I am currently in the middle of secret project, which I hope to announce more about in late August/early September. I’m really excited about it but it’s taking a bunch of my time. I’m hoping that you will be just as excited when I can share more details. The wonderful Dr Claire Walker is helping me deliver my passion project by curating the Girlymicrobiologist blog for a few weeks. This means that I hope you all enjoy getting some great guest blogs from a range of topics. Girlymicrobiologist is a community, and all of the wonderful authors stepping up, sharing their thoughts and projects, to support me in mine means the world. I hope you enjoy this guest blog series. Drop me a line if you too would be interested in joining this community by writing a guest blog.
Dr Walker is a paid up member of the Dream Team since 2013, token immunologist and occasional defector from the Immunology Mafia. Registered Clinical Scientist in Immunology with a background in genetics (PhD), microbiology and immunology (MSc), biological sciences (mBiolSci), education (PgCert) and indecisiveness (everything else). Now a Senior Lecturer in Immunology at University of Lincoln. She has previously written many great guest blogs for the Girlymicrobiologist, including Simulating Success – Enhancing Biomedical Science Education through Clinical Simulation. This blog was written by a group of her final year students on their experiences of trying to teach differently.
Blog by Yvana, Nicole and Ellie
We were a small group of three final-year Biomedical students—Yvana, Nicole, and Ellie who were brought together by a shared goal to create something useful for other students by us students. In our final year at the University of Lincoln, we were offered the opportunity to work on a collaborative project focused on improving on how ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) is taught to students- a commonly used technique in the immunology department to quantify and detect biological molecules.
Meet the Team
Yvana
Hello, I’m Yvana – Three years ago, I began my journey as a Biomedical Science student at the University of Lincoln. Like many, I was unsure of the exact career path I wanted to follow, but I knew one thing for certain, I was deeply fascinated by diagnostics and disease. Over time, that interest developed into a love for laboratory work, especially when I had the opportunity to experience clinical simulation sessions led by Dr Claire Walker which stood out to me as they offered a taste of what a real-life clinical lab feels like beyond university.
One of the highlights of my third year was engaging in a unique series of laboratory-based activities known as Laboratory Skills, coordinated by Dr Andy Gilbert. These sessions were designed to strengthen our core technical abilities and confidence in the lab through a series of activities covering microbiology to biochemistry!. After completing 6 weeks of lab skills, Dr Andy Gilbert approached me with an exciting opportunity to collaborate with two other students, Nicole and Elle, also led by Dr Claire Walker on a co-creation lab skills project. Our task? To design a step-by-step resource that would deconstruct one of the most widely used techniques in immunology, ELISA – making it easier for students to understand and perform.
Ellie
Hi everyone, my name’s Ellie! I’m 1/3 of the amazing group that have carried out the ELISA workshop, led by students, for students. During my years at the University of Lincoln, I’ve grown to love the fascinating world of microbiology and I’m even going back this September to do a Microbiology Masters! I have really enjoyed my time at Lincoln and part of that is thanks to Andy Gilbert for putting on his extra lab skills sessions, which allowed me and other students to gain that vital extra laboratory knowledge and practice important techniques.
I’ve just finished the final year of my undergraduate Biomedical Science degree and throughout this year I was able to create something incredible. I, Yvana and Nicole, were given the opportunity to collaborate and develop a practical booklet as a building point of the skills needed to carry out an ELISA. The main reason I agreed to take part in this task is that we, as students, do not get many chances to have such a hands-on experience with many complex techniques, like an ELISA, during this degree. Because of this amazing opportunity, we were able to give students across all years at Lincoln the chance to gain more knowledge and extra practice in learning this crucial technique!
Nicole
Hi, I’m Nicole – one of the final-year Biomedical Science students behind this project. Starting at the University of Lincoln, I wasn’t entirely sure which direction I wanted to take within biomedical science. As the course progressed, I enjoyed the hands-on lab work, particularly how it transformed theoretical knowledge into practical application. This became evident in my second year during Laboratory Skills sessions led by Dr. Andy Gilbert. These weekly sessions focused on core techniques like centrifugation, microscopy, and microbiology.
Co-creating the ELISA workshop booklet felt like more than just a project; it was an opportunity to make lab-based learning more accessible and less intimidating. Since ELISA is a technique, we limited experience with as students, developing this protocol felt was crucial. Working with Ellie and Yvana to bring our ideas together was fulfilling. My favourite part was seeing the complete protocol, knowing it would support students to tackle the ELISA confidentially.
Figure depicting how ELISA works step-by-step
Building the booklet
This project was a collaborative effort and not something we did alone- we brought our own strengths together to create the now called ELISA Team (given by Claire Walker herself!). We spent countless hours in the lab, testing and refining each activity to make sure it worked as intended and delivered the essential skills students would need to confidently complete an ELISA in real time. We held regular meetings, worked on it during lectures (sorry Claire and Andy!), and genuinely had a lot of fun creating something meaningful that we hope will support future students just like us.
Under the guidance of Dr Claire Walker and Dr Andy Gilbert, we set out to create a resource that would feel practical, and genuinely useful for students. We didn’t want a booklet created from a lecturer’s perspective of what students might find helpful. We wanted to build something we would have found helpful when we first encountered ELISA, a step-by-step walkthrough from a student’s perspective.
Overview of ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay) booklet use to educate students
The booklet breaks down ELISA into its fundamental components, from how to properly use a multichannel pipette (which was a nightmare to handle!) to interpreting results and avoiding common mistakes students might fall for. For instance, one key focus was on the washing stages, an often-overlooked step that if done incorrectly, can lead to high background noise and inaccurate results, which in a diagnostic lab can be the difference between a patient receiving an accurate diagnosis or potentially missing one altogether.
What made this project especially rewarding was the opportunity to run our session with real students from first year undergraduates in Biomedical Science to postgraduates in Biotechnology. The feedback we received was overwhelmingly positive. Many said the booklet helped them better understand ELISA both in theory and in practice. We focused heavily on visual learning using diagrams, photos, and annotated guides because we knew from our own experience that clarity and visual support were essential when learning complex lab techniques.
Initial plate setup demonstrating serial dilutions and pipette accuracy during the first activity, comparing multichannel versus single-channel pipetting.
Our final thoughts
Our co-creation project not only gave us a chance to give back to the large community of students, but we were able to bridge a gap that many lectures hadn’t quite managed before, true co-creation between students and lecturers. Together, we created something that students appreciated and benefited from which was entirely made by their peers through mutual experience.
Looking back, we are incredibly proud of what we achieved as a team. It showed us how impactful student-led projects can be when they’re supported by passionate educators and built around supporting the educational needs of the community.
I am currently in the middle of secret project, which I hope to announce more about in late August/early September. I’m really excited about it but it’s taking a bunch of my time. I’m hoping that you will be just as excited when I can share more details. The wonderful Dr Claire Walker is helping me deliver my passion project by curating the Girlymicrobiologist blog for a few weeks. This means that I hope you all enjoy getting some great guest blogs from a range of topics. Girlymicrobiologist is a community, and all of the wonderful authors stepping up, sharing their thoughts and projects, to support me in mine means the world. I hope you enjoy this guest blog series. Drop me a line if you too would be interested in joining this community by writing a guest blog.
Callum is a disciple of the biomedical sciences, current master’s student creating a more authentic lab experience for those after me, aspiring consultant microbiologist (the best discipline, sorry Claire – you see he understands, like me, that micro will always trump immunology).
Callum is supervised by Dr Walker who is a paid up member of the Dream Team since 2013, token immunologist and occasional defector from the Immunology Mafia. Registered Clinical Scientist in Immunology with a background in genetics (PhD), microbiology and immunology (MSc), biological sciences (mBiolSci), education (PgCert) and indecisiveness (everything else). Now a Senior Lecturer in Immunology at University of Lincoln. She has previously written many great guest blogs for the Girlymicrobiologist, including Exome Sequencing and the Hunt for New Genetic Diseases.
Blog by Callum Barnes
Hello again everyone! It certainly feels weird to be writing another one of these, but my supervisor the lovely Dr Claire Walker thought it would be a great idea considering the outcome of my research that I discussed here.
A small recap for those that don’t want to read two blogposts – I am an Mbio Biomedical Science student at the University of Lincoln and completed my portfolio on a placement year in a local microbiology lab. It was great and I became so much more confident in both my practical and theoretical work, which really showed me the value of clinical placements. The problem is that these placements are too few and too competitive nationwide, and only a fraction of those that want to join the biomedical workforce get to experience them despite their value. Long story short, we created a clinical simulation that was as authentic to a real pathology lab as possible, with patient request cards and a functioning (front-end) LIMS, both seen below:
Can you believe no one got the Star Trek references? Anyway. The results were honestly incredible, with basically everyone that participated getting value out of it. I can’t share too much as we are yet to publish, but here are some quotes that really highlight how the clinical simulation increased confidence and was effective as a learning tool.
“Getting hands on experience in the lab. It gave me the confidence to continue in the lab setting.”
“Overall, the lab practicals have been helpful. I think my lab skills have drastically improved, especially my microscopy skills and interpreting my lab results.”
“I like the opportunity we had to practice new skills and learn about it in the contrast of a case study.”
These results were really good, but during my background research I came to realise that other medical disciplines are ahead of us in utilising learning tools to teach university students – like really ahead. Trainee doctors have actors, manikins, and in the last decade have extensively integrated VR/AR/XR technologies into their teachings. We are left with a couple of practical sessions per discipline to cover the hundreds of different diagnostic processes that biomedical scientists go through. And this is almost entirely down to cost, practicals cost a fortune after all. They take setting up, and time, which staff don’t have enough of as is. Which brings us back to virtual reality…
Virtual reality (can be) cheap, accessible, and most importantly repeatable. Other medical disciplines have already identified this, and there is good data to back up the use of VR in those disciplines. But none in biomedical science, because clinical simulation is only just being recognised as a worthy endeavour.
And so, this is going to be my goal. I am going to develop software to train biomedical scientists in virtual reality. It’s going to be tough, but I do truly believe that this is a sorely neglected part of training the next generation of pathologists here in the UK, and honestly hopefully the world too. And if everything goes well (and even if it doesn’t), I’ll be back here in a year to let you all know how it went.
I got an alert of my phone last week that I set up this blog on WordPress 10 years ago! That was a bit of a shock I can tell you. That said, as I posted about in 2020, although I set up the blog and made my first post as I finished my PhD in 2015, I didn’t start posting regularly of another 5 years. I started it as I was looking for my next passion project but I didn’t really know what I wanted to say for quite a while. Despite the gap between starting and regular posting however, 10 years still feels like a gateway and something worth marking. I thought therefore that I would write something that reflects how I, my practice, and in someways the world, feels like it has changed in the last 10 years to mark the event. On the back of that, it also seemed fun to embed a few of the blog posts that have been put together since Girlymicrobiologist began in order to show how this blog too has changed and grown.
Apologies, this turned into a bit of a long one.
Microbes have changed
In 2015 I had finished my PhD in January, as well as a PGCert in Teaching and Learning in Higher and Professional Education. I had just taken my final clinical exams (Fellowship of the Royal College of Pathologists) in September and found out I’d passed them in November. After a decade of focus linked to completing what felt like an unachievable list of academic steps I was done. The question therefore was………what’s next? So, in December 2015 I started my first ever blog post, although I had been sitting on the web page for 6 months not knowing how to begin. This is how that Girlymicro blog began:
So, this is my first ever blog post. Bear with me as I don’t really know what I’m doing.
I’m what is know as a Clinical Scientist and I work in Infection Control.
Most people don’t know what a Clinical Scientist is so I thought I should briefly explain.
Most scientists that work within hospitals are involved with imaging (X-rays, CTs etc) or processing patient samples. We all work to support diagnosing patients. Did you know that scientists are involved with >80% of all diagnoses within the NHS? Their work is crucial to improving patient care, but the scientists are often unsung heroes as they often never meet the patients they help.
I do not work in the lab all the time like many scientists. I’m a clinical scientist, so half my time is spent working in a patient facing role within infection control and the other half involves bringing science to infection control to make it more efficient/evidence based. I work within a hospital with a team comprised of nurses, doctors and scientists. I have a PhD in infection control. I am also working towards my final clinical qualification (Fellowship of the Royal College of Pathologists) which is the same as my medical colleagues. My job is to help the translation of the science into a form that healthcare professionals can work with. Sometimes this means working with language so we are all on the same page. Other times this means working with the latest science and technology and developing new tests that will help.
I’m passionate about my job, but I’m also aware that many people don’t know that it exists and I’m hoping that this blog will help to change that. I plan to share a bit about what my day to day life is like as well as the science which I hope will inspire others to become healthcare scientists. After all, I have the greatest job in the world. And that is worth shouting about.
During the 10 years between setting up the website, with a world of good intentions, and writing today, many things have changed. Not least of all are the organisms people care about and the way transmission is understood. My PhD thesis was on the role of the environment in transmission of healthcare acquired infection. In many ways, getting papers published out of it was a struggle as very few journals were interested in the built environment and Infection Prevention and Control (IPC). Now organisations such as the Healthcare Infection Society run entire events linked to it, and I run something called the Environmental IPC Network, as the topics impacts so many of us. On a national level I’m now involved in writing guidelines to help support environmental IPC, all of which was a pipe dream when my thesis was being written. It felt like a very lonely area to be working in, but over the last 10 years it feels like the built environment is finally being recognised as an important component to how we keep patients safe in the world of IPC. I’ve now even had my own PhD students continue the work.
The other thing that has changed are the organisms that are perceived as being important. Even more though, there are organisms that were not even thought about in 2015, or didn’t exist, that can or are impacting so many lives, for instance Candida auris is a new kid on the block, and Mpox was called something completely different. Few people cared about Gram negative bacteria when I started my PhD, let alone Adeno. This was true even to a certain extent when I finished. I’ve worked on Adenovirus for over 2 decades, so it feels especially vindicating to see it make it onto the UKHSA priority pathogen list for research. All of this is to say, you don’t need to follow the crowd, if you find a problem that you believe is important enough, stick at it. Gather the evidence and put it out there. Eventually you’ll find others that join you in seeing the significance of your direction of travel.
Speaking of organisms, in 2015 we testing for the odd Coronavirus, and of course the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak had happened, and the Middle Eastern Coronavirus (MERS) outbreak was ongoing. Many of us had been concerned with the potential of Coronaviruses to cause a pandemic, but most of the planning was still linked to Influenza based risks, as that was what had been seen historically. Awareness sadly does not necessarily link to preparedness, and as lived experience shows, the SARS CoV2 pandemic was both fast and devastating. We were unprepared, but I don’t know that we ever could have been.
Outbreaks with a worldwide distribution are not unusual and the table below shows just how many have happened or have been ongoing from 2015 onward. It also shows that not all outbreaks with world wide spread are considered to be pandemics, and not all pandemics have death tolls in the millions. In fact a pandemic is defined as “an epidemic occurring worldwide, or over a very wide area, crossing international boundaries and usually affecting a large number of people”. With this classical definition including nothing about population immunity, virology or disease severity. So, preparing for a pandemic is not as simple as it can initial appear.
NB for ease I grabbed this list from Wikipedia, please don’t judge me for it
The table also shows quite how hard life can be in the world of IPC as the organisms don’t stop because we are tired and need a break. In fact the world re-opening post pandemic, combined with some of the scientific distrust that the political handling of the pandemic created, and the fear people experienced, means that managing outbreaks since has been an ongoing struggle. Vaccine hesitancy is having a real impact on transmission and making a key line of defense less effective. Many experienced experts in this field and others related to infection and public health have now retired or moved away due to the ongoing personal impacts. This means it’s more important than ever to turn up, be seen and to have engaged conversations across boundaries and silo’s in order to develop trust and support patient safety. No matter how hard it feels, it is still worth it.
My clinical world has changed a lot, partly because of the changing organisms and the pandemic, but also because the patients and healthcare are changing. It can take quite a lot to keep up with all of these changes, and you have to be fully engaged with an approach that aligns with continuous learning to stay up to date. On top of this, when you start out as a trainee with over a decade of training ahead of you, you have also got a list of key education targets to prioritise. It can therefore feel very much like you are just working your way through a list of items that need to be ticked off so you can eventually get to the finish line. There is a lot of ‘onto the next thing’ as soon as you manage each key milestone because otherwise it can feel overwhelming. One of the key things I’ve realised since 2015 is the importance of cherishing the moment and recognising the importance of progress, rather than rushing from one thing to the next with my entire focus about keeping an eye on the prize.
Passing FRCPath first time is still one of the most challenging things I’ve done in over 2 decades in healthcare. To be honest, I’d rather do another PhD than take FRCPath again, any day of the week. I wish that I could have found a way forward where I didn’t let my ability to pass, or risk of failure of an exam define me, but for many years it did. I’m pretty sure that telling my younger self this would have achieved nothing, as it takes time and distance to be able to understand that the tick list isn’t everything, but just in case it helps anyone reading this……you are more than the sum of the exams you sit, the letters after your name or the achievements on your CV. You have value no matter where you are on the pathway, no matter how many diversions you have taken, and to be honest, it’s OK to also decide the end destination is no longer for you. Who you are matters more than any tick list.
Part of the way I’ve gained perspective on my own training is by supporting others now through theirs. Seeing PhD students go through their own trials and tribulations, and sharing in their eventual successes., has given me insight I couldn’t have gained any other way. Supporting Healthcare Science training, everywhere from writing curricula to mentoring individuals at all stages of their careers, has allowed me to see things from all kinds of different perspectives. It’s given me so much insight, as well as time to reflect on how I felt and what might have helped me along the way, in order to try to help others better.
I feel more seen as a Healthcare Scientist than I ever have. I feel that Healthcare Science as a discipline and a profession is more seen than it ever has been. There are so many more routes into Healthcare Science these days, with so many more options. This is a truly brilliant step forward from when I joined, when there really was only one route as a Clinical Scientist and having to really fight to show that you could do things differently if you wanted to go another way. As the same time however, all that choice can feel a bit overwhelming, and in some cases paralysing, as people just don’t know where to start. In order to reach more people and support them in navigating this changing landscape though does require a willingness to be visible, to bring ourselves and our stories, in order to show others what an amazing profession this is. To show the openness and diversity of the workforce, in order to make sure everyone knows this can be a profession that is welcoming and open to everyone. You can’t be what you can’t see, so let’s make sure we are seen!
I have been fortunate enough to have experienced opportunities that I never believed would be open to someone as normal as me. I don’t come from a privileged background. I didn’t go to private school or attend Oxbridge. I don’t have connections, or a rich family to bail me out and pay for my exams/conference fees/fancy memberships. So when I get invited or asked to do amazing things, I of course say yes, but I’d think to think I’m saying yes for more than just me. I’m going into spaces and having conversations with people so that I can represent. Represent my workforce. Represent my gender. Represent my background and represent my family. To do so is an immense honour and a privilege that I don’t ever lose sight of.
No one I knew, outside of work, had ever had a New Years Honour, so it never even occurred to me I would get one. Being able to undertake work in Africa which aims to reduce infant mortality by 20% in high mortality settings, is not work that I thought I would ever get involved with, it felt too big for someone like me. That’s just it though, ‘someone like me’. We put so many labels and restrictions on ourselves. We limit our own vision. If the last 10 years have taught me anything it’s that you probably can’t see where you will end up, there’s too much joyful chaos in life for that, but you can control saying yes. Saying yes to things that scare you. Saying yes to rooms that may intimidate. Saying yes to being open to opportunities and changes in direction, even when you have no idea where they might lead you. Half the joy is in the discovery, so put on that adventure outfit and head out the door.
I’ve talked about the tick list and why visibility matters, and not just for you as an individual. Now I want to talk a bit about glass ceilings and choosing to do things differently. I have, over the years, lost count of how many times I have been told that something wasn’t for me. Not for me because of my background, profession or gender, or maybe just because I didn’t fit in. I used to hear a lot of ‘no’ and I used to feel like others could define me. The thing I’ve learnt is, that the only person who can define you is you. You can give away your power to others and let them made those choices for you, or you can own your path, your career and your choices, in order to define yourself. I’m not saying any of this is easy. I’m not saying it is fast or straight forward. I am saying it is a choice.
I became the first non-medical Infection Control Doctor (that I know of), because I worked to create the path to get there, which hopefully others will now follow. I didn’t know that was possible when I started, and it came with a goodly number of fights along the way. There were days when I definitely believed the ‘no’s’ and didn’t think it would happen, but I kept trying, I kept showing up. It became clear that I would never make Professor at my original home within UCL, due to long standing bias for medical over scientific backgrounds. So I pivoted and found a new academic UCL home that welcomed me and supported me in my journey instead. Things that are worth fighting for take time and commitment, and nothing is guaranteed. Paths are often not well trodden, and so finding the right people to support you along the way is key. Don’t drift. Make your choices consciously. Know what you are willing to fight for. Know also what you are prepared to let go of. When things come together share the knowledge, share the path, and make it easier for others to follow. Drop that ladder down or prop the doorway open.
I had thought it was post pandemic blues but I think it’s just transitioning to another phase of life and career that got me thinking about this one. I’ve been working at GOSH for 21 years this year, pretty much my entire working life. During this time there have been two mentors that have pretty much introduced me to and gotten me through everything. In my clinical life it has been Dr John Hartley, and in my academic world it has been Professor Nigel Klein. Now, John retired part way through the pandemic, and he really is the reason I have my Consultant post, as I took his Infection Control Doctor role. Nigel sadly passed away last year, before he had the chance to retire. In my head, I’m still the new girl on the block, the new person in the department, the young upstart. It is a shock to look around and realise I am now one of the people who have been there longest and I have very large shoes to fill, knowing how unprepared I feel to fill them. The giants that have gone before have left, but I wasn’tt prepared for them to leave. I think the biggest shocker has been that there are some who now look at me in the same way that I looked at John and Nigel, when I don’t feel like I am even in the same league. I think they will always loom large in my mind, and I honour what they taught me by embedding it in my practice.
Your career can feel like such an open pathway ahead of you. Then you wake up one day and realise you, probably, have less than a decade left. It’s at moments like that you really need to think about what it is that you want to achieve, what you want to prioritise, in order to maximise the impact of the time you have left. Ten years feels like a long time, but its really just 2 cycles of PhD students, 2 large project grants and only 3 trainee Clinical Scientists. It’s no where near as long as it feels and so planning ahead takes on an all new perspective. If your a planner like me, now is the time to plan for this new phase of your career.
Learning that you can’t fix everyone or everything
Part of that planning for the future is also knowing what not take on. I am a simple soul, I like being liked. It’s taken me a long time to grow in my leadership to the point where I acknowledge that I not a god, and I don’t have a magic wand, therefore I can’t fix everything or everyone. Nor can I be liked by everyone. Part of being a leader is making tough decisions, part of being a leader is also about honesty and not saying the easy things, just to be liked. Sometimes, I have learned, putting off the difficult conversations and the difficult decisions does no one any favours and so it’s best to have them early. As a mentor, you are there to advise, but the decision are owned by the person making them. You are not people’s parents and they are not children, we should therefore be aiming for adult adult conversations. Acting like a White Knight can actually do more harm than good, as you are removing learning opportunities for those you swoop in and save. It is a difficult balance to know when to step in and when to maintain a pure supporting role. It is one that I will continue to get wrong. All I can do is learn, do my best, own the consequences, and aspire to be better.
The flip side of learning you can’t fix everything is being aware of your duty to try to make things that are in your remit of control or influence as good as they can be. As I’ve said, I have a decade left in all likelihood, and therefore my job is to ensure that I maximise the opportunities for others until the day I don’t have the ability to influence any more. My career is very much no longer about me, it’s about those who I will be leaving behind to carry on once I’m writing murder mysteries and drinking martinis at three in the afternoon. My job is to support as many people as possible to be in the best position possible when I walk out the door for the last time. I realise it’s now my job to keep the doors open and assist people through them. Whether it’s mentorship, nominations, or speaking peoples names in rooms they haven’t been invited into, I plan to do all I can to make sure that I pay it forward every opportunity I get.
I have the job I planned for and dreamt about for 2 decades. It is my dream job and I love it I wouldn’t change it or my decision to go for it for the world. There is no doubt however that post pandemic it has been hard. I don’t know if it’s because I’m getting older, because the job and the world right now feels pretty intense and hard core, or because my body still kind of hates me for what I put it through during the pandemic, but I definitely feel burnt out and recognise that even a dream job can be a lonely place to be.
The thing is, not every day is going to be a great day. Even in a dream job there will be bits that are harder or speak to you less. It’s also OK to not be OK. The world, and especially those of us in infection control, have been through a prolonged period of pretty significant stress and trauma. We are not going to be the same people we were going in. You don’t have to change the world every moment of every day, sometimes showing up and doing your best is enough, and what your best looks like will be different at different times. I have learnt the importance of asking myself, what would I say to a friend in this situation, and to show myself the kindness that I would show to others rather than acting as my own harshest critic. Try to take a step back and give yourself the prospective you need to find a route forward.
Just the act of writing this post has made me realise how far I’ve come. If you’d asked me in 2015, I would have said being a leader is about setting an example, about getting things right, about showing competence and keeping a cool head. I’m sure leadership is about some of those things, but what I have learnt, for me, is that leadership is about authenticity.
It’s about prioritising bringing my whole self to every encounter. It’s about saying sorry when I make mistakes, rather than pretending to always be right. It’s about sharing that I too am finding it hard, rather than pretending to be OK, but that success is about showing up anyway. It’s about the fact that some people will find this bringing of self about sharing of weakness and use it as a route to criticise, not everyone will like or even ‘get’ what you bring to the table. It is also about knowing that you don’t have to like or be liked to work with others, but that it is instead about developing shared goals, and that diversity of thought makes us stronger and not weaker. Finally, it’s about knowing that it can be scary to share who you truly are as the comments and the insults hit harder without having an armoured shell in the way. However, if you don’t show that you can bring your whole self to a space others will feel less able to do so. Creating safe spaces where people can truly be themselves is one of the greatest things we can do, and so we need to model the way forward so that others don’t have to take that risk instead of us.
Of all the posts I was most scared to share when I wrote it in April 2021 was the one where I talked about losing my sister and how it felt to know that I wouldn’t be able to have children on top of losing her. It was one of the first really personal and vulnerable posts that I put out and I was really scared of what the response might be, both from family and from strangers. Instead, it was shared more times than any other post, and people still come up and talk to me about it, my sister, and Morgan my niece, who we also lost. Something that terrified me, led me to being able to talk about something that impacts so many and is talked about so little. Sharing, was a bravery I don’t think I would have managed in any other way than on this blog, and having conversations with people who read it are so meaningful to me, even now.
More recently I shared a post about what it feels like now, over 10 years since losing my sister. I really wanted to post how something that feels so insurmountable, in terms of not having children when you wanted them, can actually turn into something where your life still has so much meaning and joy. A position I could not have even imagined in 2010 when I lost them. I truly, honestly, love my life. My life has meaning and I have achieved things that I’ve been forced to admit would not have been possible if my life had taken a different course. I hope that sharing this can help others who are not there yet to know that there is a future where they will smile, laugh and feel valued again, no matter how dark the moment feels.
I’ve always been a family girl, but I’ve not always prioritised them in the way that I should. I’ve missed funerals and weddings for work. I’ve cancelled dinners and missed trains home. The pandemic, and life in general, has made me decide that I need to put my family first, and thus myself. There needs to be balance to make it through the marathon of a healthcare career, and some of that balance requires that the job cannot always be the thing that defines who we are. Mummy and Mr Girlymicro are my world, and every moment spent with them makes me a better person and thus better at my job. Bringing my whole self to my job and my leadership requires me to nurture precisely that, my whole self. So credit where credit is due. My family support me in being able to do what I do. They make me martinis when I’ve had a bad day, give me water when I’ve forgotten to drink, and feed me when I’ve inevitably forgotten to eat. They love me for my flaws as well as my strengths, and put me back together when I break. They are my everything, and so they need to feel like my priority in life. I guess my learning is this, don’t become so focused that you forget to acknowledge the people that got you there, and don’t be so ‘eyes on the prize’ that you forget to enjoy the journey with those who care.
Last, but by no means least. I have learnt to embrace the unexpected. I’m a planner but when I started posting on this blog I didn’t really have a plan. I had no idea where I was going or what I was doing. I just knew that it felt like it was something that was needed and had been asked for as part of a challenging time when people were looking for information. It was something that was supposed to be a little hobby that unexpectedly became a central rhythm of my life. Something that is a focus of a little time every day. Something that feels mine when less and less of my working life feels that way. It’s a space where I really feel I can connect, in a way that is probably a little insane for something I throw onto a page and don’t see people read. None of this was planned, and yet it has changed my world. It has changed my plans for the future. It has given me a creative outlet, and some hope in pretty dark times. So, if I have a thought at all for you to take from this overly long blog post, it is this. Embrace the random moments that come your way. Embrace the actions that you roll a dice on and don’t think will lead you anywhere, because every once in a while, without you even being aware of the whys or the how, they may change your life for the better.
There’s been a bit of a delay posting this one, as it was supposed to come out a couple of weeks ago, but I ended up needing to take a bit of a well-being break. Healthcare Science week was a brilliant blur but full on and, for once, when I went on leave I decided that all work, yes even this blog, needed to be put on hold so I could have a complete break. I hope absence has made the heart grow all the fonder……
Now, onto the science
At the start of Healthcare Science week, my family and I, because they love me, went for a night out to experience a different type of science…..forensic science. I wanted to go to see ‘Walking into a Murder Scene: an evening with Simon Fowler‘ by First Forensic Events for 3 reasons:
The first is that I think it is really helpful to engage with science beyond your discipline for inspiration and ideas. In this case, I’m not a big true crime fan or anything like that, but I was interested in how they deal with technical challenges we both share, such as low volume detection of targets by PCR amplification from human blood, as this could help with sepsis detection in clinical settings.
The second is that I have a long-term plan to write some pathology murder mysteries, by long term, I mean it’s my retirement plan, and so I also thought making some science notes could be helpful as success is mostly in the preparation.
Finally, I try to engage with science outreach wherever I can, no matter what the topic. I wrote a blog here last year about aviation outreach at a massive airshow known as RIAT and what learning that triggered for me. I really believe in seeking out and engaging with these opportunities, firstly because they do a lot to inspire me as to what more I can do. Secondly, because why reinvent the wheel? Learn from others about what works well and how I could switch up what I do. Last and by no means least, if we don’t support these people and these events, they may cease to happen. Finances are tight everywhere, and outreach is increasingly seen as a ‘nice to have’. Numbers talk, and so taking some time out of my day to be there to support others talking science is the least I can do.
The event was the first ones from a group known as First Forensic Events and was, in many ways, a trial run. The house was packed, though, and there was an obvious interest from those attending to just find out more about a world that most do not have access to. It got me thinking and as a result I thought I would focus this blog on what I took away in terms of how we, as scientists and Infection Prevention and Control professionals, could do more in terms of reaching out to a different audience and shedding some light on what we do to lift the veil in a similar way. I often think we don’t talk enough about the fascinating aspects of what it is we do for a living and this event made me realise that we are in position to share that with others and there are people out there who may want to learn more.
Location location location
The first thing I want to talk about is location. This event took place at the Royal Gunpowder Mills, which was objectively brilliant. One, it is not a place that is open that much to access, and so to be able to attend for an event already felt special. Two, it’s a place that’s interesting and quirky, and so even if people aren’t leaving and talking about how great your content is, they are likely to still be talking about what an interesting night they have had. I get pushed all the time to have events in cheaper and less interesting spaces because the costs need to be justified. The truth is, as much as we may dismiss them, locations can make or break events. Therefore, investing in them makes complete sense to me.
One of the reasons that location choice is so important is that it gives you the opportunity to really demonstrate that you have thought about the comfort and experience of your audience. Are there drinks available? What about food? How will people find their way to seats etc? Attendees will focus better on the content if they are not distracted by feeling hungry or thirsty or trying to understand where they need to be. They are also more likely to linger and talk to each other, which is key to both creating a buzz about the event and to permit natural network creation which will encourage future support.
A clear sense of identity
All things tend to be easier or work better if you have a clear sense of identity or what you want to achieve. This works for everything from advertising events and getting people into the room, to how people respond to the event itself. It is therefore worth investing a lot of time in both thought and planning in order to get this right, before diving deep into the practicalities and details.
When we spoke after the session it was clear that Simon’s focus was linked to training. His unique selling point (USP) for the session was to demonstrate not only some of the interesting cases he’d been involved in but also why and how he got into the work he did. He was also very clear that, in the same way we always want to focus on the patient, he wanted to make his sessions about the victims. Simon started off his session by talking about his core values and where he came from, in his case it was that he wanted a military career but that life turned out somewhat differently. He was diagnosed with Perthe’s disease which meant he was no longer eligible for military service, and so he then had to re-focus and choose a different life path. He built the start of his session up around his personal journey into science.
If we were to do something similar for health I think the need to be clear about our USP holds true, and for me, the things that seemed to engage the audience most were a focus on clear story telling with outcomes to show your role and it impacts i.e. what did you do and how did it change things? The other thing that seemed to really fascinate those present was discussion about prioritisation, outcomes and decision making. How do you decide what to do, in what order? How do you make decisions and how did those choices impact the end result? I suppose I’m talking about making thought processes an object of active discussion and raising awareness, rather than maintaining mystery or focusing purely on events. The stuff someone can’t find out by reading up about something on the internet and can only be got from a more intimate discussion based setting.
Back to the fundamentals
Keeping to the basics and planning, lets talk set up. Location is important but so is the staging. Everything from what you are planning to wear, to props and the tech that you will use. Is your outfit comfortable and accessible? Are you going super smart/business, that could be seen as hierarchical? Will you go branded or display your geek like tendencies with, for instance, a CSI T-shirt? All options are fine but they need to fit with your USP. Who are you selling up on that stage? Choose an outfit that fits with deliberation rather than as an accident.
Making the staging visually interesting is useful, especially if people are sitting for a while before everything kicks off. Offering an intriguing set up means that people will engage before you even start, as well as allowing people to speculate what might happen later. Having props that you will use draws your audience in.
It is important at the planning stage to also be considering accessibility. Too many people believe they have a loud enough voice that they don’t need mics etc. That works for some people but there will be people in the audience who you don’t reach and who will find it a barrier to engagement. Mics also allow nuance in terms of being able to go both loud and quiet as needed, rather than focusing constantly on projection. The same with slides if you are using them. Will they be accessible to people who are colour blind? What level of text is appropriate? What fonts may permit engagement? Should you be image heavy? In the case of something linked to criminal cases or health, how much do you show? Gore, surgery, infection etc can be triggering, so consider what level may be needed/appropriate. If you are recording (pictures, video etc) think how this might impact your staging and movement and if it will change your lighting requirements.
During the show itself, when we attended, there were some technical issues as the laptop running the slides stopped working. I think this is everyones worst nightmare, but has also happened to us all at some point. It reinforced for me that if you are relying on tech as part of your staging, you always need to have a plan B about how you will handle things if something happens to that tech. How you will you pivot? Having a plan means that you will be less flustered and therefore impact the experience less for those attending.
Selling credibility
Credibility is everything, whether we realise it or not. Setting up and selling your credentials is an important thing to do both before the event and early on during the establishment phase. Why should we listen? What do you know? What’s your experience….really? There are multiple ways that you can both do this and embed it. Thinking about how you are going to both establish and sell your credibility is something we don’t often consider and may take for granted, but if you are trying to speak to new people, especially outside of your field, it is something to really think about.
One of the great ways that it was done at the First Forensic Event was that someone else whom people may be familiar with, in this case Donal Macintyre, introduced Simon linked to both the event and by covering his skills and expertise. We all use testimonials in every day life and this setting was no different. I’d heard of Macintyre Investigates but as someone who doesn’t engage with a lot of true crime work the name didn’t mean much. It did however mean something to most others there, and he also talked about the TV work and others things Simon had been involved with in order to try to establish wider credentials. This is no different really to someone reading out your bio at a conference, but re-pitched to make it useful to a different crowd, and still well worth doing.
The other thing that Simon did was to acknowledge the other members of his crew. This was important for two reasons. One, because we should acknowledge that we are not single person armies and the work and support provided by others. It makes you not only more approachable but also acknowledges the work undertaken by other people to get us to where we are. In this particular case however there was another important purpose in acknowledging the other people who were involved, and that was to enhance the credibility of the event itself. The other people involved in First Forensic Events are other forensic scientists and police detectives, which aid to further establish credibility by inclusion in networks and experience. If others are willing to add their names to your events then it also demonstrates their backing and investment in your undertaking.
A story in three acts
We’ve reached the nitty gritty. How will you actually structure your event to achieve your outcomes? What are you trying to achieve? Simon was clear that it wasn’t just about factual presentation, but about him and his journey as a scientist. I think that was a really good decision and something that many of us as scientists should consider when working up our presentations. We are not science in isolation from ourselves, and so bringing your full self to these events is bound to be more impactful, and also helps to engage your audience more. For this purpose the session was structured around stories, stories about self, stories about action, and stories about impact. This kind of story based structure enabled the audience to really engage as the human ability to engage with oral tradition goes back to us sitting around campfires and learning through listening to tales.
The first third was based around learning who Simon was, what drove him and how he got into his work as a scientist. Fundamentally this section is about building of rapport as well credential building. It also enables the audience to settle in and for an expectation setting phase to be undertaken. The second third was a practical session. This is where Simon demonstrated some practical aspects of what a bludgeoning event could cause in terms of blood splatter, and scene investigation. This enabled a change in pace and energy, which breaks things up for people as they will have been sitting for some time at this point and changes it from being a didactic slide presentation. It also means people go into the break with a level of introduction of what may be discussed in more detail post break and therefore your audience can choose how much information they are comfortable with, and gives an exit opportunity if needed. This gives detail without inclusion of people or actual harm, and therefore allows engagement without emotional risk. The final section, post interval, was based on actual cases, still rooted in technical discussion, which supports focus on facts rather than emotion. This type of structure supports engagement and gradual submersion rather than attempting to shock.
Speaking to the room
This brings us onto the audience. How do we speak in a way that allows the audience to truly engage. I’ve talked about structure but there are other things that can help. The first thing we can do is do some scene setting. Making sure at the start of the session that everyone know how the event is going to work and what the rules are. This includes some basic things like telling people that there will be an interval, what time it will be and how long it will run for, so everyone can make sure they know how long they’ll need to engage. In the case of this particular event it also included scene setting around what might be shown and discussed, making clear the level of imagery etc in order to reassure and expectation manage. It also included being very clear that it was completely OK for people to leave and return at any point, as people may be triggered by different things, different memories, in order to reduce distraction by discomfort or concern about whether removing yourself would be acceptable. It also included the fact that there would be a Q and A, and that Simon and his team would be available for questions both within the event and during the breaks.
As with any science event it is worth doing what you can to avoid exclusion of your audience by thinking about how you will use technical terms and being weary of abbreviations. Many of us use abbreviations without even thinking about it as part of our engagement (I used the term PCR earlier) as it is part of our language. Those in the audience are less likely to have the same shared language however, especially if you are reaching out to a new audience. Making sure you allow time to explain any technical terms you are going to utilise is a key thing to practice. When you think you have explained enough you are likely to need to explain even further. As someone who doesn’t work in law enforcement some of the terms and abbreviations used in this event didn’t mean anything to me. That didn’t really impact my understanding or get in the way of the outcomes however, but made me remember how healthcare is filled with exactly the same barriers to full understanding, and that I need to be more careful about how I talk about my job also.
One way to make sure that you get feedback on how to improve and make tweaks on things like language is by making sure that the first time you do anything you add plenty of cheer leaders/critical friends into your audience. These people can flag and help you improve for future events, as well as providing some reassurance and friendly faces in the room to help alleviate your anxiety.
Maintaining accessibility
I’ve talked about accessibility already in terms of supporting your audience to logistically engage, but now I’m talking about connection. How do we make sure that we allow participants to connect with us, feel engaged with us, and fully share in the event. There are some key ways that I think this can be done, although sometimes it can be scary. I think the key one for me is allowing yourself to show vulnerability. Sharing enough of yourself that others can start to see you as a person. This includes sharing things such as values and drivers, but also sharing failure and things that did not go so well. Allowing people to see you as a person and not just a role.
The other part of this is being open and able to laugh at yourself, and allowing others to join you in that moment. All of this can be really shown in less structured moments. Moments where you make yourself available to engage 1:1 in breaks etc. Also, in a more open way by including moments where audience members can fully participate in things like Q and A’s. I always find it helpful to set parameters for these. Being open about the fact that there is nothing off limits, especially with kids. So they can ask what my favourite colour, is or how much I earn, or what I find the hardest, without restricting them to the science. Setting boundaries and expectations in general means that everyone knows what the rules are. Can you use your phone? Can people take pictures? Can people leave? All of which enables people to focus on engagement rather than attempting to predict what’s in or out of scope.
Pitching your future
How does it end? You’ve made it through, you’ve shown your full self. Hopefully you’ve felt that the audience engaged. You’ve made it through the Q and A. What do you do now? You need to make sure that you provide another opportunity to engage in the future whilst everyone is still paying attention. This is the moment to link to other opportunities, but this means you need to have those other opportunities set up and ready to share. What I’m saying is, as much as it’s crucial to focus on the right now, to make a real success out of events like these you need to be able to provide the next thing. So making sure you’ve planned ahead and have something else to sign post to is a key stepping stone to success.
Even if you don’t have another event planned you need to make sure you are thinking about marketing. What is your social media? Do you have a web page? Where can people go to find out more, either about you or about your future planning? Making sure that you have these things set up so that people can continue the engagement that they’ve started means that this is less likely to be a one off and more something that will be a stepping stone to future engagement. Having shown who you are and having brought people into your world, the logical thing is to make sure you have a plan for showing people what’s next.
So much that links us
So after all that, what did I think of forensic science. When I go to any of these things, what always strikes me is that we have so much that links us. Whether we are acting as detectives in finding an infection or a criminal linked to a crime scene, we are actually following very similar thinking and processes. We even use some similar techniques. I walked away thinking that I had been involved in a super cool event, but also struck by how brilliant it would be to do something similar for healthcare, and whether there would be anyone out there interested in setting something up. I left, as I almost always do, with my mind on fire with ideas and inspiration, and I wish to do so much more than I currently do. It reminded me how much we need to put ourselves out there and be brave. More than that even, it reminded me of how much the work we do is fascinating, and how interesting it would probably be to those that have never traveled in our footsteps. Perhaps even more so after the pandemic. So step up and step out, your audience awaits you!
I’ve been thinking a lot about goals lately as I have two awesome PhD students who are currently in the thesis writing mines, and having taken a few years away, I’m preparing to re-enter the grant writing labyrinth. This thinking has led me to actively spend some time considering what can make a goal helpful, but also what can make it a millstone around your neck and something that actually makes life tougher.
As you’d probably expect, I spend a lot of my working life talking to people about goals, be they personal or organisational. I’ve also spent the last 20 or so years setting good goals and also setting some truly dreadful ones, either because they were unachievable or developed in a way that just wasn’t helpful. So I thought this might be a good moment to share what I think a good goal should look like in case it helps.
Goals should be S.M.A.R.T.
You will hear an awful lot about how goals should be S.M.A.R.T. These criteria were proposed by George T. Doran (1981) and stated that goals should be:
Specific: Targeting a particular area for improvement.
Measurable: Quantifying, or at least suggesting, an indicator of progress.
Assignable: Defining responsibility clearly.
Realistic: Outlining attainable results with available resources.
Time-related: Including a timeline for expected results
These principles can make goal setting sound really complex, and like their development will take a whole bunch of time. That can definitely be true if you are setting things up for a big piece of work or a project. The principles can however also be applied to more modest goals that aren’t about big things. For instance, if I manage to do a 20 minute block of writing right now, I will reward myself with a pot of the pink earl grey tea I currently love so much. Therefore getting into a habit of thinking what is achievable and embedding specificity, even into the little things, is a good routine to get into.
One of the reasons I find goal setting so useful is it can get me away from big picture thinking. Sometimes, seeing the big picture is what you need. They are other times, however, when seeing that big picture can feel overwhelming or dis-empowering, and what I need is to be able to break my task/goal into small enough chunks that I think I will be able to take the steps forward that I need.
In all honesty, sometimes those chunks have to be pretty damn small if I’m struggling. Sometimes, they can be larger. Sometimes, they can aim at controlling the next 5 minutes of my life, and sometimes, they can focus on a whole day. A key piece of learning for me has been to understand what I need to have in order to service the need, whilst acknowledging that I’m not a robot, and so some days I will need to accept that my productivity looks different.
If I’m setting up a big set of goals for a project, I therefore need to be flexible enough in my approach to allow variation in how any blocks of sub goals written can be brought together or modified based on the needs of the day. Motivating enough to get me over the hump, not so formidable that I’d rather do nothing than look them in the eye.
No goal stage should take longer than you can attain in one sitting
This is a big one, for me at least, no individual goal should take you longer than one sitting. That one sitting could be a day, on some days that one sitting could be 20 minutes, but one sitting is my time boundary for an individual sub goal.
There are a few reasons for this:
Different sub goals can get combined based on how I’m feeling and my capacity to be challenged on any specific day
Keeping them time limited means that they are easier to monitor, tick off and see progress, even when it feels like a slog
I find it easier to plan my total work that needs to be achieved/go into something if I have a workable unit of input that is going to be required
It means that I only ever have to do one achievable thing in order to feel like I’ve done something. Otherwise, failing to complete my goal because I’ve set myself too much to do, can leave me feeling like I’ve failed rather than I’ve failed to plan appropriately
A lot of this, for me, is about learning how to trick my brain so I can move forward even on those days when I just don’t really want to but it has wider benefits in terms of tracking and flexibility in terms of thinking outside of delivery alone.
Goals can be multistage
All of this doesn’t mean that you can’t use goal setting to work towards a big plan, a big vision, or a big task. If you are working towards your 5 year plan, your thesis, your fellowship, you absolutely need to have a plan and goals that encompasses everything. The plan cannot however be ‘write a thesis’ or even ‘write a thesis by the end of 2024’. Those types of goals are the ones that become millstones as they include all the expectation aspects of a goal with none of the pathway that would enable you to achieve what’s needed.
Multistage goals require you to look at your big picture and then turn it into a 1000 piece jigsaw, where most of the time you are trying to find a home for a single piece, but you keep the lid of the box with the picture to hand in order to guide you along the way. Getting to a point where you are able to break the whole down requires you to do 2 things. One, do your research so you know about the project/larger goal in detail. This enables you to sensibly decide where you can segment it. Two, spend some time getting to know yourself, what motivates you and your rhythms, so that you can be sure you are breaking down the whole in a way that facilitates rather than hinders the way that you work. There is no point in being deluded and pretending you are or work like someone else. At this point, realism, no matter how much you like or dislike the truth, is key.
Goals should have details
I will say this once more with feeling (still one of my favourite Buffy episodes). Your goals must never be things like: ‘write a chapter’, ‘write a paper’, ‘write a thesis’. Not unless you have a constant level of superhuman motivation. Your goals need to be much more specific and achievable.
There’s an example of a high level goal written below, but I tell you that I would find that unachievable if that is all I had. I would need sub goals below it per week and per day. I say this as someone who used to run half marathons. I would need a ‘on week one of training I will run so many miles’ and ‘on day one of week one I will do X’. Otherwise, I would get to the end of week one supposedly needing to run 30 miles that week having run none, and facing up to the fact that I would have failed at the first hurdle as there was no way I was running 30 miles on a single weekend. This kind of failure can really get into your head and change how you feel about the next stage, and ensuring you don’t make life harder for yourself is a key life lesson.
Goals should aid focus
You will not feel world beating every day. What good looks like will change on different days. It is foolish, therefore, to pretend otherwise when you are planning your sub goals. Again, you need to be planning for reality, not idealism. It is not only sensible but essential therefore to include flexibility in your goal setting that takes this into account.
One of the best ways I’ve found to do this is to make sure that I have a mix of different styles and types of goals. I include tasks for those days where I don’t have the focus for sustained deep activities, where all I can face is picking around the edges, as well as ones for those days when I can tackle the big thinking and can really dig deep. A good example of this is making sure you have a list of the essential, time consuming but slightly mindless work that always needs to be done for any paper or thesis. Things like figure checking, formatting wrinkles and cross referencing. Don’t waste your days when you have energy and focus on these, keep a list to one side so that even on days you don’t feel ‘on it’ you are able to still feel like you are moving things forwards. Be cogniscent of your state of mind and use that to make the best use of your time.
Goals should support your process not become an additional stressor
My husband has probably lost count of the number of times he’s found me crying on the sofa, and when he’s asked what’s wrong, I’ve said the world is going to end because I’m going to miss deadline X or Y. When he’s then followed up with a question linked to who has set the deadline, invariably he finds that it’s self imposed. He then looks at me with compassion and gently (or forcibly depending on my need) reminds me that if I set the deadline I could also, you know, change the deadline…..
These moments always remind me that the purpose of a goal is that it should enable you to cut out the noise and focus on the now, not become a distraction or thing to be overcome. A good goal should enable you to be motivated even when you don’t feel like it. A good goal should give you an objective way to capture progress, even when you feel you aren’t making any. The best kind of goal should mean that you don’t end up in a crying heap on the sofa as they stop you reaching that point. So develop good habits about goal setting, and your future self will thank you.
Ensure you have a way to monitor progress
I’ve said a good goal should be measurable. There a couple of reasons for this. First, at a very basic level you need to be able to tell when it’s been completed. Setting a goal like ‘improve my piano skills’ sounds fine, but how do you classify that? When will enough improvement be reached? Is sitting for 5 minutes and running scales enough, or are you wanting to be able to play more than Chopsticks?
Second, if you are involved in something that is big or multi goal, you will need to be able to see progress being made. Part of this, if you think like me, is that I need to be able to visualise that I’m moving forward in order to maintain my motivation, and being a scientist I like quantitative data to show that I’m not just lying to myself. The other component of this is about learning for future activities. By setting measurable goals that have time scales attached, in order to can capture trends, supports you to be able to set better goals in the future . For instance, I know that I always under allocate time and have learnt the hard way that I need to add 1/4 additional time to things vs. the time I originally planned. I have also learnt that I will take an age on the initial phases of any piece of work, way way longer than I had allocated. This means, however, that my writing phases tend to be much shorter than allocated, as if I’ve done my planning/thinking, I can get 5000 words down a day.
If I don’t have goals that are not only measurable but monitored, I can only get part of the benefit of undertaking the work linked to setting the goal in the first place. So do future you a favour and make sure that you have mechanisms for doing both as part of your day to day to maximise both your outputs and your learning.
Goals should be regularly reviewed
You will only get the learning potential out of goals if you see those goals as live items. Pieces of a puzzle that should be regularly reviewed by holding them up against the box lid, which has the wider picture. Goals that are no longer helping should be reviewed, and the whole plan should remain flexible enough to change so that it can better fulfil the purpose. If you find out that you have allocated time scales that don’t work, missed out crucial stages, or just made individual goals too big and need to break them up, this is much easier to fix if you embed reflection throughout. Otherwise, you can end up crying on the sofa as you have been too inflexible or focused on the finish line to flex the details along the way.
I would advocate setting reflection points at regular time intervals, but also at the start and end of a new stage, in order to think what went well and not so well. For instance, if you are writing the first data chapter of your thesis, were your time allocations correct? How did your list of mop up activities work? Was there anything you missed out or had present that you didn’t need? Then, use this learning to adjust everything moving forward. It’s also worth having a wider review stage at the end so that you can roll any higher level themes into your learning for next time. You may not write another thesis, but you will write other large documents, so maximise the learning opportunities where ever possible.
At the end of the day, you rather than the goal, are the one who needs to be in control
The purpose of all of this thinking and preparation is not, in the end, to make extra work for yourself. The purpose of this is to give yourself a framework to support thought and mean you don’t waste time or lose direction later on. A goal is a tool to help, not a noose to choke self confidence or creativity.
The other thing to bear in mind is that a goal is not a deadline, and we should stop treating them as such. A goal is a way of helping you deliver to deadlines, but it is not an end in itself. You will have goals for things that don’t have formal deadlines, and you may even have deadlines for things that don’t require goals. Knowing the difference and seeing goal setting as just another tool in your toolkit that is there to help you achieve and reach your aspirations can really help change your relationship with goals and goal setting. If your goal does take control and end up becoming a deadline in itself, lay back and enjoy the feeling that comes with the sound of it whooshing past in order to re-set your relationship and put yourself back in the driving seat. You are the one in control after all.
All opinions in this blog are my own
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I’ve been thinking a lot about pathways in healthcare lately, from having conversations about T-levels and apprenticeships this week, to equivalence and Higher Specialist Scientific Training (HSST) posts. It’s made me reflect a lot on my own training pathways and the fact that the majority of the advice I received was that the only option, in terms of approach, was to work harder and do more. Now, don’t get me wrong, there is some merit to that, and there is also some truth, but I had it drilled into me that you can’t be successful if you do a 9 – 5. You must always do more. You must always over deliver. You must always be adding to and diversifying your CV.
This advice and approach has been key to me developing into the person I am now. I am objectively successful and so grateful for the support I’ve received along the way. I have the long dreamed of Consultant post, and my dream job. I was made a professor within 10 years of finishing my PhD. I’ve held multi-million pound grants and have over 50 publications. The other side of the coin is that, despite being exhausted, I can never sleep for the number of things I haven’t finished, and I constantly feel like I’m not doing or achieving enough. I’ve also written before about the impact of my anxiety levels when I’m tired or try to step away. So, as new starter season comes upon us, I wanted to take a moment to really talk about the messages we are giving our trainees, and ourselves, to think about how true they are for current training opportunities and what we can do better for those that follow us.
Let’s start with a bit of history and the messaging that we used to focus on as part of training
Goal orientated view of the world
During my first week as a trainee Clinical Scientist, I was sat down and told that it was an 11 year training scheme to Consultant, but it was up to me to put in the work and make it happen. Well, I worked pretty damn hard, including not having a weekend off at one point for 3 years, and it still took me 16 years. Does that make me a failure? I don’t think so. Does that mean that I should have worked hard to make it happen in 11? I’m not sure of how I could. In fact, I don’t know of anyone who made it happen in 11 years. Of the 4 of us who started, only 3 are now Consultants, and we were a pretty committed bunch. So were we all set up to fail?
The whole scheme was designed with that 11 year target in mind. I understand it from a strategic point of view. There are a lot of boxes to be ticked. Our situation was made even harder as there were only 3 years’ worth of funding for a scheme that required 4 years of professional practice to gain registration. That meant you also had to prove yourself worthy and useful enough that someone would decide to fund you for that extra year. Otherwise, everything had been a waste, and you would walk away unregistered and unlikely therefore to get a job.
My main problem with this approach is that it doesn’t really allow scope for exploration, and it really doesn’t allow time for creativity. It trains you into the ‘onto the next thing’ approach. I certainly had no time for celebration or reflection between stages. I was always trying to make sure that I was useful enough to remain employed, and in later stages, as it took me 13 years to be made permanent, I had to also ensure I was bringing in sufficient money to cover my salary so I would be kept in a job. It also means that when you finally do get all those boxes ticked and get your dream job, you are so trained into the tick box way of life that you are left searching for what the next box should be, rather than embedding and celebrating what you have achieved.
There is nothing that cannot be fixed if you work hard enough
When I started work, I used to read a book at my desk during my lunchtime, like I had when I worked at Birmingham City Council. It would always be some variety of fiction novel. I came into work one day during my first few months, and a pile of textbooks had been left on my desk with a post-it note suggesting that maybe I should read these instead. The implication, to me, was that it was not acceptable to have downtime, that any moment I had should be used to continuously work and improve myself. In short,’I must try harder’ ‘I must work more’ in order to justify the privileged position I was in. If I wasn’t going to lunchtime talks, the time should be used for other improving activities.
I also remember clearly listening to amazing female Healthcare Scientists talking at events about how, to achieve as a woman, you always had to work harder and do more than anyone around you. It was made very clear that it was required to constantly go above and beyond if you wanted to reach their position, if you wanted to succeed, if you wanted to make a difference.
The messaging has always been pretty clear. No matter how hard you are working, it probably isn’t enough, and you must work harder. Otherwise, you will fail and let everyone who had faith in you down, as well as yourself. If experiments fail, you don’t go home, rest and reflect, and come back tomorrow. You stay and set it up again. There were just too many midnight finishes to count during my journey to Consultant. If you want it, you will just work harder until it happens. I submitted my PhD a year early in order to achieve FRCPath whilst on my fellowship. At the same time, I took a PGCert in education because I recognised that it was important for my career path and my interests. Looking back, doing those three things simultaneously was foolish beyond measure. At the time, I thought I was just demonstrating that I had what it took.
Effort must be continuous
At the very start of training, I remember sitting over a bunsen burner crying. I was so ill, but no one around me ever took any time off sick, and it was just not considered to be OK. Eventually, I was sent home as I just couldn’t breathe, but it was very much ‘see you tomorrow’. Having an ‘off day’ was not something that happened. The hard earned truth I’ve learned to accept is that my best looks different from day to day. Some days, I could take on the world. Other days, I struggle to crawl across the line at the end of the day. Especially with a health condition made worse by stress, the idea that I can just ignore it, carry on, and always achieve amazing things every day is sheer madness. This was how I tried to work, however, and it took seniority and growing older to come to terms with the fact that this was just not achievable.
The thing about seniority is interesting. There is something about seniority and being able to give yourself permission to do things differently, which is worth mentioning. That’s not the real difference, though. I think the real difference is in the expectation setting. I try to be the person who gives others permission to acknowledge that some days are harder than others. Who checks why people are still there when they should have gone home. Doing this for others has the side benefit of reminding me that sometimes it’s OK to also do this for myself. It is not possible, nor is it necessary, to work at 100% all of the time. There will be days when you absolutely need to bring it, but there will be recovery days when what you should do is catch your breath, and if possible, do some reflection in order to make things better long term. A career is a marathon and not a sprint, after all.
There is no room for failure
This one isn’t just a work thing. It’s definitely a family thing too. My father is infamous for saying that no child of his has ever failed anything, and we weren’t about to start now when I was worried about FRCPath.
The Clinical Scientist training programme has always been competitive. Getting into the programme was competitive, but even when you were in it, my experience was that the programme itself was pretty competitive. The people on it were used to being at the top of their class, and I experienced a fair amount of posturing throughout my first 4 years. Far from being tackled and a focus placed in peer support and collaboration, I feel like the rhetoric around the programme added to this. The focus on there not being enough places for us all to get posts when we finished, and the constant commentary on only the best of the best being able to get Consultant posts, placed us in direct competition with each other from day one. Therefore, you couldn’t talk about challenges for fear of disclosing weakness that would impact your future. That atmosphere is one of the reasons I’m so passionate about talking about the reality of the job on this blog, both the highs and the lows, as I didn’t have any way to normalise my experiences when I was training and in the midst of them. I hope posting will help others in finding a benchmark for ‘normal’ that I didn’t have.
Even on a day to day basis failure was not an acceptable part of training. To this day, I remember that one of my fellow trainees reported a NEQAS result (part of a quality control scheme), and she got it wrong. The result got reported, and the department lost a point on the national scheme. In reality, it should have been checked by someone else before it went out, but it happened. The virology consultant at the time never spoke to them again. We would sit in joint tutorials, and he would ask a question, he would then wait for my response even if I was just repeating what my colleague just said. He would respond to my answer but not theirs. There was never a review of what had happened and how the mistake had occurred. There was no acceptance of the fact that being part of a quality scheme is there to support learning and to identify where improvements can be made. There was just a long-term change in the way that trainee was seen and how they were then supported. It was a clear demonstration of what would happen if a mistake was made and that it would impact how your working life would be from that point on.
Quitting is not an option
The same trainee went through a hard time during her final year. She basically spent a lot of her time crying, and the response was that she was allowed to come in 30 minutes late. She started to see a therapist, and even though we never met, I owe that therapist a lot. Her therapist pointed out that in the three years she had been in post she had never been out for a cup of tea with a colleague, so she was given homework to ask someone out for tea, and she asked me. This was a real turning point for me. We went for tea, and we had a real conversation about the things that were both hard and good. It was the first time that I felt less alone. It was also the start of a conscious decision I made to take people off site for tea, to support better conversations, that I’ve continued to this day.
Later that year, she walked away. She made a decision to go a different way. It took enormous strength to do it, and even now, I have enormous admiration for her. Until that point, I hadn’t known anyone make a decision that prioritised their wellbeing rather than the CV tick boxing. The general attitude was that Healthcare Science is a small world, and you were incredibly fortunate to be a part of it. It was so hard to get into, and you had put in so much that you would be crazy to walk away. There was judgement linked to failed experiments, let alone walking away from the programme. Seeing someone break that mould was incredibly powerful.
The truth is none of these messages are entirely true, so how do we do a better job of messaging for current training programmes?
Training is just that, a learning programme, a time to explore, fail, and reflect on those failures in order to learn to do things better. If the messaging I experienced as a trainee now feel less than ideal, what messages should we be encouraging? I’ve been having a think and these are some that I would like us to have better conversations about:
We are more than the sum of our qualifications
Not everyone is going to become a Consultant. Not everyone is going to get FRCPath and a PhD. You know what, that’s perfectly OK. It doesn’t stop you aspiring for those things if that’s what you want. However, our trainees are not in a Hunger Games style competition to be the last one standing. More than that, how good you are at your job is not dictated by how many qualifications you pick up along the way. Some of the most amazing Biomedical Scientists I know and have the privilege to work with don’t have a masters degree. It’s OK to be a brilliant band 7, and be satisfied and fulfilled by the role you have. Your qualifications don’t define your worth, and it’s OK to make choices that aren’t about playing CV bingo. It is also OK to decide that those things matter to you, you still aren’t defined by them. They have the value you choose to give them.
It’s OK to pause and reflect
No career is a straight path, no matter how it looks from the outside. There will be bumps along the way and the odd hill/mountain to climb. You will reach the destination better for it. You will be able to handle the journey a whole lot better if you allow yourself time to pause and reflect along the way. A big part of development is about making time to reflect on where you are and where you are going to, but also asking the big questions about whether those decisions and reflections you’ve made previously are valid for where you are now. You will be working for decades, and the decisions you make in your 20s are unlikely to reflect the decisions you might make in your 40s, so making time for active reflection isn’t a luxury, it’s an essential part of a professional career.
Knowing when to change direction requires courage
In many ways, I’ve been pretty fortunate, the things that I’ve wanted have aligned with my values and have stayed pretty consistent. This could easily have changed, however. I suspect that if I’d been able to have a family, my focus may have altered somewhat. Knowing when to change your focus or direction is important. This a balancing act between knowing when you just need to double down because things are getting difficult, or when you have truly shifted as a person and that you have to change direction to reflect this. Mentorship and coaching can really help with both this and the reflection that may get you to that moment. Acknowledging that continuing down a path ‘just because’ may not be the right thing and that it requires courage to sometimes jump off a cliff and make a big switch is a step that may require additional support.
Your value is not defined by your productivity
This is the one that I struggle with most and therefore know I probably fail to provide the best leadership around. I often feel that ‘I’m do what I say’ not ‘do what I do’ in this area. I often feel defined by my to-do list, and when that gets out of control, as it often does, I place a LOT of judgement on myself. The thing is, if I get hit by a car tomorrow, no one is talking about my to-do list failures at my funeral. I hope that they will talk about how I made them feel, and maybe even this blog. It is hard, but we can choose what defines us. You have that power. One of the reasons this blog is ‘Tales of a recovering workaholic’ is because I recognise I need to change, and I’m hoping to do a better job of playing this on forward and encouraging our trainees to be defined as well rounded individuals with interests outside of work. We need to encourage a holistic view of value in ourselves and others.
There is no prize for working the hardest
The biggest lie I felt that was embedded in my original training programme was that if you just worked hard enough and ticked the required boxes, the prize was there at the end of the race. The hard truth is working hardest does not get you the job. Ticking all the boxes makes the outcome more likely, but it doesn’t guarantee you anything. There is no prize for the most midnight finishes. Trust me, I’ve done enough of them to know. To a certain extent, the prize for working hard is more work. If you set the bar at working most weekends, then your work just expands, so you have to work most weekends in order to keep on top of everything. If you require external validation, like me, this can be a really dangerous game to get into. If we see this in our trainees or ourselves, I think it’s important to recognise and actively find other ways to find that validation before it becomes built in or results in negative consequences.
The next generation of trainees deserve to benefit from the experiences of those that came before, both in terms of knowledge and in learning how we could do it differently. The working environment has changed, as have our trainees and training pathways. By thinking more about our messaging we can make the work place right now more suited to where we want it to be, rather than relying on chance to make it better. Everyone has a role to play, but we, as leaders and educators, should be prepared to lead by example and own the change we wish to see.
Many of us are coming up against a lot of challenge when we are talking to patients and the public about science right now. Post pandemic, so many people just respond that they are ‘done’ and that everything is over now. The thing is, nothing is ‘done’, we are in another SARS CoV2 wave, measles is everywhere, and Bordetella pertussis (whooping cough) has already killed a number of previously healthy children this year. Sadly, infectious diseases don’t go away when we have had enough of them impacting our lives. So what can we do? How can we have these conversations differently?
I was at RIAT (Royal International Air Tattoo) last weekend for Mr Girlymicros’ birthday, and like the scientist I am, I couldn’t help but make some time to see what their STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) offering was, and I was pleased to find it was so so much larger than I had expected.
The first thing they had was an entire interactive STEM tent, called the Tech Zone, which also included an area called the Inspire Stage. This stage had full days of talks and interactive sessions covering a large range of ways to talk and engage audiences about STEM using an aviation focus.
In addition to the talks and activities, they had something I’ve never had access to before, an entire area dedicated to science planes!!!!
Spending time attending activities, talks and walking around the planes has got me thinking, what things do you need to think about if you are running an event like this? Why do they offer advantages over standard school based teaching? What could we learn in order to think about how we talk about some of our big science challenges differently, and how could this be relevant to infection prevention and control (IPC) and microbiology?
Designing your day
During an event like this, you need to know that attendance will ebb and flow. It’s before 9 and I’m the only person here at this point, but it will get really busy as the day goes on. It is important therefore to be able to flex your expectations and approaches based on who ends up in the room in front of you. You may also need to bear in mind, when designing your session, that people may turn up late or leave early to see something else, and therefore your session needs to make sense to someone who hasn’t seen it from start to finish.
Because of this drop in and out set up, you are unlikely to get to keep people’s attention for long, so you need to plan short activities or sessions. What they may look like will depend if you have a stall with people who are walking by, where you may get them for 5 minutes, or a talk with seating where you might get 20 minutes. Making any session consist of small blocks of no more than 5 minutes, will probably stand you in good stead to be able to engage whomever is there in the moment. Either way what you are planning needs to be fun, well pitched and ideally interactive, so that the audience feel like they are part of what is going on. They have a lot of options about other places they could be after all.
You need to bring people in
It’s important to acknowledge that different people are likely to want different things and ensure that you have a spread of different sessions that will appeal across different types of audiences. The Inspire stage had everything from the Red Arrows to knitting in space, and so serviced a wide audience. They also had a range of very interactive sessions, to ones that were more like interviews, and the interaction was therefore limited to asking questions. When choosing how to put together an agenda like this one, it’s worth thinking about what is going on elsewhere. The sessions with an England international rugby player and a pop star were scheduled when a lot of display teams were flying. Display teams are a big draw and so you may need an equally big draw to keep people in your tent when they could be elsewhere. You may also be less likely to schedule your interactive kids activities over a lunch time slot, as children are more likely to need to eat at a regular time and so are less likely to be available and may be less settled even if they are.
You need to know who you are trying to speak to
The other thing you need to decide when you are putting together your agenda is who you are actually trying to speak to? The age range, interests, and backgrounds at events like this are broad, and so you need to decide are you trying to appeal to everyone? In which case you will need different sessions that speak to different groups. You could decide instead to only target families, children, or students. All of these decisions are completely valid, but they need to be consciously made, as they impact on the content and level of embedded interaction which will be required.
I was speaking to Fran from Great Scott! Productions afterwards about the challenges of this, and she talked about how important it is to also allow the audience to always feel like they are slightly ahead of you. This enables them to feel comfortable and can give them the confidence to engage with interactions and ask questions. No one wants to sit through a session where they don’t feel like they know what is going on or be made to feel stupid for not following. Pitching your content correctly is super important.
Invisible or hard to understand concepts
Keeping your audience on board and following your train of thought is key. One of the great ways they did this over the weekend was by having segments that enabled the audience to visualise usually invisible concepts, such as energy use. One example of how they did this, was by using thermal detection from a plug socket using a camera to show energy in the form of heat. This is a great way to bring theory to life and an approach we can think about in terms of how it is applicable to infection. So many of our challenges are invisible and, therefore, hard to cognitively tackle. Making the invisible visible is a great starting point when talking about topics such as antimicrobial resistance or vaccination.
Demonstrate diversity and break down stereotypes
Many children are put off engaging in STEM topics because they don’t see reflections of themselves in the people they see talking about these subjects on TV or in the movies. Historically, there have been a lot of white men occupying this space. Events like this are a great chance to break down some of these stereotypes in order to show that anyone can undertake any of these careers. To allow people to feel seen.
My two minor niggles with the agenda for this event were that the main pull was occupied by interviews between white men. I get why. I get that you need your big ticket numbers to compete with the outside draw. I do think they could have sandwiched a session demonstrating diversity and inclusion between them. This would have meant this session may have had a bigger audience than might have been achieved otherwise, and therefore supported impact. My other comment was that, although gender diversity felt well represented, I’m not sure other diversity aspects were. That being said, I know how hard it is to get this balancing act right, and some of your speakers are always based on your networks, so it is not easy to achieve.
Engage parents as well as kids
Running events, like Reach Out for Healthcare Science, has made me aware that even when targeting events at children, it is so important to include parents in the conversation. Parental influence on career choices are really strong, and you can inspire someone, but if their parent doesn’t know what that career looks like, it can lead to nothing. Having interactive areas that include careers information to also get parents onboard can mean that you impact in a longer term way.
To a certain extent, at an air show, you probably have a lot of low hanging fruit to talk about careers in aviation, but they can also lead to wider conversations about engineering in general, or other sciences. It is a great place to have the ‘have you thought about’ conversation in order to expand horizons. It is a good idea that you have hand out material that can also be engaged with by the adults, as well as those aimed at students or different age groups attending.
Provide an idea of a day in the life
One of the great ways that RIAT helped with discussion linked to careers was in the science planes area. They not only had the planes to look at, but they had signage and stands where you could talk to scientists and pilots about what a career in this area actually entailed. They used a super cool draw to get people in and then offered them the level of detail they were happy to engage with.
I think this is so important as there are a lot of misconceptions about what a career in STEM actually looks like, and there are limited opportunities for many people to actually sit down and talk to someone who does it for a living. This informal setting means that people can ask any questions they want without having to put their hand up in front of a lot of other people or deal with a scrum to get to the front of an activities queue.
Photo credit Jon Cloutman-Green
So, RIAT had a lot of cool ideas that we can use to think about designing our activities and agendas in order to talk to people about STEM, but what does it engagement on this scale offer that we can learn about in terms of thinking about the benefits with partnering our STEM offerings with large scale events?
Provides access to non-standard audiences
RIAT has a massive attendance with 80,000+ people on the day I was there, and over 200,000 over the weekend. There are very few face to face events with the possible level of reach that RIAT offers, although there are others like Glastonbury, where STEM can be and sometimes is embedded. The advantage of these events is not just numbers, it’s the fact that some of this audiences may not engage with other types of STEM engagement, such as visits to science museums or festivals. This means there is a massive opportunity to raise awareness and engage with audiences that may not normally feel like these events would be ‘for them’ or something they would seek out. It gives opportunities to drop by taster experiences without requiring any huge amount of commitment or pre-existing level of interest. Yet these small encounters can really alter individual trajectories and change lives.
Photo credit Jon Cloutman-Green
Routes to talk about the big issues
One of the other things these kinds of events can enable is access to conversations about pretty big issues. Climate change was a big topic of discussion at RIAT because of the fact that it was linked to aviation. This led to lots of interesting talk about how bio fuels are a scientific and engineering solution to a number of aviation associated climate change issues. One thing that I found really interesting was the use of virtual flight and simulation training as an alternative to standard ‘in air’ flight training for the RAF. It was quoted that 50% of the flights taken by the RAF are training flights, and so the ability to use non-airborne alternatives provides great opportunities to reduce carbon emissions and impact climate change risk.
I think there is so much that could be taken away from the way these interactions were undertaken to think about how we could discuss big issues in IPC and microbiology, issues such as antimicrobial resistance. My main takeaways from those activities I attended included:
embedding discussion of the big issues within wider activities
make references present but not preachy
ensure that message is about empowerment and change, rather than catastrophe and fear
discuss how individual actions can be taken
focus on how STEM can change things for the better
spring board from subjects that you know the audience are already interested in
I would love us all to be inspired by these offerings and really start to think of other spaces we occupy in our non professional lives where we might be able to talk about bringing STEM in, either as part of collaborations or driven as individuals. So, if you have any ideas, or places where I could help, please please reach out and talk about how we can bring our whole selves to these spaces with the aim to inspire and help others to feel seen. To help the next generation access careers that we know are exciting, creative and impactful. To create an inclusive legacy and safe space where stereotypes don’t define who gets to access STEM professions. To leave the profession that much better than we found it.
In the mean time, whilst I cogitate on how to do all of this better, one the other great things about attending these events is that you also get to partake in the wider wonderful offering, and even when it rains, there’s are plenty of planes and tea to bring you joy. Here’s to more STEM activities on the big stages and sharing the joy of embracing science as part of your life!
I posted a couple of weeks ago about application tips when applying for a PhD. In that post, I talked a bit about researching the supervisors in order to be able to talk about their work and department. In all honesty, though, there is a much stronger reason to start early on understanding your supervisor. They can make or break your experience during your PhD.
It’s no secret that I did not have the best supervisory experience during my own PhD, and there are plenty of reasons for that, but one of the main ones was that I didn’t start off understanding enough that there is a requirement to curate and nurture the supervisor – student relationship. I didn’t know what questions to ask, what clarity to seek, or frankly even what was normal. The relationship therefore broke down, and I retrospectively had to unpick why. Having learnt the hard way, and now having sat on both sides of the table, I thought I would share some thoughts about how to get the most out of your relationship with any academic/educational supervisor, PhD or not.
Do your research
As I’ve said, doing your research should probably start before you even have the post. It’s worth reaching out and speaking to previous and current students so you can to get an idea of what their experience has been. If you are already in post, it’s still worth speaking to people to find out as much as you can about what kind of supervision style they’ve experienced. Every supervisor is different, just like every leader is different. The more you know, the better placed you are to understand what the dynamics of your relationship might look like, and importantly whether there are any possible pitfalls which you could then address early, preventing then becoming something more. In this one, knowledge really is power. So get as much knowledge as you can as early as you can.
Expectations matter
We all enter relationships and situations with expectations, but too often, these are internalised and therefore opaque to both ourselves and others. Not getting these into the open where they can be discussed and expectations clarified can be a key reason for relationship breakdown, at least it was for mine. One of the reasons I think this happens is because, as students, we are often entering a completely new arena, and so we just don’t know the unwritten rules. I’d like to think that most supervisors know this and will therefore spend time at the starting point of the relationship to talk through what their expectations are. I’ve previously written about the use of learning agreements to help this process. Sadly, I’m all too aware that this is often not the case, and supervisors, who live in this different world, often forget that others don’t come with all the information they may need to deliver what is expected.
Get to know their work and working patterns
My inbox is the place where emails go to die, and my diary is a horror show. These are facts. No matter how much I try to keep up, I get hundreds of emails every day, and to be honest, I can’t. If you only send me a single email, it will get lost. If you try to get a same day meeting with me, you will fail. I therefore ask that, if it is important, you email me three times and make it high priority. This vastly increases the chance that I will see it. If you want to see me every 2 weeks, then let’s get a regular slot in, which will move, but at least it’s there. All of this is not because I don’t care, it’s just the only way I can manage multiple competing priorities. Everyone is different. You will have your own way of working, as will your supervisor. There is no point in being passive in the process and miserable about the outcome. If you have needs, you have to actively work to find the best way that they can be met.
Be aware that you are the one driving your work
One of the largest changes when you start a PhD is that it is YOUR PhD. You are in the driving seat. A PhD is effectively a job, and the switch up to the responsibility sitting with you can be a challenging shift. No one is policing deadlines, and in fact, you are the one that should be setting them. No one is prioritising your workload. You need to work out, with support, what needs to come first at any given time. The lesson about not being passive is important across all aspects of your PhD. You are no longer in a taught process. A PhD is effectively an apprenticeship in research, and like in any job, there are expectations placed on the employee in terms of delivery and performance. The earlier you can come to terms with this the easier your pathway will be.
Identify peer support
All of this change can make the start of any PhD stressful, and you will need to find sources of support outside of your supervisor. Even if you have a great relationship with your supervisor, even if everything is going well, there will be times when you dislike them or part of your PhD. In these circumstances, you need to have safe spaces to vent and seek support alongside benchmarking from others. It’s important to invest some time early on to build wider relationships with your peers and, if in a small lab, potentially seek out groups or networks. These will stand you in good stead during your PhD, but also in your future career, as learning to build networks is a key skill to be invested in.
Know your benchmarks
Everyone enters a PhD at a different place. The same is also true for PhD projects, some are more developed on day one than others. It can be hard therefore to work out how you are doing, especially if you haven’t established supervisor expectations. There are some useful tools out there to help. Every University should have some form of pathway which lays out the dates and timelines that PhD students need to deliver on, from reporting and upgrade to final submission. These are invaluable in making sure that you are on track and on target for your work. Projects will often have individual timelines, if they are grant funded, that you need to maintain. Grant funded projects will usually have milestones, reporting, and dissemination deadlines, which need to be kept to. It is worth noting that some of these things mean that it is not always so meaningful to benchmark against your peers. I would always advocate using them as a source of support rather than self judgement, as you may not be comparing like with like.
Manage your relationship
All relationships require work. All relationships, especially ones that last years, will go through peaks and troughs. Your relationship with your supervisor is no different, and because of this, communication is key. This sounds easy enough, but sadly, it is often not. Finding the balance between being that student who needs supervisor input into ever thought/decision, meaning you don’t find independence, and being that student who never speaks up and therefore ostriches on issues, meaning that issues don’t get addressed, is not an easy one. It requires the pair of you to build trust, and that is a gradual process. A lot of this is helped by laying the groundwork and having open discussions about expectations. Being open to supportive feedback, asking questions, and owning your work by doing things like reading and coming prepared to meetings goes a long way towards making these relationships flourish. Also, being transparent about challenges and identifying issues early can mean that both sides are facilitated in addressing issues. Your supervisor can’t help if they don’t know.
Friendly is not the same as friends
I’m going to say this here, being friendly is not the same as being friends. We all hear great tales of supervisors and students being best friends. I’m sure that happens after the PhD is over, but I’ve never known it happen during. I’d like to say I get on really well with most of students. I’m invested in them. I care about them. I will happily buy them a beer in the pub. We are however not friends. My wellbeing is not on them. It is not an even relationship. I am there to support them, but I am also their boss. In a friendship, if we went to the pub, my friends and I would take turns buying in rounds and discussing our problems. I’m pretty open about my work based challenges, but I don’t expect my students to take them onboard. I don’t ever expect them to buy me a drink. I personally don’t think that’s how these things should work. When they are done being my students, when I no longer have responsibility for them, then the relationship can become more bi-directional. Until then I have a duty of care which means I should put them first.
Know the rules
These next few ones are for if, like mine, your relationship takes on a less healthy trajectory. The first thing I learnt was that I really needed to understand the rules. That’s both the formal written rules and the informal social academic rules. It’s only by knowing these that you can judge whether the breakdown is precipitated by a valid breach. If you don’t know the rules, how can you tell if you’ve broken them? If you have broken them, then we all need to act like adults, hold up our hands, and seek forgiveness whilst taking corrective action. The other reason to know the rules is that you may need the information. My primary supervisor refused to sign off on allowing me to submit my thesis. As I’d done my research, I knew that I didn’t need supervisor sign off, it just meant I couldn’t sue the University if I failed. Hopefully, you will never get to a similar point, but knowing your parameters will never do you any harm. This one is back to knowledge is power, and so gain as much of it as you can.
Keep up your end of the bargain
It takes two to tango, and knowing the rules won’t help if you don’t keep up your end of the bargain. Grant deadlines, if you are externally funded, are often immovable, and so if you are required to get data or reports out by a certain date it can hold ramifications, not just for you, if you don’t deliver. Even if you are not grant funded, you need to deliver on the agreed timelines you made with your supervisor. This may all sound really simple, but you would be shocked at the number of students who don’t seem to grasp this fairly straightforward concept. PhDs are not like undergraduate work where you can ask for an extension on every piece of work or merely have an assignment capped. This is your first job in research, and like any job, if you keep missing deadlines, then eventually you will get fired. I had one PhD student who kept missing all deadlines because they believed no one would ever be allowed to fail a PhD or would be removed from the course. I had to explain to them that this was not true and show the mechanisms that existed to do just those things. After which we got on much better and they re-focussed on the task in hand. It’s obviously better if things don’t reach that point before being addressed, and so it is key both sides bear in mind the social contract they have made.
Have a plan B
If academic life has taught me anything, it’s that you should always have a plan B, and I think it’s a sensible approach no matter what stage you’re at. Hopefully, you will never need it, but strategic thinking is a good skill to develop regardless. You should always have more than one supervisor, even if the others have variable involvement. If you can, it’s always worth trying to include them and investing in developing relationships with them as well. They can provide a counterpoint view on your work, and they can help with benchmarking your relationship and expectations with your primary. Your secondary supervisor is also likely to be involved at times, such as your upgrade viva, and so understanding their expectations can be really helpful. In the unlikely event that your relationship with your primary is not great, they can also take on a mediation role to help both sides gain clarity and hopefully move forward. If you hope for the best and plan for the worst, you should have all sides covered and hopefully have the most fulfilling experience possible during you PhD.
Finally, it’s worth remembering that supervisors are people too. They have good days and bad days. They have personal stuff going on that can impact their mood and decision-making. They will make mistakes and hopefully apologise for them. They will aim for perfection and always fall short. What I hope more than anything is that you will find a supervisor who wants and drives for you to reach your potential and who always has your best interests at heart. Sometimes, that means that there will be hard conversations, and sometimes that means they will push you, as they have faith in your ability to improve. I want all of my students to grow to be better than I am. I want them to know that I have faith in them even when they feel lost and can’t find faith in themselves. So do your research and find a supervisor who works for you and the way you work. Find that supervisor who will make you better than you could be on your own.
All opinions on this blog are my own
If you would like more tips and advice linked to your PhD journey then the first every Girlymicrobiologist book is here to help!
This book goes beyond the typical academic handbook, acknowledging the unique challenges and triumphs faced by PhD students and offering relatable, real-world advice to help you:
Master the art of effective research and time management to stay organized and on track.
Build a supportive network of peers, mentors, and supervisors to overcome challenges and foster collaboration.
Maintain a healthy work-life balance by prioritizing self-care and avoiding burnout.
Embrace the unexpected and view setbacks as opportunities for growth and innovation.
Navigate the complexities of academia with confidence and build a strong professional network
This book starts at the very beginning, with why you might want to do a PhD, how you might decide what route to PhD is right for you, and what a successful application might look like.
It then takes you through your PhD journey, year by year, with tips about how to approach and succeed during significant moments, such as attending your first conference, or writing your first academic paper.
Finally, you will discover what other skills you need to develop during your PhD to give you the best route to success after your viva. All of this supported by links to activities on The Girlymicrobiologist blog, to help you with practical exercises in order to apply what you have learned.
Today is a bit different, today is about celebrating all of who we are and what we bring to everything we do. Friday was also the day for Healthcare Science Education 2024 (#HCSEd24) which was conveniently titled ‘Embracing your authenticity’. As I know that not everyone could make it I thought it might be useful to share what the sessions contained. To do this, the organising team have come together to each blog about their key take aways from each session. So grab yourself a cup of tea and have a read, and hopefully you will finish reading this post as inspired and as happy as the day made me.
Barriers and facilitators in Healthcare Science careers – Aimee Pinnington (Keele University)
Aimee gave a superb talk covering her diverse career pathway, from her experience as a Biomedical Scientist to transferring to a professional doctorate. Despite a long list of achievements, unfortunately there was a lack of support from the department, building in barriers. After a move to a teaching fellowship, this lack of support continued, with additional barriers becoming apparent. This prompted a further move to a full time lectureship, Aimee began her PhD looking at how to improve biomedical science as a profession and empower the workforce.
Her PhD research focuses on the impact Biomedical Scientists have on the patient, with there being a lack of direct evidence on the quantifiable impact on diagnostic pathways on patient outcomes. Furthermore, a lack of training posts and placement opportunities can hamper progression. There is further ambiguity of how to progress through the Biomedical Scientist profession to advanced roles. Her research has so far highlighted accreditation, registration, student preparedness, training capacity, clinical impact and career advances as key area of importance to the profession as part of focus groups.
Her research has focused on career advances in the biomedical science profession, which when done well and encouraged, can benefit all areas of the profession and support students entering clinical laboratories. To address this, the project is looking deeper into investigating behavioural traits that impact career progression. Are the opportunities clearly available? Do staff members feel empowered within their departments to take on opportunities for progression? It is also important to consider how barriers to progression change as someone moves through the profession, looking at how a trainee may feel compared to a more senior staff member.
Getting the room actively engaged in the session, a poll identified management support as a key barrier when done poorly, and excellent facilitator for progression when done well. One comment stated how there can be an expectation from managers for staff to progress, without actively facilitating this progression.
The students dilemma: how to reduce bias in student peer and self-assessments – Dr Neil Holden (University of Lincoln)
Neil brings a fresh perspective to the conference with a background of academia and international pharmaceutical industry experience. He’s passionate about what placements can bring to the academic journey. A key theme developing through our talks this morning is finding our barriers and how we can overcome them. Neil has been asked to talk today about authentic assessment and how to engage our students in this work. How we might bring them into the fold of University culture. We need to acknowledge how education is changing and how we can keep up. Neil feels an essential part of this is bringing the students into the process, and learning how they might assess themselves. The view inwards is becoming more important in this modern AI generated world.
Neil has instigated a peer review assessment in his popular Pharmacology and Toxicology module. Peer review is hugely beneficial – it has enhanced performance, and it massively helps with social skills and ownership. It can have greater impacts than even the lecturers feedback, when it is done well. But how can we ensure that it is done well? How do we identify and overcome bias to create an authentic assessment?
Neil’s approach to this covers around 180 students per year from a really wide range of disciplines – Bioveterinary through to Chemistry students. He makes use of real-world toxicology case studies and asks students to work on a group presentation in small seminar groups. Neil walks us through an arsenic poisoning case as an example of the materials the students engage with – it’s surprising just how funny the odd case of poisoning can be (!)
In this approach three different assessors are used; the tutor, their peers and self assessment. They all mark on a number of criteria, with the opportunity to add in constructive peer comments to justify their responses. To avoid bias in the marks the tutor mark, the median peer mark and the student’s self mark are all recorded. Calculation of the final mark is a fairly complex process! If all three marks are within 5% of each other, they get the highest of the three marks. But if they are >5% but lower than 10% they get the average of the three marks. Furthermore, if the self mark is >10% but the tutor and peer marker are within 10%, the mean of the tutor and the peer is awarded. This inventive process really encourages self reflection, and an understanding of the students skills in the difficult area of group presentation. and it works! Last year half the students were within 5% of Neil’s mark, whilst only 7 were awarded with the outlier removed. It’s amazing to see how rarely students are inclined to massively over or under estimate themselves.
Student feedback – they feel engaged, and just about all of them come out of it with a net positive experience. This is a second year module which really helps develop the students skill prior to their third year work. What a nice note to end the final session of the morning on! Authentic assessment leading to such positive benefits to our next generation of pathologists.
Navigating educational comfort zones for impactful teaching – Dr Claire Walker (University of Lincoln)
We are all being asked to do more with less, but that means we may need to acknowledge that this will require us to step out of our comfort zone. Comfort zones are about delivery teaching in areas where we feel relaxed and at ease – either linked to topic or style. Many of us who are of a Healthcare Science background feel comfortable delivering 1:1 training or teaching within the lab, this is less possible however if you end up teaching tens or hundreds of students. Claire is a paediatric immunologist, but acknowledges that in her current lecturing role she will only get to give teaching on that topic once a year, all of the rest requires her to become comfortable with stepping out of her preferred teaching area.
Although stepping out of your comfort zone has many benefits, as it expands and supports your learning, that doesn’t stop it being challenging. So how do you create an authentic learning experience? How does this relate to the education and learning that most of us experienced during our training, where most of us learnt from a didactic teaching i.e. standard lecture style, but that often doesn’t work for the topics or students of the day. Claire’s comfort zone is narrative style teaching where she uses stories to communicate, weird wonderful and gross stories, although memorable however it could still be considered didactic. Students love it, but sometimes they find it difficult to tie the stories they remember to the facts that they will need to be able to answer assessments and therefore apply it in practice.
It was suggested by Neil (previous speaker) that it might be worth using an interactive learning approach based on a top trumps style gaming method. It was so out of her comfort zone that when it was first run she ran the game as effectively a lecture, that sat within her comfort zone, delivering for eight hours with limited engagement. It made her reflect that her comfort was actually impacting on what students’ experience of the session actually was. Some of the student feedback was positive, but some of it included that watching someone passively playing a game was not engaging, or that they felt uncomfortable interacting in big groups, which limited their participation. So, for the same session the next year she acknowledged that it did need to truly change. Therefore Immunity: the race to the cure was born. She made it really clear to students that this was an experiment and tried again. Students fed back that they really like the engagement but also gave extra feedback about how it could improve.
Version 3, Claire changed the way the session was constructed again, and put students much more in control of the session and the game. It vastly improved the student feedback, it improved their comfort and feeling of safety. The students now play the game in order to revise in small groups where they full interact with each other. Although, it still feels out of her comfort zone, the feedback makes it worth it. There is also a shared understanding that this is an iterative process where both Claire and her students need to reflect on the session and improving it, with Claire also focusing on why it felt so uncomfortable in the first place. It’s about expanding your comfort zone, but also about understanding yourself. As part of this process it’s really important to take on the feedback. Growing with that feedback, even if it’s bad, and even if it isn’t pleasant to hear. It is an essential part of any process. Learning to take on what serves you and using it to develop is the best possible approach for both yourself and for those you teach/train.
Blogged by Girlymicro
The London Healthcare Science (HCS) collaborative project – Ant De Souza (Great Ormond Street Hospital)
Anthony De Sousa (Lead Educator for HCS at GOSH) gave a wonderful presentation updating us around the work of London Healthcare Science Education Collaborative Project. This is a consortium of HCS at various London NHS Trusts who have secured funding to provide opportunities for HCS workforce education across NHS sites, with a focus on bringing people together to develop networks and to actively form collaborations. Ant illustrated the impact and reach this approach has had for London HCS.
Ant told us that the collaborative formed in 2018 as a result of a Healthcare Science Education event. Post pandemic it is has provided opportunity to re-engage with each other. He showed how, when viewed through the lends of authenticity, there were four key pillars of authenticity: Self Awareness, Unbiased processing, behaviour, rational orientation.
The first event was led by Dr Jo Horne where the concepts of buddying, coaching and mentoring (team mentoring) were introduced. There was small and large group working, alongside individual activities and reflection and listening activities. Ant showed that the learners feedback was overwhelmingly positive. He also discussed how many HCS have never been exposed to mentoring or coaching.
Event two was led by a playwrite called Nicola Baldwin. Nicola explored ways of communicating, encouraging reflection on strengths and weaknesses, and building confidence when communicating in all its forms. Challenging role play was utilised alongside small/large group and individual activities. The key points from learner feedback was that HCS already communicate in different ways in different situations but had never reflected on this and understanding how those decisions were made. Overwhelmingly, learners felt reassured that others were in similar situations with in difficult communicative arenas.
Event three focused on the pillars of professional development:
Leadership
Education
Scientific
Clinical
Research
Key points included:
Senior staff wanted more strategic leadership, educational development and inter-professional education
Juniors wanted sessions on career pathway progression, technical and digital skills, resulting and analytical skills
Event 4 on women in leadership was led by Betty Adamou and Dr Claire Walker. This session aimed to tackle impostor syndrome, encouraging women to say sorry less and to celebrate more. Sessions aimed to enable connection, collaboration, ownership, and encouragement of success. Ant shared that learners at this event felt empowered and had never encountered a celebratory event like this before.
Ant summarised the benefits felt by HCS learners who attended all the events:
Self-awareness – learners worked out how they react, what their values are, and how not to work against themselves (Johari Window)
Unbiased processing – learners were able to objectively self-assess without blame or denial. He showed how attendees learned to hold themselves to accountability and to not to get in their own way and filter out noise
Behaviour – Learners explored their values and if they were crossed how they would react. They learned how to be aware of the way they are reacting
Rational Orientation – attendees learned how to develop close relationships & have difficult conversations.
Ant summarised that learner feedback during these sessions indicated that they:
To close the day we had the incredibly inspiring duo of Jane and Kerrie talking about how we are more than the sum of the professional hats we wear, and why it’s important to acknowledge who we are as people, not just professionals. They also emphasised the importance of giving yourself time and the use of tools to reflect on who you are, both as individuals and leaders. Not just because this is important in allowing you to find your place, but also in order to understand how it might impact how we interact with others. It’s also important to appreciate how much strength there is in diversity and bringing all sorts of different approaches together for the best possible outcomes.
This was such a brilliant way to end the day and to encourage us to think more, strive more and be more. Thank you to everyone who contributed to the day, but also to those who guest blogged today. You guys are the best! We hope you can join us next year for #HCSEd25!
I’m off for some much needed leave enjoying being a Disney adult this week, it’s really needed as between COVID and a broken foot the start of 2024 has not been kind. I’ve called upon a great friend therefore to help me out and write this weeks blog post, so I can focus on drinking cocktails and braving the Tower of Terror. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did.
Dr Walker is a paid up member of the Dream Team since 2013, token immunologist and occasional defector from the Immunology Mafia. Registered Clinical Scientist in Immunology with a background in genetics (PhD), microbiology and immunology (MSc), biological sciences (mBiolSci), education (PgCert) and indecisiveness (everything else). Now a Senior Lecturer in Immunology at University of Lincoln. She has previously written many great guest blogs for The Girlymicrobiologist, including one on turning criticism into a catalyst for change.
I’ve written before on this blog about how inspired I was by the work of Professor Ian Davies and Aimee Pinnington on the introduction of clinical simulation to biomedical science education. Clinical simulation is used widely across medical training but to date, has largely been overlooked in biomedical science education. I signed off my last post on this subject with the intentions to build this into my own immunology module on the iBMS accredited course at the University of Lincoln. We are fortunate to have many Health and Care Professional Council registered members of staff across a wide range of disciplines teaching on our course, as well as a very active iBMS liaison committee with links to local laboratories. So I had many wonderful people to pester endlessly with my ideas for how to integrate more clinical simulation across our course. We already do a brilliant job of incorporating our own experiences as healthcare professions into our teaching through both use of case studies and work with simulated patients. My feeling is that enhancing this work with additional clinical simulation practical sessions can only further benefit our students here.
Immunology, in particular, as a discipline lends itself beautifully to clinical simulation as a learning technique. Students often view immunology as challenging due to its complex and multi-faceted nature. It can be seen as dry because we ask them to develop an understanding of abstract concepts and use a diverse array of terminology which often are difficult to pronounce and even harder to remember. I often remind students that though immunologists are quite brilliant, but we probably shouldn’t have been allowed to name our own findings – especially given how frequently we tend to rename molecules. Furthermore, immunology is a notoriously difficult discipline to find placement opportunities in, thus it is essential for students to have authentic learning experiences in this field whilst at university. As such, using clinical simulation to create realistic scenarios which foster active learning and emotional engagement can only help students with this dry, dusty old subject.
I might love Immunology so much I own the teacup, but it isn’t for everyone. Perhaps Clinical Simulation can change this.
One of the most significant barriers to the introduction of clinical simulation to immunology is the frankly exorbitant cost of the commercial reagents to laboratory practicals. Fortunately, my students here at the University of Lincoln have a dry, dusty old teacher (me!) who remembers the days when we made, rather than bought, all of our kit in the clinical laboratory. To that end, with the help of my favourite histologist Dr Issam Hussain and my delightful mBio student, we have been making ANCA slides and using antibodies to manufacture patient samples for clinical simulation. For those of you who haven’t come across ANCA testing before, this is the preparation of ethanol-fixed neutrophil slides which we use in the clinical laboratory to run immunofluorescence staining to help diagnose patients with autoimmune vasculitis. This is a particularly serious condition which often presents as a clinical emergency and is probably the most urgent test run in the immunology laboratory. The results can be highly subjective and difficult to interpret, with extensive follow-on testing required. The clinical decision is often made based solely on the patient presentation and this single immunology test. Thus, the reporting of these urgent results can be nerve wracking for the most experienced of healthcare scientists. The opportunity to practice this skill in a risk-free environment with a range of clinical scenarios offers the ideal space for students to make mistakes and learn from them without putting a patient at risk. Simulation of this work can help to build confidence and competence, and introduces our students to the concepts of clinical judgment and decision-making.
Figure depicting the production of ANCA slides, their staining and visualisation with a immunofluorescence microscope.
Before and after the simulation lab session we ran anonymous surveys to evaluate what our students thought of the learning experience. I was delighted to see in our preliminary review of the data that more than 95% of the students felt the simulation improved their understanding of both the techniques and the diagnostic process, and 98% felt that clinical simulation was a good learning experience. With a really significant number of responses, and so few negative comments, I feel my view point on simulation has been reaffirmed. Watch this space. I am now fully committed to the idea that we can really enhance the training of our future workforce of biomedical scientists through this powerful teaching strategy. And thank goodness the students enjoy it too.
An example of weak ANCA staining seen down the microscope during for a simulated patient. Students are asked to identify the staining pattern, and with some additional clinical information, make a decision about whether to report urgently or wait for further tests.
I was presenting at my first conference of the year last week, which is a sign that conference season is soon to well and truly kick off. I know that this often puts many of us in a state of anxiety. We know that conference presentations are important for both getting our work out there and also for personal and career development. Presenting however, can feel like quite a high stakes manoeuvre, especially if you are not comfortable with public speaking. With this in mind I thought it might be useful to share some tips that I have learnt, in the hopes that it might help with your next upcoming session.
1 – Know your audience
The first thing to realise is that we often make presentations about us, when actually they aren’t really about us at all, they are about the audience and what we are trying to achieve on their behalf. We are often given a fairly generic topic to speak on, or have submitted an abstract of what we wish to present. That’s great but actually probably doesn’t have enough clarity to start putting together the session. My first step whenever I’m asked to speak is to think about the learning objectives for the session. What might benefit the audience most? What are they expecting? Learning objectives act as a guidepost, and I will usually include them with the blurb I’m asked to write for the agenda. This means that people selecting their sessions will be able to make an informed decision about whether your session will work for them. Are you pitching an introduction level session or an update on the latest research that assumes pre-existing knowledge? You want to match your pitch to the audience that you are expecting.
It is also worth thinking about what kind of atmosphere is likely to be present? Is it a fairly informal setting where the session will be more discursive or is it a formal conference session where you may need to prepare for possible confrontational questions? Prepare for questions and queries whilst you’re preparing your session, try to think about the rabbit holes that the audience might want to go down and for any potential pitfalls where you will need to have a pre-prepared strategic response. If you’ve been clear about what the session covers and audience pitch this should be less of an issue, but it’s always worth being prepared.
2 – Be prepared to bring your authentic self
One of the things I’ve come to truly believe is that, no matter how formal the session, you should bring your whole self to it. I’ve written previously about how we should feel free to wear clothes that empower us, and conference sessions are no different. This can be something as simple as wearing your favourite colour, but whatever it is, delivering talks is easier when you feel good and empowered so do whatever you need to feel that way. My top tip is that whatever you decide to wear, ensure that it’s comfortable. I used to wear heels to speak but now I always wear flats, as I’ve decided that the pain isn’t worth it for me, especially when you consider how long you will be networking after your session.
The other place were I try to ensure that I also include something that is a little bit me, is within the presentation itself. Again, this can be levelled dependent on setting, sometimes I just choose a colour scheme or icon that speaks to me. Other things you can include are quotes or images that are meaningful to you. Again, it doesn’t have to be something big or in the face of your audience, but something that centres you and makes you feel more like you own the space you are presenting in. Sometimes however going big is the way forward, sometimes making something memorable is the right approach, it all depends on your confidence level and the setting.
3 – Judge your session
I’ve talked up above about thinking about how informal/formal the setting you are presenting in and how this can impact on your content. There are however other things that are beneficial to think about in terms of expectations for your setting. The type of session will dictate a number of things, as will time slot and room allocation. If you know the venue you are going to you may be able to predict numbers of attendees for instance, if you are allocated a room you may be able to find out whether its for 15 people versus 1500. High numbers of attendees will limit your options for interactions, as will being given a 15 minute time slot.
Common types of sessions include:
Debates
Research presentations
Topic presentations
Workshop
Plenary or keynote
Speed presenting
Poster presentation
Careers presentations
Panel sessions
There are obviously others but these are the main ones that spring to mind. Just from looking at the list you’ll be able to see how different ones will attract people with different levels of pre-existing knowledge or interest. There are some key questions that are worth asking to help you support judging your session when the email comes in. First, always confirm length of session and whether or not this will include time for questions. Second, ask about number and types of attendees both for your session and the target audience for the conference/meeting itself. Finally, as this will impact your options for engagement with large audiences, will there be free Wi-Fi available for attendees so they can access voting apps? Don’t feel like this information should confine your creativity and what you want to undertake but build any limitations into your thinking in order find solutions ahead of time. Finally, please please please never be the person that delivers a 40+ minute talk despite being given a 30 minute slot.
4 – Use the agenda to guide you
Once the agenda is released and you’ve starting to build the content of your session you can also use it to help in your preparation. Your timing and position on the agenda can influence the build of your talk. If you are directly after lunch, you might want to think harder about the engagement side to wake everyone up and get them back into the flow. If you are just pre lunch, you might want to stack some of your more exciting parts towards the end and build towards them to ensure you keep the audiences attention. If you are going first or last you probably need to start and finish with a bang.
The other area where the agenda can really help you is to see what others are covering, especially if they’ve listed any focuses or learning objectives in their descriptions. This may mean you can get valuable slides back if someone is talking on a similar topic ahead of you, and will therefore have given a lot of similar introductory slides, thus giving you more time to build on the subject in your slot. It can also give you ideas of areas to avoid, so that you don’t give too much overlap. One of the things to not do is be intimidated by anyone else on the agenda. If you are speaking/presenting you have earned the right to do so, it doesn’t matter if the person before you is Dame X or Professor Y, acknowledge what that might do to the atmosphere in the room (i.e. may mean you have a larger audience) and then plan as if they were any other speaker.
5 – Have a plan on how to engage attendees
Engagement can start before the event even begins. If you have a poster session for instance, you might want to share a picture of your poster and it’s location on social media. Sometimes I also find running polls can help with working out pitching your session, and also in building engagement so that you are more likely to get an audience. This can be especially important if your session is at an event where there are multiple sessions running at the same time and therefore you almost need to sell why someone should comes to yours when there is so much choice available. Taking some time to raise awareness via social media using the event # can be really beneficial under these circumstances.
Depending on the availability of Wi-Fi and session details you may also want to consider using tools or apps to support interaction with the audience during your session. You can use tools such as Mentimeter and Slido to build voting or other forms of interaction into your session. This approach is especially important if you are asked to do a workshop session. It’s also worth asking additional questions during the prep phase, such as the type of seating, to see whether it would support group discussions.
Even if you are giving a standard presentation without interactive tools you still need to think about how to engage your audience. There obviously many different ways of doing this, starting from basics like pitching correctly so you bring your audience with you. If you can bringing yourself to your session by using framing such as story telling it can really help, alongside the use of humour. You can even think if there are props that would be appropriate to support what you’re talking about, although you also don’t want to make it gimmicky. Whatever tool you feel comfortable with, practice using it as it will make sure your session is more memorable.
6 – Make sure you have a plan B
Things go wrong, they do, despite your very best endeavours. Having a plan B in your pocket never hurts. This can be as simple as having a USB with your slides on it with you in case they haven’t managed to load it before you arrive. If I’ve included videos or anything else ‘fancy’ in my presentation I will always have a plan B and C. Plan B is an extra copy of my talk without the ‘fancy’ bit in it in case it doesn’t work when I test with the AV tech ahead of my talk. Plan C is a script in my head that I can use to describe the video in case it worked on test and suddenly fails during the real thing. If I’m doing a smaller session, I will also sometimes arrive with print outs of my slides so that I can approach it old school if needed.
Having a plan B is especially important if you are using voting or something tech related. If your entire session is going to be based on audience participation you need to have a plan if no one there can get signal or access to Wi-Fi. It’s worth building this flexibility in when you are developing the session so you will not need to entirely wing it if the unexpected happens to you.
7 – Be prepared to push yourself
I’m just throwing this out there. You should be prepared to push yourself into a space where you feel uncomfortable. Growing your skills is a never ending task, even if you feel like you are a pretty good public speaker, there are always things to learn, improve and do better. Sometimes the very act of speaking is a sufficient push because it’s not an area in which you feel comfortable. If you are comfortable talking ‘science’ maybe also stretch yourself by bringing more of yourself into the session. Embrace the creative possibilities and strive to have more impact, build better engagement, be more memorable. Read and research on the topic of how to present better in the same way that you would read and research your content and find inspiration about the next thing you could try.
8 – Facilitate a relaxed state of mind
Having just encouraged you to step out of your comfort zone by planning your presentation I also now want to encourage you to remove the stress that can be present outside of the speaking component itself. I speak from experience. I once agreed to speak at 2 conferences on the same day, on different topics and in different cities. This was beyond foolish. There simply wasn’t enough time to get from point A to point B and I arrived to land on stage for the second session with 1 minute to spare. I’ve also learnt that travelling up on the day of a session doesn’t work for me, it just makes me too stressed. I now will always travel up the night before, even if I arrive really late, because then I can go to sleep knowing that I’m where I need to be rather than lying awake all night stressing about whether an act of god will stop me making it to my session.
I also comfort myself by reading up on the areas that I have identified during my gap analysis that I might get questions linked to, or to reassure myself – even if it’s a topic I know really well – that I have up to date information and references. Feeling like you are walking up to a podium prepared is the best way I have to remove any of my stress linked to presenting.
9 – Plan to do your own timing
This is one I have learnt the hard way. I don’t like clocks present in the corner of a screen when I’m presenting as I want to be looking out at the audience and connecting when I’m speaking not constantly looking down at a monitor, probably slightly influenced by the fact that I don’t use notes as it enables me to feel more organic. I know some of you will feel differently. I’ve learnt to manage this by having a phone with a big clock (on silent) with me when I present so I can see it as I move around. I know that there will often be Chairs or speakers who will signal when you have 5 minutes left. I personally find that I need to pace my session throughout, as otherwise at 5 minutes I could be left with waaaay too much to cover, and so I like to time check myself. The final reason I do this is that I have been caught out. I’ve turned up and started a presentation and realised there was no clock or timing device visible anywhere. The panic, for me, at that point is real people, it’s a real stressor for me. You may have a different thing that triggers you, but once you identify what it is, do your best to have a plan to redress it so it doesn’t distract you from the moment you are in.
10 – Use the opportunity to build your networks
This last one I think is really important, if you are given the opportunity to have a platform use it! No matter how nerve racking it is, no matter how much you may not like presenting. In fact, if this is not your naturally comfort zone all the better, go out and seek opportunities that enable you to do it more. With practice comes familiarity and skill development. Don’t feel alone in your discomfort, but do know that there will be something in you that can inspire and give confidence to others. The world needs to see more people like you, whomever you are, especially if you have the courage to bring some of yourself to the podium. There is not enough diversity present on agendas and that is something that needs to change, and we need to have the courage to do that together as a collective.
The other thing to bear in mind is that so much within health and science is dependent on who you know. It’s probably not fair but it is true. Connections and networks are where you gain invites and opportunities, and presenting and meeting people is a big way to build these relationships. Whether you do this by following the hashtags for the event on social media, by speaking to those presenting or partaking in networking and social events at the meeting, networking is key. For those of you, who like me, find networking challenging I’ve previously written a post which I hope might help, but presenting is often an easy way to do it as people will come to you and you already have a shared interest through the topic. Whatever your level of networking comfort it’s worth putting in some time ahead of the event to think what your strategy might be, and who you might want to catch up with.
I really hope that this post will help support you, no matter how many presentations you’ve done, to bring a little bit more of who you are to the room you are presenting in and to be a little bit braver in some of the choices you make when developing sessions. I also hope that by sharing some of the learning I’ve gained by making mistakes, or making life harder for myself, that you won’t make the same ones. If you have any other top tips that you’ve gained to support presentation preparation then please do add them in the comments. See you at the podium!
All opinions in this blog are my own
If you would like more tips and advice linked to your PhD journey then the first every Girlymicrobiologist book is here to help!
This book goes beyond the typical academic handbook, acknowledging the unique challenges and triumphs faced by PhD students and offering relatable, real-world advice to help you:
Master the art of effective research and time management to stay organized and on track.
Build a supportive network of peers, mentors, and supervisors to overcome challenges and foster collaboration.
Maintain a healthy work-life balance by prioritizing self-care and avoiding burnout.
Embrace the unexpected and view setbacks as opportunities for growth and innovation.
Navigate the complexities of academia with confidence and build a strong professional network
This book starts at the very beginning, with why you might want to do a PhD, how you might decide what route to PhD is right for you, and what a successful application might look like.
It then takes you through your PhD journey, year by year, with tips about how to approach and succeed during significant moments, such as attending your first conference, or writing your first academic paper.
Finally, you will discover what other skills you need to develop during your PhD to give you the best route to success after your viva. All of this supported by links to activities on The Girlymicrobiologist blog, to help you with practical exercises in order to apply what you have learned.
As summer draws to a close, results come in and we all think about what our next steps might look like it felt like now would be a good time to share a guest blog that has been written to help inspire what some of those options might look like.
Joanna Ward is a prize winning MBio student based at the University of Lincoln. She has recently completed her MBio and been accepted into a prestigious PhD programme, continuing under her MBio supervisors Professor Claire Hills and Professor Paul Squires.
A year in the life of an MBio student
As I come to the end of my degree, I have been reflecting upon my experience at the University of Lincoln, but in particular, my master’s year which I have just completed. As an MBio student, my degree consisted of a three-year BSc Biomedical Science course, before an additional ‘masters’ year in which I was fortunate enough to join the University of Lincoln Renal Group. Supervised by Prof Claire Hills and Prof Paul Squires, the group has research interests in diabetes, chronic kidney disease and cardiovascular disease. Specifically, they study the underlying mechanisms which drive disease progression, to better understand how we can intervene clinically and improve patient outcomes. I love these areas of research which aim to bridge bench to bedside– it epitomises everything I have ever wanted to do and I am driven everyday by the possibility of our research being beneficial to so many people.
After a disrupted undergraduate degree as a result of COVID, going into my master’s year I had very little lab experience and the thought of completing a lab-based project was quite a daunting prospect, but I was incredibly fortunate to be part of a team where there’s no such thing as a silly question and support is always at hand. I soon realised that I loved being in the lab and the research absolutely fascinated me.
Being part of a very active research group meant I spent a lot of time at the bench, conducting experiments and analysing data. My typical day in the lab would involve firstly checking on my cells; tissue culture forms a huge part of our research so getting to grips with the techniques behind it was a key part of being able to run the experiments. I used human kidney cells to create an in vitro model of chronic kidney disease which then allowed us to determine whether the drugs we were treating our cells with were having a protective effect. After this, I would run multiple different experiments throughout the day, these could involve techniques that include Western blotting, PCR and several different laboratory assays. Having a lab-based year through completing the MBio gave me the opportunity to develop so many different lab skills, something which I am hugely grateful for.
Aside from lab work, this year I have also developed multiple skills important to a career in science. One of these is keeping up with the literature surrounding our research topics, this is both essential but also difficult since papers are published so frequently and knowledge around specific subject areas can develop quickly. Creating a system which enabled me to keep up with this early on was something which made my life a lot easier as the year progressed so I absolutely cannot recommend this enough! Science communication forms a huge part of research, and through being lucky enough to attend the Diabetes UK professional conference, regularly presenting at lab meetings, research showcases and poster presentations, I have developed more confidence in public speaking. Importantly I have developed a greater appreciation for the ability to communicate our research to people in other disciplines.
I have had the most incredible year and have grown on both a personal and professional level, but this absolutely hasn’t happened by chance. I have been incredibly fortunate to be guided into the world of science by the most wonderful supervisors who have not only given me so many incredible opportunities but have also encouraged and supported me every step of the way. They have believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself and have made me realise a career in research is exactly what I want to do with my life. They are also incredible scientists who I look up to enormously- as an early career researcher you absolutely need mentors who are supportive and whom you trust, so having supervisors like this has been an absolute privilege. I have also been blessed with the most wonderful lab mates who have become some of my best friends and make every day full of laughter and fun. They have taught me more than they will ever know and couldn’t have been more supportive, reassuring, and hilarious. I look forward to every single day I spend with them!
My master’s has been an absolute joy, I would tell anyone considering doing an MBio to give it everything that you have, go above and beyond, be a team player and make the most out of every opportunity you are given. I am incredibly excited to see where my path in science and research takes me next and will forever be thankful to team Renal for providing the very best start in this.
This year, I’ve jumped into entirely new territory. Myself and the Healthcare Science Education team at GOSH, part of our GOSH Learning Academy (GLA), have launched a one week course on how how to utilise molecular testing, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), molecular typing, and next generation sequencing, to impact patient care.
The week itself is split into lectures that aim to inspire, sessions that give some information about the techniques themselves and their pros and cons, and finally, some workshops on how to implement them into clinical workstreams.
Each afternoon, there are a whole bunch of activities to help you put what you’ve heard in the morning into practice. If you attend the face to face week, there are also some great opportunities to learn from each other and build your networks, as these are done on rotating tables.
What to expect?
This course is aimed at the clinical decision part of the patient pathway, and focuses on ensuring that we pick the right test to answer the clinical question we are asking. You will get plenty of information therefore on how you should pick that test and why. This is a dry course (as in not lab based) though so won’t teach you the ‘how’ of doing molecular diagnostics. It focuses on the ‘why’ and the ‘when’. A week is also not enough time to teach bioinformatics, so this course won’t teach that. It will teach how to interpret some of the outputs to support better clinical decision-making.
How can I sign up?
Signing up is a two stage process. Firstly, you need to register an expression of interest, and then when allocated to a date, you can register. The course is entirely free and it would be lovely to see you.
This is my first time being involved in a project quite like this one, both in terms of the size of the education project, but also in terms of switching between delivery methods and some of the content development. I’ve learnt a lot, both as a scientist and someone interested in education, and as this is a Girlymicro blog after all, I thought I would share some of that learning.
The importance of a multi-disciplinary approach
The first thing, which I’ve always known but this has emphasised, is that we make better decisions as an MDT. Watching table discussions where there have been scientists, medics, and nurses working together and sharing their experiences has been so powerful. Those tables not only feel like they learn more from each other, but that they also make better collective decisions where many different aspects are taken into account. I think we all feel this is true of the conversations we have back in our work setting, but almost being able to compare mixed and non mixed tables in a controlled setting has made me even more certain of how important it is to foster back in my clinical space.
The importance of having the right people in the room
The importance of understanding roles and backgrounds extends not just into participants, but also to those delivering the sessions. I don’t think I’d realised how important having a mix of roles in that education space was. I knew you needed the educators who bring their pedagogical knowledge and some subject matter experts (SMEs) to deliver the content. What I hadn’t realised the value of quite as much is in having facilitation of tables by people who have experience of the area in order to support better discussions. Not necessarily full SMEs, but people who have an understanding of the science and processes to make better conversations. Facilitation within such a complex area requires some level of knowledge to make it work. You need the right mix of people who can challenge you and the content in order to make it better.
The importance of expectation management
I’m fairly used to delivering big projects, but this one has taught me a few new things. Firstly, it’s so important to manage expectations when learners sign up. The first run of the course we had, quite a few people were disappointed not to learn bioinformatics. Now, as someone who has been working in this area for over a decade, I know that I don’t know how to undertake bioinformatics. I’ve been on many a short course to learn and have picked up enough to ask questions, but that is all. If someone hasn’t had that experience they may think it is something we could teach in a few days, rather than coming into that space with the knowledge that it is a vast discipline where the process depends upon both the question and the input. We’ve been trying to better manage expectations around this one since the first run and to share that awareness from the outset.
The other aspect of this one for me, is always how interesting it is to manage a project that feels like it constantly evolving, as different people come on board and bring their own perspectives. This adds so much value, but as someone who likes a plan, the flexing can always feel challenging to me, and I just have to know that about myself in order to be better able to adapt in the moment.
The importance of listening and being open to change
One of the reasons there is so much change to embrace is because this kind of course, delivered in this way, hasn’t been done before. The power of listening, therefore, is so important. Are learners getting what they need to change practice? Are they getting what they expected? Are they getting what they want? This has made me so aware of the importance of evaluation, evaluation that is embedded throughout, not just at the end. By embedding throughout, you can fix or modify as you go in order to improve the quality of what you’re delivering, but also to make sure you are meeting needs or knowledge gaps you hadn’t anticipated. I think this is something that I want to do more in all of my teaching moving forward.
The other aspect to this was thinking about the differences required between digital and face to face delivery. Really being open to the challenge of delivering in a way I hadn’t really used for a course before, because there are so many reasons why having different delivery modes matters, for accessibility if nothing else. Ensuring that online delivery was tailored to make it suitable, whilst ensuring that the learning experience was of the same quality as that experienced by someone attending face to face in a classroom. I’ve learnt a lot.
The importance of sharing a vision
This last one is the reason I got involved to start with. I was really interested in what the strategic vision was, in terms of where we want the workforce to be, in terms of SARS CoV2 legacy, in terms of technological change. Lots of conversations have been had in terms of what that vision might look like and what is needed to help support the Healthcare Science profession in order to deliver it. It was really interesting to be part of delivering something that helps explore some of those aspects but in very practical terms.
I don’t think anyone taught me how to write a business case, no one ever taught me how to design a lab, but these are key tools that may be needed to support delivery of that vision piece. We felt it was, therefore, really important to ground some of the aspirational sessions we were delivering by including some sessions on these skills and how to develop them. I had no idea how they’d land, but I think for some, they were probably the most valuable sessions of the week, and I’m strangely proud of what has ended up being produced.
Register here to take advantage of this free to access course, either in person or face to face
During July I’ve posted a series of articles aimed at supporting PhD students and those thinking about entering research or undertaking a PhD. So that you can access them more easily, along with an example of some other posts that might also help, I’ve collated them all for you as a series of links here in a single post. Hope they help.
If you would like more tips and advice linked to your PhD journey then the first every Girlymicrobiologist book is here to help!
This book goes beyond the typical academic handbook, acknowledging the unique challenges and triumphs faced by PhD students and offering relatable, real-world advice to help you:
Master the art of effective research and time management to stay organized and on track.
Build a supportive network of peers, mentors, and supervisors to overcome challenges and foster collaboration.
Maintain a healthy work-life balance by prioritizing self-care and avoiding burnout.
Embrace the unexpected and view setbacks as opportunities for growth and innovation.
Navigate the complexities of academia with confidence and build a strong professional network
This book starts at the very beginning, with why you might want to do a PhD, how you might decide what route to PhD is right for you, and what a successful application might look like.
It then takes you through your PhD journey, year by year, with tips about how to approach and succeed during significant moments, such as attending your first conference, or writing your first academic paper.
Finally, you will discover what other skills you need to develop during your PhD to give you the best route to success after your viva. All of this supported by links to activities on The Girlymicrobiologist blog, to help you with practical exercises in order to apply what you have learned.
The thing is, it will not have been the only bad science day I will have posted about. You see, science is wonderful, but some days, it can also be heartbreaking. Before the breakthroughs, there is often a period where it feels like nothing is ever going to work again. I currently have a few PhD students who are in the ‘I just need data phase’ and so I thought I would take this week to acknowledge how challenging it can be and share some things I learnt that got me through.
The results of your experiment do not define you as a scientist
I want to say this first, and I want to say it loudly and on repeat, especially for all of those PhD and other scientists who are currently struggling with experiment failure – failed experiments DO NOT make you bad scientists! I shall say it again – failed experiments DO NOT make you bad scientists! All scientists fail, some of us have failed for months at a time, and challenging science is the name of the game. If you were doing something that had been done before, you wouldn’t be doing PhD level work. Therefore, failure, far from being a flaw, is to be expected. The sooner this is accepted, the better your mental health will be.
It’s incredibly challenging some days, but we all have to remember that our success at ticking actions off our list does not define who we are as people. Science is also far more than undertaking experiments. Did you sign up and deliver some kick ass outreach? Did you ask a great question in lab meeting? Did you make your struggling peer a cup of tea or help them with a figure they couldn’t get right? Sometimes, when the thing we’re obsessing about doesn’t go right, that is all we can see, and we ignore all the rest that is going well, make sure to acknowledge the good stuff.
Sometimes, you need periods of failure to get to the success
PhD’s are apprenticeships in research, and all of the failed experiments are far from a waste. They are part of the learning. You will use them to create your method development sections of your thesis, and they will give you great discussion points for your viva. In fact, if you had a completely clean sailing PhD that might be the more unexpected thing if I was your examiner, I’d be forced to dig more about where your learning happened.
Also, and I hate to do this as it’s the most trite thing ever, but some of the best science comes from mistakes and screw ups. Think Fleming and penicillin. The main thing is the mind set through which we view the failure. If we take it personally and let it get in our heads, all we can see is failure. Some of my best science has happened when failure has made me take a step back and pause, and suddenly I’ve seen the problem in a new light, or it’s forced me to make connections I wouldn’t have normally thought about. Sometimes, we need to be sure we see the failure as an opportunity rather than the end of hope.
It can be soul destroying when an experiment you’ve worked on for weeks or months crashes and burns, but the thing I’ve learnt is that often that happens when I push through too much, or don’t give it the attention it deserves. For me, experimental failures can also be warning signs about the pace and intensity of my work and can, in the end, offer a useful way to self check and force me to review my working patterns to give me a better more sustainable pathway to success. If you are crying over a failed run, it’s probably an indication that you need a break or to work differently.
Know when to continue down the rabbit hole and when to pivot
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learnt during my time working in science and doing research is that sometimes you have to be prepared to stop what you’re doing. During my PhD I spent 18 months trying to separate Adenovirus from viro cells using centrifugation to reduce whole genome sequencing read loading towards monkey rather than viral DNA. You know what, I got a bit of a reduction, but not enough to make a real difference, and to get that I worked till midnight for months as that was the only time the ultra centrifuge was available. What I didn’t do was a) set some success criteria b) stick to them and c) have a cut off that was based on effort vs reward. I just carried on…..and on……and on for very little payoff when I should have just stopped.
There will be times when you just need to persevere, as the work you are doing in central to the project and definitely achievable (anything core should be designed at the project level as attainable). There will, however, always be other aspects that need to be evaluated for the resource they are requiring (time, money, etc) vs what they are adding to your body of work. There is no point in spending 18 months on something that will be 2 pages in your thesis, there is point in spending 12 months fixing something that will be a chapter or more.
So one of the main skills I’ve had to develop is the ability to step back and see where the piece I am currently working on fits into the whole, and I can then evaluate what level of effort it is worth. If you haven’t set your success criteria etc beforehand it can be super painful to reach this decision and to walk away. This can be why having a good project timeline for your work/project/PhD can be really helpful. It helps you make pragmatic decisions and gets you out of the weeds in order to help you move forward with a view of the work as a whole.
Some days, you need to walk away to gain clarity
One of the things that has helped me with the ‘rabbit hole or pivot’ conundrum is getting to know myself enough to understand when I am in a spiral. My willpower and persistence are probably the only reasons I’ve managed to get as far as I have. The downside to these aspects of my personality is that I become hyper focused on a goal and the fact that it has to happen, I get in my own way and can’t always do the needed reflection piece. The end result of this is that it takes me longer than it should to realise I should have stopped (this is true of everything for me, not just experiments).
Believe when I say that it is worth developing the self-awareness to be better at this, as combined with the self reflection skill described above, it will be a powerful tool throughout your career. For me, this involved knowing when I need to walk away and distract my brain with some trashy TV or process it by writing a blog. My husband wishes it was the decision to go and load a dishwasher or clean, but no one can have everything. Pre-pandemic it was also things like going for a run, although I have to be honest and say I haven’t got back there. Whatever your technique, it took me a long time to realise this was a key part of my process. I needed to distract my brain, and the very process of doing this enabled me to gain clarity. Far from berating myself for my prevarication, it was actually key to achieving my aims and objectives.
Know when to get support
Frankly, sometimes you can’t manage alone. In fact, in my case, I hardly ever can. It’s why I really believe that science is a team sport. Sometimes, you will need someone else to help you recognise that it’s time to evaluate. Sometimes, you will need the support of others as part of the reflection process, and when it comes to troubleshooting why things are not working, two heads are definitely better than one. Far from being a sign of weakness, seeking support and building networks so you have identified that support are key parts of your career development. There will always be people out there who have more experience than us and learning from them so we don’t just replicate each others mistakes is just good resource management.
Always have a plan b, and ideally c and d
As I’ve already said, failure is just part and parcel of science. There’s no escaping this fact. What I have learnt though is there are routes to being more savvy about anticipating that failure. I had a fairly horrid experience during one of my masters degrees, where the project was designed as just one thing that either worked or it didn’t. Inevitably it didn’t, and I was forced to write 10,000 words on 3 results. This taught me 2 valuable lessons, 1) never blindly follow a project designed by someone else, if you feel it isn’t right for you own the fact that it is your project and you need to input to get it where it needs to be, and 2) never design a project that is entirely dependent on plan A working, as the chances are it won’t.
Taking a modular approach to any project design will enable you to combine parts that work and still have an over arching narrative that makes sense and enable you to succeed, even if individual components fail. If you are designing a project around a core component that you are then attaching spokes to, that component needs to be guaranteed in terms of process success, even if not result outcomes, as you can discuss the results in the context of your work, but you can’t risk not being able to get them. Take time to map this out and to undertake a SWOT analysis, so you can pre-plan for how you will manage any failures. That way you won’t lose time panicking when things go wrong, as you will have a defined pathway already.
Don’t benchmark against the success of others
A lot of the way in which we experience failure is defined by how we emotionally respond to the context of that failure. Sometimes benchmarking against others can be helpful, but more often than not if you are already feeling challenged it can just add to the pressure you are already feeling. I think this especially true when taking a PhD, as both you and your project are highly individual. It can be to look at others and their outputs and not compare, but the truth of the matter is you are likely comparing apples and oranges. PhD’s by their very nature need to be unique pieces of work, and so someone can appear to be killing it but their track record will look different to yours as they might face their challenges in the future, or may have to justify their work in a different way. So look to peers for support rather than affirmation of your progress, as every pathway in different. Otherwise you can make a challenging time even worse for yourself.
Know that we have all been there
I started out by saying that failed experiments do not make you a bad scientist and I want to finish by saying that the way I know this to be the case is that I have yet to meet any scientist who hasn’t spent dark days dealing with failed experiments, or just failure in general. No matter how lonely it feels in the moment, know that we have all been there. That may not make it feel any better, but I hope it empowers you to reach out and let your supervisors/peers know how you are feeling in order for them to support you through it. No one should judge you in this, because in judging you we would be judging ourselves. Science can be a really lonely profession, but it doesn’t have to be, and so reach out to your networks, and if you can’t reach out to them reach out to me. The better job we do of supporting each other the better placed we will be to create work that matters and improves the world just a little bit.
All opinions in this blog are my own
If you would like more tips and advice linked to your PhD journey then the first every Girlymicrobiologist book is here to help!
This book goes beyond the typical academic handbook, acknowledging the unique challenges and triumphs faced by PhD students and offering relatable, real-world advice to help you:
Master the art of effective research and time management to stay organized and on track.
Build a supportive network of peers, mentors, and supervisors to overcome challenges and foster collaboration.
Maintain a healthy work-life balance by prioritizing self-care and avoiding burnout.
Embrace the unexpected and view setbacks as opportunities for growth and innovation.
Navigate the complexities of academia with confidence and build a strong professional network
This book starts at the very beginning, with why you might want to do a PhD, how you might decide what route to PhD is right for you, and what a successful application might look like.
It then takes you through your PhD journey, year by year, with tips about how to approach and succeed during significant moments, such as attending your first conference, or writing your first academic paper.
Finally, you will discover what other skills you need to develop during your PhD to give you the best route to success after your viva. All of this supported by links to activities on The Girlymicrobiologist blog, to help you with practical exercises in order to apply what you have learned.
It’s that time of a year, the time of year when I get a number of appointments put into my diary from people who want to talk about doing a PhD. This will range from undergraduates, where I’ve taught on their course, to established healthcare professionals with over a decade worth of lab or clinical experience. I thought it might be useful, therefore, to write a post where I go through some of the stages of discussion that take place in these meetings in order to help anyone else thinking about the same thing.
Over the last decade I’ve spent time talking with a lot of people who come to me saying they want a PhD and my first question is always why? I ask this not just because it is the question you will always get asked in your PhD interviews but because your answer will determine a number of things, some of which I’ve covered below.
How much thinking have you done?
Starting a discussion with someone where you ask why they’ve decided to do a PhD is a good way to check how much thinking they’ve done about a) what a PhD actually is and b) how it will enable to them to achieve their aspirations, a PhD is not the end game after all, it’s a step on a pathway. Now, if someone is an undergraduate, they may be focussed on a PhD as the next educational step and not yet have clarity about where it will lead. However, for someone whose already a working scientist, this question holds a lot more weight as they are more resource limited (in terms of time) and probably need higher levels of clarity prior to committing. The way someone answers this question (and it’s one I also use in interviews) helps me gauge how far along in the thought process someone is. In an interview, it also helps me gauge how committed someone is, as they have invested the time to really think about their why and how it serves their purpose and values.
This then leads onto some more specific questions:
What subject of PhD? are you looking to progress via a scientific route or via other channels in leadership or education.
What type of PhD – if you are coming to me as a Healthcare Scientist looking to progress a traditional research doctorates are no longer your only option. You can now undertake a professional doctorate via a number of different routes.
Where do you see a PhD taking you to in 15 years time? Which doors will it open? Are any of these restricted by doctorate type?
Why now? What are the opportunities or support you have available to you now. How have these changed (if you’ve been in post) to allow this to be an option now and how might they change in the future? Could any of these changes impact you in the time course of the PhD?
Thinking about what route to PhD you will want to follow is key. Some, like fellowships, come with substantial resource in terms of matched salary and both educational and consumables funding, but are highly competitive and will likely take you over a year to prepare. Others are much more under your control, like self funded, but require you to have resource of your own to begin with.
The route that might work best will therefore depend a bit on where you want to end up, but also on personal factors, such as finances and available time. Some of these routes may also limit progression down certain pathways, if you want to become a full research academic for instance you will probably need a research PhD rather than a taught doctorate. If you choose your route without knowing your why you could therefore close off some possibilities without truly being aware at the time:
Unfunded route, where you register but undertake an unfunded PhD alongside your post. Often your employer will pay your PhD fees and you apply for consumables money
Self funded route, where you take time out to do your PhD but you fund your own fees and consumables, usually in an academic department
Stipend funded, the route most people think of when undertaking a PhD. You apply for a project where the funding and requirements of the PhD have been set out by a supervisor. These are more like fixed term jobs where you deliver on a set of parameters
Fellowship, this route in probably the most competitive and requires substantial preparation. On the other hand it can offer a route by which you can undertake a PhD whilst still retaining your salary, and have access to funding for training and consumables
Training post, this route will often offer a taught doctorate rather than a traditional research PhD. It is also a way in which you may be able to develop clinically at the same time as developing leadership and research skills, and so might be the most appropriate route if you are aiming to undertake a PhD in order to get a specific role
How much research have you done?
When I talk about research here, I’m not talking about the academic kind, I’m talking about the fact finding and speaking to people kind. One of the ways I can often judge how seriously someone has thought about undertaking a PhD, and establish how far they are along with the process, is talking in a little more detail about what kind of research questions they are thinking of and the practicalities of undertaking a PhD in that area, such as what institution? or what supervisors? This is where the nitty gritty really starts to matter:
What thinking have you done on your research question, how far is it progressed? Do you have a broad subject like Clinical Microbiology, a more specific subject area such as Gram negative sepsis, or something really developed, such as comparison of molecular detections of antimicrobial resistance techniques and their impacts on antimicrobial prescribing decisions. There are pros and cons about having reached different levels of thought. It is good to leave enough conceptual room where your supervisors can support you in ensuring that your research question is both achievable and of PhD level. Coming in with only the broadest level of thinking however, tends to imply you may not have thought about it enough and may limit how much support and sign posting someone can give you, as it will be harder to tell which funders might be interested or academically where it might sit.
Who are you thinking in terms of supervision? Have you approached anyone? Making the right supervision decision is key, not just in terms of topic but also in terms of PhD experience. It is therefore always worth doing your due diligence in terms of research who is working in the area, but also in asking what is their working style? What is the experience of others in their lab? Can they help you in the kind of career path you are envisioning for yourself? If you want a clinical career you may not want to go and work with a fundamental scientist, as their networks will be different and may not support your trajectory.
What institution are you thinking of? Have you read up or spoken to others about what is like to study there? Institutions, like supervisors, tend to have a specific style, and it may be one that works for you but it also may be one that doesn’t. Your institution in some ways may be determined by your supervisors, but you may have the option if you are doing a combined clinical/academic placement to choose. You may also want to bear the institution in mind when identifying your supervisors in the first place and use it as part of your matching criteria. Sometimes, you may also have no choice in institution, especially if you are studying linked to a training scheme – in which case, be aware of travel or other requirements, when decided your route to PhD, as it may impact your experience.
Have you thought about the realities?
PhDs can often be idealised as experiential learning, the reality of them can be very different however, and I’ve already posted about the challenges of the second year slump. The truth of it is that all PhDs are challenging, and sometimes I think that achieving a PhD is more a measure of stubbornness and refusal to give up than of academic competence. There are some things that can be made much easier if you think about them and how they will work for you and your life style before you embark on this particular journey.
The first of this is how will you balance a PhD with your other life commitments? Each of the routes to a PhD have different pros and cons. If you don’t have loads of money in the bank, and like me don’t have a lot of savings, then doing a self funded PhD may not be an option for you. Other options, like a PhD with a stipend, may also be off the table, if you need your current salary to make ends meet. This in itself may determine which route you take. You may have resource in terms of finance but not in terms of time, you may therefore want to self fund or do an unfunded PhD, in a way that enables you to stretch the process out over several years, so your annual time commitment is less. On the other hand, you may be time limited and need to get it done in the next 5 years, and therefore not have the time resource to put all your eggs into the same basket and apply for a fellowship that takes a year to prepare and has a 20% success rate. Being honest with yourself about the different drivers is essential so that you can make the right choices in terms of route.
It is also key to know what kind of learner you are, I’ve already posted a bit about learning agreements, but even in the absence of one you still need to be aware of your needs. Do you need a supervisor who is going to have a lot of pastoral time? Do you want to be in a group with plenty of other PhD students so you have access to peer support? Do you hate micro management and pretty much want high level accessible support when you need it, but a light touch the rest of the time? These things will determine what kind of supervisor and setting you will need to identify, and the questions should be asking (outside of the scientific) in the process.
Finally, and this one is oh so important, what’s your end game? If you want to end up as a Consultant Clinical Scientist but have little interest in a research career, a taught doctorate may be right for you, it will not be the right choice if you want a Clinical Academic career however. If you want to follow a clinical pathway you may want to ensure that this aspect is retained in your research question, to enable follow on post docs and other progression that supports your clinical role. Not to harp on, but if you don’t know your why no one else can, and it can mean that you make decisions that close future routes rather than keeping progression pathways open. Also, did I mention doing a PhD is hard? If you don’t know your why it can be super challenging to just keep going when the tough times do arrive. If you know your why however, at least you can cling to that vision and end game in order to get you through.
I hope this post helps show that there are many different choices open to you if you are thinking about undertaking a PhD, but that it’s worth doing some thinking and fact finding as part of the process to make sure you make the decisions that are right for you and your life style. For those of you who decide to jump down this particular rabbit hole here are some things I wish I had known when I started, and good luck, you will rock it!
All opinions in this blog are my own
If you would like more tips and advice linked to your PhD journey then the first every Girlymicrobiologist book is here to help!
This book goes beyond the typical academic handbook, acknowledging the unique challenges and triumphs faced by PhD students and offering relatable, real-world advice to help you:
Master the art of effective research and time management to stay organized and on track.
Build a supportive network of peers, mentors, and supervisors to overcome challenges and foster collaboration.
Maintain a healthy work-life balance by prioritizing self-care and avoiding burnout.
Embrace the unexpected and view setbacks as opportunities for growth and innovation.
Navigate the complexities of academia with confidence and build a strong professional network
This book starts at the very beginning, with why you might want to do a PhD, how you might decide what route to PhD is right for you, and what a successful application might look like.
It then takes you through your PhD journey, year by year, with tips about how to approach and succeed during significant moments, such as attending your first conference, or writing your first academic paper.
Finally, you will discover what other skills you need to develop during your PhD to give you the best route to success after your viva. All of this supported by links to activities on The Girlymicrobiologist blog, to help you with practical exercises in order to apply what you have learned.
I have the best job in the world, and people often ask me a) how I got here and b) how to get here themselves. Now, I have gone a long and circuitous route as you can see below, so I’m not necessarily the best person to ask, although personally I think the circuitous route had quite a lot of unexpected benefits:
That said, when I was a lass the world was much more straight forward with the routes and options being much more restricted and a much greater need to establish your own pathway. There was only one place where you could register, and that was with the Health and Care Professions Council (which even had a slightly different name), where yo reach registration in 1 of 3 ways:
Registration as a Clinical Scientist via the Association of Clinical Scientists (route two) – this route still exists and it involves the following ‘those who may not have completed the formal training associated with Route ONE, but have extensive experience in the relevant field sufficient to demonstrate our competences based on a cross referenced portfolio of evidence, and (if approved) an interview.’ This is usually for those entering the field with a PhD who then spend some time working in the role of a supervised pre-registered clinical scientist with the supervision of a registered Clinical Scientist or medic.
All of these routes led to you being registered with the HCPC and the ability to practice as an independent practitioner. The market place has changed a lot since then however and the profession is now filled with so many opportunities and entry points to permit an enriched career progression. So in order to celebrate National Pathology week I’m hoping to answer some of questions about how to become a Healthcare Scientist and sign post to some great resources that others have created.
Although in many ways I still believe the system was great when I joined, it cannot be denied that there were a number of flaws. There was no pathway as such, it was incredibly difficult to move from a starting non-registration requiring position to registration and onwards. Also, once you had your registration there was no structured progression route. It was hard to demonstrate pathways to Consultant Clinical Scientist posts, Advanced Practice posts didn’t exist, and so it was also difficult to demonstrate parity or equity of access. Thus modernising scientific careers was born, an example is below although it’s been through many interactions since. Many aspects of this are still in place, but some like the clinical academic careers route are still being developed, whilst others like the apprenticeships have been developed significantly further. Other entry routes, like T-Levels in Healthcare Science, didn’t exist at all when this was last updated.
This means that anyone wanting to entering the career now has a lot more points at which they can enter, A-Level equivalent (T-Levels), undergraduate, post-graduate, post PhD. There also routes available to move from stage to stage in a variety of ways. Having so much choice can be a little overwhelming however, so I thought I would try (with the help of the wonderful Dr Jo Horne) to collate some of the different info in one place in case it might help.
Apprenticeships
Apprenticeship standards change frequently and are tweaked based on what we learn and the workforce needs. They are great however as they are not only entry points, but progression points no matter what level you are coming in at. The Level 7 apprenticeship will also soon be a thing, and so for a Clinical Scientist like me, training may look a bit more like it did when I was a grade A trainee. They are also great as you can balance progression with your needs in terms of non-work demands, as you have control about when you choose to access them, permitting a lot of flexibility.
Entry Overview Clinical Microbiology and Clinical Virology
Dr Jo Horne has been pulling together some really amazing infographics on healthcaresciencenews.co.uk in order to help clarify not only the apprenticeship routes, but also the direct entry routes into the various formal and informal training programmes that can lead to HCPC registration. She is also actively working with Healthcare Scientists via her coaching website to help support them in their careers and making career progression decisions.
Other Routes to Clinical Scientist Registration
Finally, I’ve previously posted about my experience applying for Higher Specialist Scientific Training programmer equivalence. This is a way of demonstrating that you have an equivalent skill set to those coming out of the HSST programme, which is a formal training programme to support training to consultant level.
There is an equivalent scheme for equivalence to the Scientist Training Programme, but this isn’t the only route to registration as a Clinical Scientist if you haven’t gone through the formal STP programme. I think there is an understandable excitement and engagement with the STP equivalence programme and I am a big supporter of that engagement. I do however think we have to be conscious of the word equivalence. If the STP equivalence process is about demonstrating equivalence to the STP then not everyone will be able to go down this pathway, as the training they have to demonstrate is very broad and, with the new curriculum, very clinical. This doesn’t mean that they should not be able to gain registration as a Clinical Scientist. As I said at the very start, the ACS route 2 existed when I was training and it still exists now. If someone has vast amounts of specialist knowledge and meets the requirement for having practiced in a clinical setting then they may not be suitable for equivalence, but more than suitable for route two via the ACS. I’ve know a number of candidates put in a lot of time and end up being delayed by going for the more well known AHCS route and struggling, when they would have been much more suitable for the ACS route. I think we need to talk more about these alternate routes, and the ones that are available across the profession to recognise advanced practice, in order to support people applying for the right schemes and not getting disillusioned in the process. The route needed will be varied based on the individual but the end point is the same, and we should therefore embrace all of these options.
Hopefully some of these links will be helpful to those of you who are looking to enter this awesome career, and for those of you who are already working as a HCS, maybe they will inspire you to take the next exciting step in your career. Please let me know if helpful and thanks again to Jo.
I am currently away enduring the heat of Houston, Texas, at the American Society of Microbiology annual conference. Hopefully, I will find lots of lovely inspiration whilst I’m here to share with you all. In the meantime, and whilst jet lag is kicking my ass, the wonderful Dr Claire Walker has swooped in and saved me by writing another awesome guest blog.
Dr Walker is a paid up member of the Dream Team since 2013, token immunologist and occasional defector from the Immunology Mafia. Registered Clinical Scientist in Immunology with a background in genetics (PhD), microbiology and immunology (MSc), biological sciences (mBiolSci), education (PgCert) and indecisiveness (everything else). Now a Senior Lecturer in Immunology at University of Lincoln. She has previously written many great guest blogs for The Girlymicrobiologist, including one on the transition from lab to academia.
So, the other night before a conference @girlymicro and I were sat in a hotel bar, drinking martinis and listening to me bemoan some fairly harsh feedback I recently received anonymously from a student in the form of the oft dreaded ‘Module evaluation feedback form’. The conversation went a little like the Deep Space 9 meme of Julian and Garek that’s doing the rounds – you know the one….
I love the internet. Meme generators entertain me no end.
Back to the story, I was complaining and @girlymicro, quite rightly, reminded me of two important facts. One, all constructive feedback is always useful even if we don’t particularly like hearing it. And two, not everyone is going to love us even if we really, really want them to.
I went to bed reflecting on this conversation and my poor feedback. Constructive critical feedback is a powerful tool for growth, yes it stings a little at the time, but when we take time to reflect can we see why we received it? This particular individual found me to be blunt and rude, and in honesty, in this specific instance I would say they aren’t totally wrong. This year, my decision to support University College Union strike action prevented me from giving the first lecture of my module. I use this lecture not only to introduce myself and describe the content of the module, but to set the expectations for behaviour in my classroom. I’m what has been described by my friends and colleagues as ‘old school’, and this makes me something of a marmite individual for students. I want to provide a safe space for discussions, and I cover a lot of triggering subjects. I have no time for disruptive behaviour that detracts from the groups collective learning experiences, and I have a low threshold for calling students out on this. Am I blunt? Probably. Could it be perceived as rude? Absolutely. Without these early conversations the students this year weren’t aware of my expectations and thus my behaviour had no context. Does this make the feedback fair? Possibly. In my honest opinion when you come to a place of learning you put your phone down and respect the teacher as well as your fellow students, and at University level teaching you shouldn’t need to be reminded of this. However, what I’ve learnt is just how important those conversations are, and I will be having them come hell or high water next year.
Girlymicro’s second point also gave me pause for thought. Not everyone is going to adore me. My teaching style isn’t guaranteed to work for everyone. So after finishing my martinis I returned to my feedback and applied the Pareto Principle. The Pareto principle asserts that 80% of outcomes result from 20% of causes. When I view negative feedback through the lens of the Pareto principle, I see that a significant proportion of this feedback comes from a small percentage of students. And the same is true of the positive feedback. Understanding this principle lets me focus on how I can direct my efforts to addressing their concerns specifically and prioritise improvements across my teaching to make meaningful change. However, it’s also crucial to recognise the silent majority the 80% who are, apparently, content enough not to provide an evaluation of the module. A major overhaul probably isn’t necessary, but there are tweaks to be made to make the content work for everyone.
Finally, I reflect on the words of wisdom from the great Obi Wan Kenobi himself:
“ You’re going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.” / “The truth is often what we make of it; you heard what you wanted to hear, believed what you wanted to believe.”
My ‘truth’, my point of view has been that my teaching style is interactive and engaging, and certainly some of my students share this opinion. But this isn’t everyone’s point of view and through receiving feedback I am able to see the opinions of those individuals that differ from my own. I often say that teaching is an iterative process, dependent on a cycle of reflection and growth. I may enjoy a particular style of lecture but if it’s not working for the majority, I have to put it down and build something new. Based on both the negative and positive comments, I have been able to introduce more lab sessions, simulated clinical experiences and data analysis workshops to my modules, and move away from traditional didactic teaching. Yes, it’s more work over the summer but hopefully this will lead to a significant improvement in the learning experience of my students. Who knows? Hopefully that quiet 80% like the changes. Either way I’ll await my next critique and take it from there.
TLDR: You can’t win ‘em all. But you can have a lot of fun with meme generators.
I’m off to ASM in Houston in a few weeks and conference season is well and truly upon is. I’ve been fortunate enough to get asked to speak at a number of events over the years, but I still clearly remember how terrified I was when as a trainee I spoke to my first big room. Last year, I gave my first key note lectures. I’d been asked to do a couple in 2020, and then the pandemic hit, so all of those events were cancelled. I felt as nervous as that trainee again. I prevaricated, I self flagellated and then finally managed to force myself to sit down in front of a blank screen and just get started. If you are in any of those stages, this post is for you, I hope it helps.
No one can tell you the best way – only what is the best way for them
First things first. When as a trainee I was preparing my first talk I got A LOT of advice. My first problem was trying to use all of it, even when it was conflicting. I was advised to rehearse over and over until I had it memorised, I was advised to have a script and notes. I was advised to do none of those things as it would be too staged. So, my first tip is this. Seek advice, gain knowledge from those more experienced, but then use what helps you and discard the rest. Your personal process will be different to everyone else’s, and it’s worth acknowledging this early and accepting that you will find a way that works best for you and refine it with experience.
For instance, I hate rehearsals, and I never have a script. It makes me stressed and forces me to feel like I have to deliver the same way every time. I know my content, I know my story and the audience and I are a team who deliver the final product together. I bounce off them and try to read the room, and fingers crossed, it seems to work OK.
The one time I don’t work this way is for extremely time restricted presentations, such as 5 minute fellowship interviews. For those I practice so much I can recite the words in my sleep. These are different because:
you HAVE to get all your content in, your career kind of depends on it
the time lines are short and hard, they will just cut you off and so you need to know you will finish in the window given
there will be no audience bounce, there will be no reading the room, they are going to remain neutral to what you are presenting, and so focussing on them can make the scenario even more stressful.
What I hope you take away from this is that there are no hard and fast rules, there will always be exceptions, but if you can, do what works for you and don’t try to be anyone else.
Ask for learning objectives and check what other talks/speakers are in your session
There is little worse than sitting, waiting to go on for your talk, and hearing the person before you give the talk that you have basically written to give next. I have learnt the hard way to make an effort to ask what an organiser would like me to cover, and to always check what the agenda is before I turn up for the day to see the lay of the land from other speakers titles. A little repetition is not a bad thing, ground hog day is unlikely to land well. This one is more of an issue for invited speaker sessions, although even if you are presenting novel research data it’s worth seeing who else is in your session, as you may be able to reallocate slide time if the 3 people in front of you are talking about the same virus. They are likely to have covered a lot of the generics and you can then invest time elsewhere.
I don’t always get very far, but these days I also ask for learning objectives when I’m invited to speak – what would you like me to cover? any particular highlights that you are interested in? what is the audience size and mix likely to be? All of these things can dictate not just your content but how you think about delivery, such as how much interaction you can include.
Think about your audience
This one seems like a no brainer, but I often think that it’s forgotten. It is really easy as the person delivering to get caught up with your nerves and write a presentation that you feel comfortable with, without thinking about those that will be listening. Now, I’m not suggesting that you deliberately produce content that makes you uncomfortable, but sometimes it is easy to teach in a way that suits us rather than the learners. It can be really worrying to include interactive content, what if no one responds, but if you are on at the end of the day after 7 hours of didactic teaching, your learners may be ready for something that re-engages them.
The thing that scientists and clinicians also often do when they are nervous is to resort to technicality and jargon. It can act as a shield. If you are presenting to a mixed cohort, of either different levels of knowledge or professional backgrounds, this defence mechanism can end up making your content inaccessible to a number of people within the room. It’s OK to have a couple of slides that stretch people, it’s usually not OK to have a whole talk like that, unless you know your audience really well.
Think about the tone of the presentation
I struggled a lot when I was asked to do the talk below. I struggled thinking that maybe I should turn up as ‘Dr Cloutman-Green’ with formality and pretend gravitas. You would not believe how long I went around in my head about it. I then decided that they had asked me to speak about my blog, and my blog is anything but formal and hierarchical, and so I turned up as me, with all the sarcasm and self mocking that entails. In the setting, at the end of the last day of the conference, when everyone was tired, including a little humour felt like the right way to go.
I would however have made different choices if I was turning up to present my PhD thesis in a viva, or if I was presenting to the board, I would have still been me, but a slightly less overt version. Some settings require a formal tone, some lend themselves to informality and some you can decide the path you wish to walk. The key thing is to make an active decision based on the invite, topic and audience to ensure that you match what your tone is with what you wish to achieve.
Find out if you need to allow room for questions
One of the things that often catches people out at research meetings is there is not always a standard of whether there will be time for questions or not, you can sometimes guess by slot length but not necessarily with any certainty. It is always worth explicitly asking if you need to allow time for questions so you can plan your talk length accordingly. I’ve Chaired conference sessions where this wasn’t handled well and it meant that it was really challenging to keep everyone to time and some speakers had much better opportunities for audience interaction than others. If you aren’t told definitely ask, not least so you can prepare for what your answers might be.
Think about what you want for your slides
This again might be a really obvious one, but if you are teaching on an MSc you are likely to want a lot more information on your slides, as they are likely to be annotated and used for later learning. Your conference talk may be recorded, the slides may get circulated, but the reality is that they are much less likely to be used as a later teaching resource. Therefore you will want to pitch your slide content based on your participants/learners, which is another good reason to find out a bit about them.
It is also worth thinking about how important it is for the people in the room to be able to read and understand what you have included on a slide. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve seen speakers apologise for tables and overwhelming numbers of charts that are not visible to anyone sitting beyond the front row. Unless it’s high level conceptual stuff there is little point including slides that are not going to be accessible to your audience. It is also worth (and I am not good at this) ensuring that colours and fonts etc do not present unnecessary challenges to engagement.
Plan in your breaks/interactive moments
Even if you are the best speaker in the world, and I am definitely not, there are always slots in any agenda or meeting which will make it more challenging. The post lunch slot, where everyone is digesting and sleepy, and the end of day slot where everyone wants to make sure they catch their trains are just a couple of examples. If you are allocated one of these slots, or are given a 3 hour lesson slot, planning how to keep learners engaged is key. More than 20 minutes staring at your powerpoint is going to be enough for anyone. So can you include things like videos or other types of content to break it up? Can you include live quizzes that embed some of the discussion topics? Can you get people to talk to neighbours or even do some group work? It is sometimes easy to stand up and go through 60 slides, when the experience of everyone in the room might have been better with 6 and a modified activity based approach. Again, it depends on the setting and audience, but if you can be brave and consider stepping beyond the lectern during your session.
Make sure you have backups
No matter how prepared you believe you are for giving a session there are some days when it will not be enough, for this one you need to make sure you are the master of your own destiny. There have been numerous events where I have turned up to speak believing that my slides will be already loaded as I had sent them to the organiser well ahead of time, and had the tech guy look at me in bewilderment as they had nothing. I always carry my talks on a USB stick, having emailed them so I can also get access to an email version in case my USB files is corrupted, and I will have them stored on cloud storage as a back up in case I need to download directly onto a system. The fear of having to just get up and talk without slides haunts me too much to leave anything to chance.
Know how you might wing it if needed
The reason I know very clearly what it feels like to have a slide deck that doesn’t work is because it happened to me at a conference in 2021. I rocked up having sent my slides ahead of time, having been told that the organiser had checked them when they were loaded onto the laptop. I started my talk and then realised that every single slide that had a table or anything other than a textbox was entirely blank. I then proceeded to give my 30 minute with a variety of blank slides. When you’re up there there is nothing that you can do but wing it. I pivoted to a session where instead of trying to focus on my slides I talked about clinical experiences linked to the visible titles. I survived, it was even well reviewed, but I never want to do it again. That said, those 30 seconds staring at the first blank slides and working out what to do taught me a valuable lesson, and now I do my ‘what if’ worst case scenario planning ahead of staring at the audience whilst on my sofa with tea, so that I know what I will do if something goes wrong. I also now try to make sure I personally check my slides prior to any session.
Have a watch or phone that you take up with you
You would be amazed at the number of teaching and conference rooms that don’t have a clock on the wall or visible from the stage. I’ve been caught out by this a few times, and when you full screen your slides you can’t always seen the clock. That means you are subject to the session Chair giving you a 5 minute wrap up when you are only half way through your slides, as time feels different when you’re staring into 1000 faces and hoping not to screw up. I always take my phone (on silent) these days and set a stopwatch so that I can gauge where I am in relation to time without having to rely on someone else. I find the slide rush just waaaaay too stressful otherwise.
Be prepared to handle the question that is a actually a comment
This may be a shock to you, but I’m a woman. This means at any given presentation with questions I have a ~30% chance of a male colleague standing up and giving me the question that isn’t a question, but a comment on how they would have a) done my work better b) point out some key point I have missed c) tell me about their work and their experience. This may not be my most attractive feature but I have made a life choice to shut all of these options down hard. I am open to questions and shared learning, I am not open to someone taking question time from someone else in order to rail road a session into something different. If someone starts with “this isn’t really a question but more of a comment” I will generally reply before they get any further with “that’s really great and I’d love to hear it over coffee but I think we need to address the questions in the room first” and then actively call on someone else. You may wish to have a different technique, you may wish to pivot the comment back into something relevant to your talk so you effectively answer it as if it was the question you wanted to hear. You may have a completely different approach (I’d love to hear them all). If there is plenty of time I also sometimes let it slide, but it is a particular bug bear of mine.
Bring yourself into the room
I’ve touched on this one a little throughout, but I think you will have a much better experience, as will your audience if you can bring yourself into the room. That can be anything from including your favourite colour as part of your slide colour scheme to sharing parts of yourself, in terms of stories or experiences, as part of your session. The more you are prepared to share of yourself, the more your audience will connect with you and the better the chance of your content landing. If you are giving your research presentation, maybe take 10 seconds to share why you chose you that given topic, especially if you have a passion for it – like mine for Klebsiella and Adeno. Don’t be afraid to include humour and light and shade within what you are presenting. Audiences often want to know why they should care about what you are talking to them about, so feel free to convince them, and not just by sharing raw data.
Put your nerves into context
It is almost always nerve racking speaking in front of people, even after you’ve done it for years. One of the things I always say to both myself and my students is “what is the worst that can happen”. I’ve seen some truly terrible talks in my time, but I don’t remember who gave any of them, I remember the topic and why it was bad. Even if I did give a bad session and someone remembered it was me, would they remember in 3 years? If they did, the worst outcome is that they may not invite me back to speak, there will be plenty of other people who will, plenty of people who weren’t in that room that day or who won’t remember. Everyone, and I mean everyone, has bad days at the office. Everyone has sessions that don’t go well or land in the way they hoped. The important thing is to learn from them. Sometimes there isn’t even that, I have given the same activity sessions dozens of times, and every now and again it just won’t work. The participants may be in a bad mood, or there’s tech failure. It happens. Bring your best to every moment and that is all you can do, the rest doesn’t matter, the rest isn’t permanent. So good luck and be bold and I can’t wait to hear you speak!
All opinions in this blog are my own
If you would like more tips and advice linked to your PhD journey then the first every Girlymicrobiologist book is here to help!
This book goes beyond the typical academic handbook, acknowledging the unique challenges and triumphs faced by PhD students and offering relatable, real-world advice to help you:
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Embrace the unexpected and view setbacks as opportunities for growth and innovation.
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This book starts at the very beginning, with why you might want to do a PhD, how you might decide what route to PhD is right for you, and what a successful application might look like.
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Finally, you will discover what other skills you need to develop during your PhD to give you the best route to success after your viva. All of this supported by links to activities on The Girlymicrobiologist blog, to help you with practical exercises in order to apply what you have learned.
Whilst SARS CoV2 continues to kick my ass and make doing much other than getting out of bed a challenge, the wonderful Dr Claire Walker has stepped up yet again in order to ensure that whilst Professor Cloutman-Green may be dozing, Girlymicro still delivers!
Dr Walker is a paid up member of the Dream Team since 2013, token immunologist and occasional defector from the Immunology Mafia. Registered Clinical Scientist in Immunology with a background in genetics (PhD), microbiology and immunology (MSc), biological sciences (mBiolSci), education (PgCert) and indecisiveness (everything else). Now a Senior Lecturer in Immunology at University of Lincoln. She has previously written many great guest blogs for The Girlymicrobiologist, including one on the transition from lab to academia.
Bots, ChatGPT and AI – Is this the end to assessments in Higher Education as we know it?
The impact of ChatGPT on assessment is a hot topic in high education at the moment, you can scarcely open a newspaper without seeing scaremongering headlines shouting this is the end to course works as we know it.
I’m not sure I really agree with this, I’ve had a play with ChatGPT and remain fairly confident that I can spot a bot at forty paces. Students have always had access to a use a ghost-writer for take-home exams and essays, and from this perspective, ChatGPT is hardly a new problem. I’m also convinced that my students are honest, and genuinely believe that they want to prove their knowledge and understanding through coursework’s and examination. Afterall, they will need these skills when they venture out into the world of work so there is no benefit to committing academic fraud. Even if you aren’t caught on day one, it’s going to catch up with you eventually.
That said, there is a question being whispered around higher education institutions at the moment regarding the coursework questions and exam papers – ‘have you run it through ChatGPT? What did you think? Could you tell it was a bot answer?’. So before I throw the baby out with the bathwater and panic, I thought I’d take time to note down some of the flaws that I see in ChatGPT. Currently, ChatGPT only has access to information up to 2021 and cannot access papers behind paywalls so if you design your questions to reflect on current knowledge and practice, the bot will return an error. I often create a new virus, disease or genetic defect for a paper, the bots also error when presented with these and cannot hypothesise the way a student can. Bots cannot make personal reflections which are essential in synthesis of clinical information, it’s very obviously if a reflection is generated by AI.. Also we know our students, we know their writing styles and have a very good idea of what level of knowledge they have – it’s our job (!). We do teach the content of the modules after all. Finally, we already have AI detecting tech built into our anti-plagiarism systems. This is a cat and mouse game, and the bots won’t stay ahead for very long.
Even so, this is just one lecturer’s opinion so I thought I’d go right to the source – and ask ChatCPT itself. And you can read for yourself. I’m not convinced we’ll be getting it to write any more blog posts any time soon….
Input Question: Write a 500 word blog post on the impact of ChatGPT and AI on student take home exams in biomedical science education
ChatGPT Blog Post:
The rise of artificial intelligence has been transforming various sectors of society, including education. One area that has seen significant changes is in student take-home exams in biomedical science education. With the advent of ChatGPT and other AI tools, students have a new level of accessibility and support in their studies. In this blog post, we will discuss the impact of ChatGPT and AI on student take-home exams in biomedical science education.
Firstly, ChatGPT and other AI tools have revolutionized the way students can access information. Instead of spending hours poring over textbooks, students can simply ask ChatGPT to find the relevant information they need. This saves a lot of time and effort, freeing up students to focus on understanding and applying the information. Furthermore, the ability to quickly access information means that students can study more efficiently, making better use of their time and ultimately improving their academic performance.
Secondly, ChatGPT and other AI tools have enhanced the quality of student work. These tools can provide students with instant feedback on their work, allowing them to identify areas for improvement and make corrections before submitting their assignments. This means that students can produce higher-quality work and learn from their mistakes more quickly. Additionally, AI tools can help students catch errors that they might have missed on their own, leading to more accurate and thorough work.
Thirdly, ChatGPT and other AI tools have increased the accessibility of biomedical science education. For students who may have difficulty accessing traditional classroom-based education, these tools offer a new avenue for learning. With ChatGPT, students can learn at their own pace and on their own schedule, making education more accessible to those who may have other responsibilities such as work or family commitments. This also means that students who live in remote or underprivileged areas can access high-quality education that might otherwise be out of reach.
However, while there are many benefits to using ChatGPT and other AI tools in student take-home exams, there are also some potential drawbacks to consider. For example, there is a risk that students may become overly reliant on these tools, leading to a reduction in critical thinking skills. Additionally, the use of AI tools may make it easier for students to plagiarize, as they can simply copy and paste information without fully understanding it.
To mitigate these risks, it is important to ensure that students are taught how to use these tools responsibly. This includes educating them on the importance of critical thinking and encouraging them to use AI tools as a supplement to their learning, rather than a replacement for it. It also means teaching students how to properly cite and reference sources, and providing them with opportunities to practice these skills.
In conclusion, ChatGPT and other AI tools have had a significant impact on student take-home exams in biomedical science education. These tools have improved the accessibility and quality of education, while also helping students learn more efficiently. However, it is important to approach these tools with caution and ensure that students are using them responsibly. By doing so, we can continue to harness the power of AI to enhance biomedical science education for students around the world.
Certainly ChatGPT has a high opinion of itself but there are some good points made here. This could be a useful study tool to help students learn and revise topics. With this in mind, you can’t uninvent a technology. Now is the time to elevate the different assessment methods that we use. So with that I’m off to mark an in-person practical exam, set a group work project and spend a week listening to students present a critical evaluation of papers written after 2021. I don’t think ChatCPT has me out of a job just yet…
TLDR – It’s not like the Bot started the blog post with ‘I am become death the destroyer of the higher education assessment system’, just yet.
Girlymicro 