course, nuances to formulating a budget, and it’s highly advisable to consult with someone who is experienced and understands the politics of the department you are applying to before committing. To help, I’ve asked my friend Damien Wilpitz of Experimental Design Consulting to contribute a number of articles on the details of […]

Last week, I stumbled across a Princeton professor’s oddly entitled “CV of failures” (PDF) and obviously I fancied a click-through to give it a look. It, and its accompanying introduction from Johannes Haushofer, were a good read and an even better reality check. As he says in this introduction, “failures are often invisible” and I […]

In this guest post, Damien Wilpitz details how to negotiate a start-up package that reflects your needs.

David Kent breaks down an eLife article that suggests peer review scores cannot distinguish very good grants from excellent grants. In fact, at a certain point in the process, it is pretty much a random lottery.

“If the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts.” – Albert Einstein   “In any dispute the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the value of the issues at stake … That is why academic politics are so bitter.” – Wallace Stanley Sayre (Sayre’s law) To read the previous articles in this series […]

Before I get into recapping the last few months of activity on the blog, I want to make a plea to all Canadian postdocs to fill out the 2016 survey of Canadian Postdoctoral Fellows. Last time (in 2013), the survey made big waves capturing the views of nearly 2,000 Canadian postdoctoral fellows. Major findings included that […]

The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward. – Amelia Earhart To read the previous articles in this […]

Over the past few months I have been doing some semi-regular teaching at the undergraduate level. It’s been a while since I have taught, aside from an odd lecture here or there. However, one thing has become very clear to me: the further I go in research, the less I’m meant to teach the next […]