– As a Professor, who do you wish to be? In what ways do you wish to make a difference?
With these questions, Eivind Engebretsen, leader of The postdoctoral programme, opened the first meeting of the programme’s new mentoring scheme. He showed examples of how various researchers had built a narrative around themselves and their research work.
– There are many possibilities but the most important is probably the creation of your own research story.
The pandemic has created a need
The pandemic has been a prolonged and difficult period for many researchers.
The postdoctoral programme has therefore put a lot of energy into establishing the new scheme.
The aim is to bring together postdoctoral fellows and other researchers in the start phase of their careers to help build networks, exchange experiences and perhaps come up with some good, new ideas.
We have run the postdoctoral programme since 2016.
But this is the first time the mentoring scheme has been organized in this way.
Important to create good meeting spaces
– Studies have shown that researchers highlight collaboration with colleagues as being equally important as brief conversations with supervisors or group heads, says Engebretsen.
By bringing researchers together in this way, we hope to help them progress.
Participants come from many different countries and we even had participants who are employed in a collaborating institution in Ethiopia.
– It’s important to create these spaces to meet, not only for the sake of the research, but also to enter into what is for many an entirely new society, Engebretsen explains.
Tips for writing good applications
Maria Olofsson gave researchers tips on how to improve their applications.
She is the Head of Section in the Section for Research Administration at the faculty.
– You should discuss with other researchers when you are developing new research projects, she said.
She also highlighted that researchers need to be precise when planning how the application will be written.
The instructions of the funding supervisor must be followed.
Another important point is to make the job of the person assessing the application as easy as possible. Start with a well-written and uncluttered abstract.
Many decisions are made already at this point.
– It is also important to use visualizations and figures, concluded Olofsson.