Abstract
Different aspects may affect the way a fellowship experience takes place. A senior researcher generally has more to think about (‘more worries’, ‘more ties’) than a junior researcher when applying for a fellowship, but both will have to face a similar process. In this article, we provide some practical tips to efficiently plan and perform a research leave, and then we briefly reflect on how it may change us.
Generally, a particular laboratory is chosen because of the techniques and expertise available there. The researcher may wish to learn a particular technique and incorporate it into their own laboratory back home or simply use it during the research leave to answer a particular scientific question. Sometimes both laboratories share the scientific question, and the research leave initiates or continues an ongoing collaboration.
For most junior researchers, issues regarding the educational programmes they have to attend, or the experiments they have to perform in their own laboratory, will influence their decision on when and for how long the fellowship should take place. For most senior (and some junior) researchers, more issues will have to be considered. First, the senior researcher might have institutional tasks to perform (teaching, consultations …) and the institution, although generally keen to provide the permissions needed for the research leave, might not be able to contract another person while he/she is away. Thus, the researcher might need to carefully plan the research leave so that it fits within a period of time with the lowest possible workload for him/her (and many times this will include his/her holidays). Second, the senior researcher generally has a research group, experiments planned, students to supervise, projects to develop, manuscripts to write and submit … . All these have to keep progressing while he/she is away (information and communication technologies are extremely helpful nowadays!). Finally, the senior scientist may have a partner and children (babies, adolescents), who might stay behind or accompany the researcher. Apart from emotional matters that have to be taken into account, obvious practical (and economic) problems need to be solved, including those related to the partner’s job and the children’s education. As a consequence, many senior researchers will find it difficult to enjoy a research leave, and many will facilitate their junior students’ mobility instead!
The financial support that may be obtained or devoted to the fellowship greatly influences the final aim, the destination laboratory and the duration of the research leave. Financial support may be provided by the projects under development at the researcher’s own laboratory, but it may also be applied for within the framework of institutional, national or international calls.
Whatever the fellowship programme, it is crucial to go carefully through the application criteria and guidelines to make sure that you are eligible for the programme and would not be rejected at the first stage of a review process. Among various documents required, such as the CV or the letter of recommendation, usually the most difficult to write is the motivation letter. Here are some tips for writing a motivation letter:
Specify the area of interest. Make sure your career path covers the criteria Provide a clear message indicating: why this particular place would be a good match for you how it would fit into or impact your scientific career how the acquired training/knowledge will be used at your institution why it is important to get these qualifications Highlight what you have achieved so far, but do not forget to mention what obstacles you face in your current work (particularly those that you want to overcome through the fellowship experience) State your expectations of the fellowship programme (what you would like to learn) Count the words/pages! Do not exceed the allowable limits! Always double check what you have written Believe in yourself and TRY, TRY, TRY!
Personal change
‘The only source of knowledge is experience’ (Albert Einstein)
These words from one of the greatest scientific minds should echo in the ears of all involved in science – from a young and developing PhD student about to embark on their first fellowship to any well-established professor. A fellowship experience provides a source of knowledge to boost your career development not only externally in the scientific world, but also internally within yourself.
It is needless to say that any fellowship experience provides the opportunity to take yourself out of your comfort zone and to get a taste of a number of different scientific pathways. For those at the beginning or early stages of their career, it is an inexpressibly exciting time, with so many choices laid out at their feet waiting for them to take a leap into what will hopefully be a challenging and fulfilling career: a daunting and somewhat terrifying period. Fellowships provide an invaluable opportunity to ‘test the waters’ before throwing yourself overboard into the unknown, and therefore allow you to find where you belong and which scientific pathway you will travel. For those already well established in the world of science, fellowships provide an opportunity to look inward and confirm your pathway or to challenge yourself to improve your career or seek change.
Partaking in any fellowship programme puts you in the middle of a ‘chain-effect’ reaction whereby being involved in events and meeting new people makes the world a little smaller. Fellowships put you in certain positions at specific times that have an ironic or unexplainable ‘destiny’, whereby people may become both professionally and emotionally invaluable, from a source of inspiration for your scientific career or someone to look up to, to lifelong friends you can share amazing memories with.
Finally, developing on the words of Albert Einstein, another great scientific mind of our time, Carl Sagan, was quoted as saying that ‘science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge’. From a more technical standpoint, cooperating with different laboratory teams all over the world makes scientific methods and processes available to us. Equally beneficial is the way we open ourselves to new ideas, perspectives and cultures, which shape and develop us as people. This notion can be shared and passed on to all our fellow colleagues in science and research, from our own laboratories to the laboratories we hope to visit through fellowship programmes.
Conclusion
For all researchers interested in enjoying a fellowship experience, the best advice is to have a well-focused and realistic aim, to consciously prepare the application, to work hard during the stay, and to use the experience to establish a solid collaboration with the recipient laboratory. In that way, the small seed of the research leave will hopefully grow into something much bigger, stronger and satisfactory for all.
As researchers and scientists, whether young or experienced, we dedicate our lives to the pursuit of excellence, and through fellowship programmes we can improve ourselves as people and as professionals. Organisations such as UEG provide opportunities to embark on a fellowship experience and to ultimately ‘boost’ the development of each of us and our careers.