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- Executive / Senior Industry Position
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Freelance Medical Writer - Clinical Evaluation Reports
At Cactus Global in Mumbai, India -
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- Posted 2 days ago
Sr Scientist
At Medtronic in Hyderabad, India -
- Career Advice
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How to make undergraduate research worthwhile
Practices might differ from country to country, but undergraduate students can be better served in research, says Shaun Khoo. One of the things that excited me about taking up a Canadian postdoctoral position was that, for the first time, I would get a chance to work with and mentor enthusiastic undergraduate researchers. I looked forward to the chance to gain mentorship skills while helping out future scientists, and maybe, eventually, freeing up some of my own time. As an Australian, I had never been pressured to volunteer in a lab — most Australian students don’t do any undergraduate research unless they enroll in an extra honours year, because the law prohibits unpaid student placements that are not a course requirement. This hasn’t held back overall research productivity in Australia, but it is a stark contrast to the North American environment, where many undergraduates feel pressure to get research experience as soon as they begin university. Most graduate medical students, for example, have previous research experience, and North American graduate schools have come to expect this from applicants. In Canada, nearly 90% of graduate medical students have past research experience1. Numerous articles extol2,3,4 the virtues of undergraduate research experience, but, unfortunately, evidence supporting the benefits of undergraduate research is limited. Most studies on the topic rely exclusively on self-reports that are corroborated less than 10% of the time by studies using more-direct measurements. For example, surveys find that undergraduate student researchers say that they have developed data-analysis skills — something that would normally involve lots of practical work — yet, when interviewed, most of them admit to never having done any data analysis. Like many postdoctoral researchers and graduate students, I spend most of my time with undergraduate students working on technical skills that they might need to work in the lab, but that don’t necessarily improve their conceptual understanding. For example, if I teach a student how to use a cryostat, they might become proficient in slicing brains, but they won’t necessarily learn how synaptic transmission works. Even if we manage to instil excitement for the intricacies of research in our undergraduate students, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that for the vast majority that continue in academic research, there will be no permanent jobs — we might just be saddling our undergraduates with unrealistic expectations. So how do we avoid wasting our time as mentors and our students’ time as learners and researchers? Here are my suggestions. Consider long-term goals. Undergraduate students should reflect on how their research experiences will prepare them for professional success. Should they be aiming for research experiences that are based on their courses, because it will better improve their understanding of scientific concepts? Will a given opportunity help them to reach their career goals by getting into a professional graduate programme? Can they commit to staying with a research programme long enough to become effective and potentially be a co-author? Acknowledge and offset opportunity cost. Undergraduate research requires significant time investments from both students and research supervisors. Undertaking such research might mean forgoing paid employment or other experiences, such as student societies, sport, performing arts or campus journalism and politics. Mentors can help undergraduate students by facilitating summer-scholarship applications or finding ways for students to get course credit for their work. Train for diverse careers. Most undergraduate students will pursue non-research careers or join professional graduate programmes. Those who try to continue in academia will eventually face a bleak post-PhD academic job market. Just as PhD students need preparation for a wide range of careers, so do undergraduate students need to build a transferable skill set. Mentors can encourage undergraduate students to build communication skills by, for example, encouraging them to present in lab meetings, or facilitating teamwork by having groups of undergraduate students complete a project together. Improve undergraduate research experiences. There’s limited non-anecdotal evidence that undergraduate research improves a given lab’s research productivity, or even student learning, but such research isn’t necessarily a waste of time. Before undergraduate students pad their CVs with research experience, they should reflect on what they will achieve by conducting research, and they should seek out meaningful projects to work on and develop relevant skills for their future career. For mentors, we have an obligation to consider the career development of undergraduate students and, for the sake of our publication records, we should aim to work with students who can commit at least a year to our projects. And, as much as possible, we should try to take the pressure off undergraduate students to do research, so that it can be an enjoyable learning experience rather than a box they need to check. doi: 10.1038/d41586-018-07427-5 This is an article from the Nature Careers Community, a place for Nature readers to share their professional experiences and advice. Guest posts are encouraged. You can get in touch with the editor at naturejobseditor@nature.com. References 1. Klowak, J., Elsharawi, R., Whyte, R., Costa, A. & Riva, J. Can. Med. Educ. J. 9, e4–e13 (2018). PubMed Google Scholar 2. Smaglik, P. Nature 518, 127–128 (2015). PubMed Article Google Scholar 3. Ankrum, J. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-05823-5 (2018). Article Google Scholar 4. Trant, J. Nature 560, 307 (2018). Article Google Scholar Download references
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- Junior Industry Position
- Posted 2 weeks ago
Manager
At Piramal Pharma Solutions in Navi Mumbai, India -
- Researcher / Analyst
- Posted 2 weeks ago
Sr Clinical Research Specialist
At Medtronic in New Delhi, India -
- Other Job
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Post Doctoral Position in Bioengineering of 3D skeletal muscle organoids
At Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine in Bangalore, India -
- Executive / Senior Industry Position
- Posted 2 weeks ago
Executive Production
At Piramal Pharma Solutions in Mahād, India -
- Researcher / Analyst
- Posted 2 weeks ago
Sub-editor, Medicine & Life Sciences
At Cactus Communication in Bengaluru, India -
- Executive / Senior Industry Position
- Posted 2 weeks ago
Executive - Operational Excellence
At Piramal Pharma Solutions in Mahād, India -
- Executive / Senior Industry Position
- Posted 2 weeks ago
Executive - MDM
At Piramal Pharma Solutions in Mumbai, India -
- PhD Candidate
- Posted 2 weeks ago
Funded 3 Year PhD Position: Transmission dynamics of Rabies in multi-host systems
At Ashoka Trust for Ecology and the Environment in Bengaluru, India -
- Mid-Level Industry Position
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Manager - Business Development (API Generics)
At Piramal Pharma Solutions in Mumbai, India -
- Mid-Level Industry Position
- Posted 2 weeks ago
Manager
At Piramal Pharma Solutions in Mahād, India -
- Other Job
- Posted 1 month ago
Advt No.16/2019 : JRF position for conducting animal work under the dengue vaccine development program | NCBS Jobportal
At National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bangalore, India -
- Mid-Level Industry Position
- Posted 1 month ago
Clinical research Associate - H1b Candidates.
At Biorasi in Mumbai, India -
- Executive / Senior Industry Position
- Posted 1 month ago
Technical Sales Specialist
At Thermo Fisher in Delhi, India -
- Executive / Senior Industry Position
- Posted 1 month ago
Specialist Water Package(s) Engineer (Contractual)
At Bechtel in New Delhi, India -
- Career Advice
- Posted 2 months ago
Science needs mentors
Nature’s mentoring awards are open for nominations from India. Recommended articles The lives of female scientists in India are being chronicled online India’s Commitment to Science Begins to Pay Off Maria Mitchell, the first woman to become a professional astronomer in the United States, was one; so was materials scientist Mildred Dresselhaus, the ‘Queen of carbon science’. In common with many scientists, they desired to be mentors, guiding the next generation with no expectation of return. The concept of a mentor, indeed the word itself, can be traced at least as far back as Homer’s Odyssey. In the ancient Greek epic, the wisdom goddess Athena took the form of a man called Mentor to assume the guardianship of the young prince Telemachus while his father, Odysseus, was away fighting the Trojan War. Athena’s Mentor was not only Telemachus’s protector, but also his educator and guide. Mentoring is one aspect of good research supervision. But it doesn’t always happen, as a 2018 Nature survey on laboratory life showed. A majority of the survey’s respondents wanted more support for mentoring and managing. The lack of mentoring is also among the reasons for the global rise of organized doctoral-training academies, where PhD candidates learn in groups, and where they can access scholarly experience and expertise in addition to that of their main supervisor. Some employers recognize mentoring: a number of learned societies have formal schemes that assign mentors to trainees, for example. So do scholarly publishers, through their global trade association, STM. Nature gives its own annual awards for excellence in mentoring. These awards, now in its 15th year, are again open for nominations for two prizes: one for a mid-career mentor and the other for a lifetime of achievement in mentoring. Each year, the awards recognize mentors from a different country or region; the 2019 edition invites nominations from India, which produced 24,300 PhD graduates in 2014, the fourth-highest number in the world after the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. The deadline for applications is 6 October. There’s no set formula for mentoring, as past winners of Nature’s awards have themselves said. Furthermore, the needs of young researchers are evolving as their environment changes. Many relatively new skills needed in research careers, such as the ability to conform to performance-management systems and run multidisciplinary research groups, would not have been relevant to some mentors earlier in their careers. But there are a number of ways in which researchers can benefit from the experience of mentors. In addition to being a sounding board, all good mentors should be willing, where they can, to provide learning opportunities — including the chance to learn from failure. Mentors and trainees must both appreciate the value of celebrating success and of constructive criticism. And neither should see the role mainly as a ticket to prestigious speaking invitations, or to boosting publications and impact scores. At all times, the relationship needs to be one of trust and mutual respect, and of open and transparent communication. That mentors should not expect to benefit makes outside support for mentoring all the more important. Funders and institutions would do well to invest more in mentorship training. Mentoring and mentorship could also be formally recognized as part of researcher evaluation. For recipients of mentoring, the opportunity to share successes and talk through challenges with an experienced professional can be invaluable. For mentors, it is an opportunity to promote scholarship through the generations. Acquiring the skills to become a good mentor takes time, an ever more precious commodity in researchers’ lives. But for mentors and would-be mentors, investment in learning will be worth the effort. If you have a career story that you'd like to share, then please complete this form, or send your outline by email.
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- Conference
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Ca2+ Signaling: regulatory mechanisms to impact on health and diseases
Between 31 Jan and 1 Feb in Faridabad, India -
- Executive / Senior Industry Position
- Posted 2 months ago
Sr Process Analyst
At Allscripts in Pune, India -
- Practitioner / Consultant
- Posted 2 months ago
MS Sr Implementation Consultant
At Allscripts in Pune, India -
- Career Advice
- Posted 4 months ago
India debates a nationwide tenure system
Academic staff disagree on the merits, and the downsides, of scrapping a common year-long probation scheme. Academic researchers and administrators in India are debating the benefits of adopting a tenure-track system similar to that of the United States in Indian research institutes and universities. A few, including the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru, are already using the system, whereas others, such as the Indian Institutes of Technology, have a probationary-period process. Under that scheme, the performance of new faculty members is assessed after one year by a review committee, often comprised of department heads and institutional administrators. Some scientists are calling for the nationwide adoption of a five-year tenure-track review structure. After around five years, research faculty members are reviewed on the basis of their publications and funding received. Teaching ability and service to the institution usually have a supporting role. If the candidate is granted tenure, they receive a permanent appointment. If they are not, the appointment is terminated. Under the probationary system in India, research faculty members who receive a positive assessment at the end of their first year are given permanent positions as assistant professors. After another five years, they can apply to become associate professors — a position with higher rank and pay. If they are unsuccessful, however, their appointments are not terminated. Faculty members can stay at their institutions as assistant professors until they retire. Those who endorse the tenure-track system say that the probationary system allows low-performing researchers to remain in their posts. “How do we ensure that quick appointments to a very well paid, highly privileged and permanent position does not encourage complacency?” asks ecologist Vishwesha Guttal, who was awarded tenure in 2016 at the Indian Institute of Science, five years after he was hired. The issue of tenure-track versus one-year probation has sparked discussion and debate among academic scientists in India, partly in response to an interview published in June in the newspaper Hindustan Times with Jayant Udgaonkar, director of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Pune. In the interview, he advocated adopting the tenure-track system nationally. His comments followed the release of a draft policy in May by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, which oversees higher education in India, recommending a gradual national adoption of the tenure-track system. The ministry could not be reached for comment. Udgaonkar, a biochemist, says that it is difficult to properly assess a researcher’s progress in a single year. He thinks that the tenure-track system provides scientific accountability and allows a candidate who has been given strong support and regular feedback to receive a comprehensive assessment at the end of five or sometimes seven years. But many do not agree. Theoretical physicist Arvind, director at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research campus in Mohali, says that a five-year tenure track will increase job insecurity and put pressure on new faculty members to pursue only short-term research goals during that period. “Academia requires stability,” he says, adding that there is a paucity of fallback options for candidates who don’t make the cut. India has few second- or third-tier research institutions where a scientist whose bid for tenure is rejected elsewhere can seek another appointment, and few commensurate industry positions. Institutional support, easy access to equipment and resources, and timely disbursal of government grant funds have long been sore points in Indian academia; they have also been a talking point in discussions about adopting a tenure system. Gagandeep Kang, an academic gastroenterologist and executive director of the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute in Faridabad, says that institutions and government need to improve access to funding and resources to level the playing field for researchers who are up for tenure and allow for a more-rigorous review process. Ramaswamy Subramanian, a structural biologist and director of the Bindley Bioscience Center at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, says that if tenure is adopted, the process will need to be uniformly objective and fair. Subramanian, who has held tenured positions in Sweden and the United States, points out that tenure-review committee members in India, usually senior scientists and administrators, are likely to lack personal experience of the process. A nationwide system is unlikely to be adopted soon, predicts Arvind. “Each institution is autonomous,” he says. “There may, at best, be suggestions that the governing boards of individual institutions can then consider.” If you have a career story that you'd like to share, then please complete this form, or send your outline by email.
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- Master's Program
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Master of Public Health ( Health Policy, Economics and Finance)
at Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai, India -
- Master's Program
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Master of Physiotherapy
at GD Goenka University in Sohna, India -
- Master's Program
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Master of Public Health ( Health Policy, Economics and Finance)
at Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai, India