Nuts & Bolts of Research March 23 2011 Science Student Mini Conference Presentations

1. Nuts & Bolts of Research 23rd March 2011
Surviving and shining
through your PhD Anne
(and the first year is a good time to start) (EES)
Speakers:
• Anne Forbes (Earth and Environmental Sciences) Alejandro
• Miguel Alejandro Lopez-Ramirez (Life Science) (Life)
• Ben Rozitis (PSSRI)
Facilitators:
Ben
• Sunitha Pangala (Earth and Environmental Sciences)
• Sebastien Mitea (Physics & Astronomy)
(PSSRI)

2. Outline
• Conferences
• Networking
• Literature
• Funding
• Presentation and publication skills
• Internship/summer school/residential schools
• General topics

3. Conferences
• EGU
• AGU
• smaller national conferences (e.g. VMSG, MSG)
Anne
(EES)

4. Conferences
Looking for a travel grant?
• http://www.rdfunding.org.uk/queries/granttype.asp?TypeID=4
Looking for an outstanding meeting & course?
• EMBO http://www.ebi.ac.uk/Information/events/calendar/courses.php
• Wellcome trust http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/
• Nobel prize, Vision 2020
http://www.embl.de/research/seminars/vision2020/index.html
• Cold Spring Harbor meetings & course
http://meetings.cshl.edu/index.html
• Gordon Research conferences http://www.grc.org/meetings.aspx
• IBRO http://www.ibro.org/Pub/Pub_Front.asp
• Society for Neuroscience http://www.sfn.org/ Alejandro
(Life)

5. Conferences
NATIONAL
• UKPF Early Career Scientists' Meeting
(www.ukplanetaryforum.org)
• RAS National Astronomy Meeting
(www.ras.org.uk/nam-2011)
CONTINENTAL
• European Planetary Science Congress
(meetings.copernicus.org/epsc-dps2011)
INTERNATIONAL Ben
• Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (PSSRI
)
(www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2012)
• International Astronautical Congress (iac2011.com)

6. Networking
• Really useful for help with your project and getting a job!
• Get your supervisor (or someone else) to introduce you
at conferences to people whose work you’re interested
in.
Anne
(EES)

7. Networking
• Meeting & course
• Seminars in your department “be open to new ideas”
• Supervisor’s collaborators
• Your colleagues in your university
Alejandro
(Life)

8. Networking
IMPORTANCE
• Stimulates new research ideas
• Creates access to additional expertise and resources
• Helps you find a job!
WAYS OF DOING IT
• Conference dinners/events
• Poster sessions (especially those that
provide free alcohol)
Ben
(PSSRI
• Workshops )

9. Literature
• Don’t read every paper thoroughly from beginning to end
– it’s a waste of time.
• Use endnote or similar from the beginning.
• Try a few different search engines (e.g. ISI Web of
Knowledge, Google scholar, Scopus).
Anne
(EES)

10. Literature
How can I identify good literature?
• http://library.open.ac.uk/
• Impact factor link:
http://admin-apps.isiknowledge.com.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/
JCR/JCR?SID=W1A1C71OcpoJCb5FL4L
• Use of EndNote, Reference Manager or RefWorks
Alejandro
(Life)

11. Literature
• Use NASA ADS to find literature (adswww.harvard.edu)
• Use RefWorks to create bibliography
(www.refworks.com)
• Tips on literature search
• Find the beginning and work forward
• Check references and citations
• Note and search for frequent authors Ben
(PSSRI
• Read at least the abstract and conclusion sections )

12. Funding
• Grants for field and lab work. Emergency grants (e.g. to go to
erupting volcanoes).
• Geological society of London (you don’t have to be a member
to apply).
• Royal Geographical Society.
• Look on www.cos.com & www.researchresearch.com and set
up funding alerts.
• There are funds for younger people (e.g. under 30) and funds
for women.
• Make sure you are clear about why the work is important when
you apply.
• Remember that a specialist won’t necessarily read Anne
your work. (EES)
• Funds are often trusts so will not disappear even in
• the current economic climate

13. Funding
• Annual applications by societies
• Pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology industry
• Organizations (IBRO)
Alejandro
(Life)

14. Funding
Small Grants (e.g. Travel Bursaries, Experimental
Equipment, Etc.)
• Conference organisers
• CEPSAR
• Royal Astronomical Society
(www.ras.org.uk/awards-and-grants)
Medium Grants (e.g. Projects)
• OU's Dragons Den
• ESA Education Ben
(PSSRI
(www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Education) )
Big Grants (e.g. Postdocs)
• ESA Research Fellowship in Space Science
(www.rssd.esa.int/fellowship)

15. Presentation and
publication skills
• Get together with PhD students in your year and present
talks on anything!
• Be clear about target audience and journal before you
start writing. Changing your work for a different journal
can be a pain.
• Your supervisor will probably know best here!
Anne
(EES)

16. Presentation and
publication skills
• OU courses
• Attending conferences
• Listening feedback from your supervisors and colleagues
• Make it better!!! improve it all the time
Alejandro
(Life)

17. Presentation and
publication skills
A good presentation is:
• Concise and simple
• Not rushed
• Engaging and/or humorous
Choosing a suitable journal for publication - key factors:
• Topics covered / Audience
Ben
• Impact factor (i.e. citation count)
(PSSRI
• Processing time (i.e. time from submission to )
publication)
• Number of referees

18. Internship/summer school/
residential schools
• Vitae courses – very good and free if research council
funded. Look them up!
• Teaching on summer residential schools is good
experience.
Anne
(EES)

19. Internship/summer school/
residential schools
• Summer School Alpbach
(www.summerschoolalpbach.at)
• NASA Summer Schools
• Several each year at different sites and on different
topics
• Not all summer schools ran by NASA accept foreign
nationals
• International Space University: Space Studies Ben
Program (www.isunet.edu/index.php/ssp) (PSSRI
)

20. General topics
• If you have to go on fieldwork your probation report and
viva may have to be done before hand.
• Keep track of your own budget and what you spend – it
will not be done for you.
Anne
(EES)

21. General topics
• Glimpse of probation process and writing up
• PhD progress (difference between lab/non lab based)
• Completing project in 3 years – stress level
• Budget breakdown
• Requesting audience to take initiative to identify the
research skills required, explore if a workshop already
exists, if not get together and organise/tailor the
workshop to your needs
Ben
(PSSRI
)

22. Let’s thank the speakers
Ben
Anne (P SSRI)
(EES) Al e j a n d
ro
(Life)