Advice and maxims for early career researchers

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are” (Theodore Roosevelt).

This was one bit of advice that I received which helped me through a challenge and it still helps me today.

In this seminar, I will talk about my own heuristics that I continue to use and have used during my research journey.

The first maxim of course is to ‘never over trust a maxim’ since a maxim is not always the right wisdom to be used in all contexts.

No one person can always give you the best advice all the time, so it can be important to have more than one mentor.

I will talk about how to practice the art of asking research questions (“It is easier to judge the mind of a man by his questions rather than his answers”-Pierre-Marc-Gaston de Lévis), identify key limitations in your research in terms of bias and the methods being used.

I will briefly talk about the importance of interdisciplinary research, polymaths and ‘knowing the landscape before planting a tree’.

Your ideal research should be something that:

1. You are excited about
2. You find challenging
3. Matches your ability
4. and, in most cases where the research has implications or potential research impact in the real world

Virtual Researcher Seminar Series

This seminar is part of the Virtual Researcher Seminar Series, running across October.

These short lunch-time seminars are online and are designed to provide general research mentorship to help coach post-doctoral researchers (namely research fellows, research associates and research assistants).

PhD researchers are also welcome to attend.

The first set of seminars will involve four sessions covering:

• General advice and maxims to develop yourself as a researcher,
• How to use good scientific principles from the open science framework,
• The role of innovation and creativity in research, and
• How to get your first funded research project.

These four seminars are short and to the point and will last between 30 minutes and 1 hour.

There will be an opportunity for an open discussion after each talk.