—from the Lab Manager's bench and the PI's desk
Life and Research is for grad students, postdocs, and staff scientists. However, advanced undergrad researchers, or students planning to do a postbac, planning to go to grad school, or planning to do research in med school will also benefit from applying the strategies in Life and Research. We also recommend Life and Research for principal investigators who mentor early-career researchers.
But in reality even two scientists working in the same lab at the same time won’t automatically receive equitable training, professional development opportunities, and mentorship or acquire the same transferable skill sets. As an early-career researcher, you can become a data-producing machine without developing essential communication or interpersonal skills, or you can spend days and nights overworking yourself in the lab making little progress because your approach to benchwork or time management is haphazard.
Regardless of the work culture you experience and the support you receive from labmates, we wrote Life and Research to empower grad students, postdocs, and staff scientists to identify and develop transferable skills and ward off common problems with labmates and the principal investigator by keeping the lines of communication open and building a network of mentors and advisors who are invested in your success. We also hope to persuade you to continually evaluate your nonwork goals holistically, so your life, wellbeing, and relationship goals don’t fall by the wayside.
Many strategies we suggest are inspired by failure or regret—some are ours and others are from colleagues who shared their experiences with us. Ultimately, we’ve created a guide on what we wish we had known when we were early-career researchers and strategies that we wish we had implemented far sooner in our careers.
Acknowledgements
Preorder Life and Research online at Amazon, and Barnes and Nobel, and the University of Chicago Press. Release date is October 1, 2022.
Advanced Praise for Life and Research
Part survival guide and part pep-talk, Life and Research: An Early-Career Guide for Biomedical Scientists should be included in every welcome package for scientists joining a new lab or research program. Grey and Oppenheimer have created a portable version of the ideal mentor – helpful, honest, and compassionate. I wish I’d had this book ten years ago, as it would have saved me a lot of frustration and loneliness while navigating the confusing world of grad school.
-- Susanna Harris, Ph.D., Founder and Chair of PhD Balance
Paris Grey and David Oppenheimer are the mentors you never had in graduate school. They will teach you how to carry out scientific research while still living your best life, so you can do high-quality work without risking burnout.
-- Jennifer Polk, Ph.D., Principal, FromPhdToLife
Life and Research is a practical guide to surviving academic research as an early career researcher (and beyond). In this book, Grey and Oppenheimer strike a friendly tone while discussing very personal issues like finding the right work-life balance and establishing a network of mentors, but also when focusing on more utilitarian information like travel reimbursements. They are also realistic about the process of research itself – the ups and downs – and they provide practical tips for handling failure in the lab and how to get back on track.
Much of the text focuses on practical matters for new grad students, but the advice is universal. For example, the book often focuses on issues of equity, inclusion, and the hidden curriculum in biomedical research. While this information is important for new researchers, it's also important for new (and established) PIs to consider when creating a healthy and supportive lab environment. They are also honest in advising early career researchers to prioritize career development and exploration from the first years of graduate school. Resources for graduate students are all too often developed to keep researchers on an academic track even as PI positions become ever more scarce. Grey and Oppenheimer steer early career scientists to identify their strengths and pursue relevant training outside of the lab to broaden their skill sets should they decide to pursue non-academic careers.
This book should be required reading for researchers, especially those early in their career.
-- Danielle R. Snowflack, Ph.D. Senior Director of Education, Edvotek