We reached out to a few researchers who’ve been associated with us and asked them what helped them succeed and what can help them further. This got us some interesting views about the catalysts and potholes in an author’s journey, some of which you may relate to. This is the second in a two-part series featuring interviews with researchers; click here to read the first post.
Yuji Higashide, Japan
Master of Medical Administration
Medical Management and Public Health
The path to success in my career is a strong will to complete my research and the environment around me that supports and advises me.
What has helped you achieve success and growth in your career?
The path to success in my career is straightforward, and I think it’s my strong will to complete my research and the environment around me that supports and advises me.
What are aspects of your work that can be simplified, so that you have more time to focus on your research?
Perhaps many researchers already have data at each stage of manuscript writing. To write a manuscript, you have to perform statistical processing using that data. And at the time of statistical analysis, we often cannot judge whether the statistical method we are thinking of is correct. So we need to consult a statistician. As a result, you may have to redo the statistical processing. It is beneficial for us to be able to reduce this gap.
Weiwei Jiang, China
Assistant Professor, Tsinghua University
Computer Science
A great research team with both excellent supervisor and students has helped me in my career.
What has helped you achieve success and growth in your career?
A great research team with both excellent supervisor and students; a high-level platform providing enough research funding; the support from my family
What are aspects of your work that can be simplified, so that you have more time to focus on your research?
Literature search & recommendation; English proofreading; Latex & Word formatting
Karen Hall, Guyana
Graduate Research Fellow, University Rovira
Social Anthropology and Communication
I use a calendar and alarm reminders to assist me to keep my deadlines. Another strategy I consciously practice is not having an overambitious plan.
What has helped you achieve success and growth in your career?
I read a few self-motivation books early on in life, notably “Seven Spiritual Laws of Success” and “The Power of Positive Thinking.” These books taught me to look beyond my present circumstances and not only plan my work but track it too. One work ethic I came into my PhD program with is time management. I use a calendar and alarm reminders to assist me to keep my deadlines. Another strategy I consciously practice is not having an overambitious plan – rather, I break up my work into smaller units and keep revisiting my goals from time to time.
What are aspects of your work that can be simplified, so that you have more time to focus on your research?
One of my frustrations is the lack of appropriate training to understand how to write academic articles – the university provides superficial guidance in the form of short courses and workshops, but this doesn’t really help. What we probably need as PhD students are coaches to provide continued guidance and support on academic writing and publication. Another problem that we researchers often face is a generation gap with older supervisors. They are not really open to modern-day innovations, which leads to conflict. I want them to honor the way I want to do research and to be more open to innovations as it makes achieving academic goals smoother and less stressful.
Each researcher’s path to success is unique, and the support needed by each depends on which discipline they belong to, which career stage they’re at, what their career goals are, and which skills they have (or lack). Some may need tools that increase their productivity, some may need to learn new skills, and some may need to connect with other researchers or individuals who can help them advance in their careers.
The challenge most of them face is that it takes time to find these resources, most of which cannot be accessed in one place. What if, instead of ping-ponging between multiple platforms that serve individual needs, researchers found everything they need in a single location? What if someone focused on addressing this need for a one-stop shop so that researchers could focus on more important things? This is the principle underlying Researcher.Life—an integrated ecosystem developed after listening to the views of many researchers like those featured in this series. Whether researchers need a tool for smart literature discovery, publication support for their manuscripts, courses to help learn new skills, or simply a community of peers to connect with, Researcher.Life allows them seamless access to all of these and more. Learn more about how we’re doing this by exploring Researcher.Life.
