Reblog: “We need to stop calling professional development a “pipeline”

Excellent post by Small Pond Science on why ‘pipeline’ is a problematic metaphor for the scientific career path.

When we talk about increasing the representation of women and ethnic minorities in STEM, the path towards a professional career is often characterized as a “pipeline.” The pipeline metaphor is so entrenched, it affects how people think about our deep-rooted problems. This metaphor has become counterproductive, because it fails to capture the nature of the […]

read the rest of We need to stop calling professional development a “pipeline” at Small Pond Science

Reblog: “Collaboration – seek and ye shall find?”

Collaborators are highly valuable for a researcher. For many of us in experimental fields, they are the only way to get enough data to fulfil the publication demands each year (a requirement that warrants a separate, full blog post in its own right). But how does one get good collaborators? The Think Ahead blog has a good piece on collaboration, highlighting how it often depends on initial, open communication, perhaps outside of one’s comfort zone. How much time do you spend talking to someone not in your group, maybe not even in your field? The post is worth a read.

Often collaboration isn’t about having a research idea and then looking for collaborators but rather it can be by talking to others that ideas for collaboration come about.

Read the rest of Collaboration – seek and ye shall find? at the Think Ahead Blog