THE KEYS: Unlocking Success in Academia
THE KEYS: Unlocking Success in Academia
Academia doesn’t come with a manual—but that doesn’t mean you have to navigate it alone. The Keys is a weekly blog offering practical strategies for academic success, from setting a strategic vision to managing time, setting boundaries, and building a fulfilling career.
I’ve been a researcher for over 20 years, but academia wasn’t a path I had modeled for me. My parents didn’t go to university; instead they forged careers in the construction and retail industries. I learned the unwritten rules through trial and error, and through the invaluable mentorship of colleagues who helped me find my way at every step of my career. Now, I want to pass that knowledge on to you. Whether you’re a graduate student, postdoc, or early-career faculty member, this space is here to help you navigate the knowns and unknowns of academia—so you can define success on your own terms.
More importantly, we’re not just finding the strategic keys to success in the ivory tower—we’re unlocking doors, redecorating, and making academia a more inclusive, sustainable, and welcoming place for everyone. Your academic home should reflect your values as well as your goals. Let’s build it together.
3 Critical Questions to Consider before You Go on the Academic Job Market
Thinking about applying for an academic job? Consider these 3 questions to make sure you are ready.
Photo by Eric Prouzet on Unsplash.
Working Through Grief
How do you work through grief? I mean, how are you actually supposed to do your job while you are grieving? It seems impossible, and it often seems like we’re alone. But we’re not alone, and there are things we can do to make it just a little bit easier to get through.
Burnout
Do you struggle with burnout? Me too. Let’s talk about it, share resources, and set our future selves up for success and happiness.
Photo by Tangerine Newt on Unsplash.
SCIENCE MEETS: Dr. Jeni Pathman
Succeeding in university and forging a career in science and academia can be incredibly daunting for those who did not have the journey modeled for them. Dr. Jeni Pathman and I discuss how guidance from a wonderful collection of mentors helped pave the way for her. She shares with me her thoughts on the importance of representation, and how efforts to increase diversity in academia need to focus on retention as well as recruitment.
SCIENCE MEETS: The Academic Job Talk
The most important part of crafting the job talk is the introspection done behind the scenes.
SCIENCE MEETS: Shusmita Rashid
In recent years, granting agencies have stressed the importance of ‘knowledge mobilization’ in evaluating research applications. After all, science is more impactful if others know about the work and can build off of it. But, what exactly is knowledge mobilization? To tackle these questions, I recently had a chat with Shusmita Rashid, a knowledge mobilization and implementation expert with the Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovations. She shares her career journey and the key questions we all need to consider to successfully achieve knowledge mobilization within our organizations.
SCIENCE MEETS: Dr. Kelly Shen
In August of 2015, Dr. Kelly Shen and I bonded over several servings of Kaiserschmarren in Vienna, Austria, and began a collaboration that would span several years and link together the functions of the oculomotor and hippocampal systems. We recently got together for a virtual chat and coffee over Zoom and reflected on what makes scientific collaborations work.
SCIENCE MEETS: Dr Jen Ryan
September 2021 marked 20 years for me as a principal investigator. Which means having a website - one that showcases the RyanLab science, shares our collective and individual experiences, and reflects on lessons learned - is probably long past due. But now, here we are! So why did it take so long?