🕐 Start early 🗺 Develop a unique research direction 🔎 Focus on collective success Here are some tips on how to foster healthy scientific independence—for yourself and your trainees. ⬇ ScienceCareers
The team-written Letters to Young Scientists column offers training and career advice from within academia.One of the most paradoxical concepts in science is independence. Almost nothing that we do as scientists is the product of complete independence. We work closely under the guidance of mentors for years as trainees and, even long afterward, our very best work is often the product of a team. To paraphrase Isaac Newton, all of us are also standing on the shoulders of those who came before us.
One of the most common ways to do that is by leading a research project, from conceptualization to completion. That doesn’t mean you have to do the work all by yourself. Given that in many scientific fields it is nearly impossible for a single individual to execute an entire project, publications will often include co-authors. But you will learn a lot by taking the lead as a first author on publications, which means you will likely do the much of the writing, analysis, and research design.
Graduate students and postdocs can also start to develop leadership skills by mentoring more junior members of the lab. Managing people is not easy, and we benefitted from the experiences we had recruiting, training, and mentoring our own team of research assistants when we were graduate students. Building these skills—and learning from these relationships—will ultimately make it easier for you to transition to the role of research team leader.
This stage requires careful attention to the professional needs and skills of your trainees. Understand that your trainees will need to build their own independence so they can thrive after they have left your lab.
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