supporting leadership in science
Feedback is an essential element of mentorship. Or leadership, for the record. Without feedback, mentees, junior scientists and staff alike will most likely get the advice or the instructions you as their mentor and/or PI might think they need. But you will never know whether what they get will support them as good as you think it does.
One way to receive honest feedback is to listen non-judgmentally. Saso Kocevar, senior director of hfp consulting, … Read more “How to get fruitful feedback”
Is there a shift in science culture – and do we even need one?
Nature recently reported on the first „Kindness in Science“ Workshop, which was held at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, in December 2017. The initiators, the Kindness in Science Committee, are striving for a New Zealand based, yet globally scaling approach towards a kinder, more respectful as well as more inclusive scientific working culture. Overall, they want work in science … Read more “Better be kind…?”
Being promoted to PI very often means that young scientists have to face challenges like lab and staff/student management, budgeting and other administrative tasks for the very first time – or at least, for the very first time entirely on their own. On top of that, not only are they responsible for advancing their own career, but that of their respective teams as well. More often than not, they are rather unprepared for this. And … Read more “Nature careers feature: How to (better) lead a lab”
The December issue of the monthly Naturejobs podcast was dedicated to the impact of high quality mentoring in research. Sašo Kočevar, director of hfp consulting, was requested to give a brief survey of the basics of leadership in science in the first of the feature’s interviews.
Mentoring has long since been a major issue to Nature. In 2005, Nature launched its annual awards for outstanding scientific mentorship in order to highlight the essential, but … Read more “Interview with Sašo Kočevar at Naturejobs (podcast)”
The idea has been around for a while, which does not make it less gripping, quite the opposite, it is worthwhile to occasionally revisit it, if only for the sake of positive stimulus.
The first one to formulate it within the scientific field, though, is Martin Schwarz, a professor of microbiology and biomedical engineering at the University of Virginia, who published an article [1] about the role of stupidity in scientific research, in the Journal … Read more “The value of stupidity in scientific research – Science implies confronting us with our “absolute” stupidity.”
We often get very good feedback for our courses. And sometimes, course participants contact us after some time and ask for a follow-up course to refresh relevant skills and broaden the set of essential tools and techniques to lead and manage.
Well, we heard you! Exclusively to our hfp consulting course alumni and for a limited number of participants, we are offering an advanced course on leadership and management skills. Please use the contact form… Read more “Advanced Courses on Leadership and Management Skills are available!”
Over the past years, quite a few blogs with a focus on careers of academics in the life science sector have sprung up. They are mostly written by junior faculty and postdocs and often share very personal stories on the author’s career trajectories, or they provide general advice, for example on grant writing and job interviews both inside and outside of academia.
Examples include Tenure, She Wrote, the now less active Blue Lab Coats… Read more “Skill or luck? Can an academic career be planned?”
Just a quick note to let you know that registration to the EMBO Laboratory Management Courses for 2015 is now open. These courses are under very high demand and usually fill up fairly quick. Please head over to the EMBO site to register and book your place on one of the courses offered by hfp consulting.
We have been supplying Laboratory Management Courses for EMBO for ten years now. With our expanding team of trainers, … Read more “Registration to EMBO laboratory management courses now open”
In a series of recent Career Advice articles (1, 2) in Science, Lucas Laursen gave an overview of opportunities for scientist to acquire leadership and management skills, which we believe are essential for today’s challenges in an academic environment. The articles give a good overview and mention a number of important leadership and management tasks scientists face and which we address in our courses. Improving time management, setting priorities, delegating, dealing with … Read more “How we help the scientific community with leadership and management skills courses”
Just a very brief note: We are again offering EMBO laboratory management and leadership courses for postdocs and group leaders in 2014. These courses are organized by the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO). They are very popular and only very few free spots are still avalable. Please have a look here for dates and details. The courses will be in Heidelberg, Germany.… Read more “Laboratory Management Courses at EMBO 2014”
