Advertise on podcast: Research lives and cultures

Dr Ruth Payne has a dual professional identity as a Consultant Microbiologist for the National Health Services (UK) as well as a Senior Clinical Lecturer at the University of Sheffield. Her interest in malaria vaccines may have been the starting point for her research career, but her expertise in vaccines became the corner stone of her ability to contribute to the Covid vaccine development efforts.    Ruth entered the world of research as a doctor following her appointment on a research fellowship position that became her PhD work at the Jenner Institute, University of Oxford (2012 - 2016). Her interest in malaria and vaccine development is anchored in a childhood spent in East Africa and in seeing first-hand the impact of this disease. After her research fellowship/PhD, she went back full time to a clinical role in Nottingham before jumping into a Clinical Academic Lectureship position.    Ruth calls herself “an accidental academic” and admits that it was the inspiring and supportive approach of her academic manager/ PhD supervisor during her research fellowship position and PhD that led her to continue a career that embraced both clinical work and research. Building a research team is never easy but establishing yourself as a new PI when you work 50% time as a clinician and 50% time in research, and then on top of that a world pandemic is forcing you to stop your research…well that is quite a start when you are a new Principal Investigator. This challenging period has brought her resilience and connections. During the Covid period, her experience in vaccine development enabled her to get involved in many new vaccine clinical trials projects, that she could never have predicted. It allowed her to jump into new projects and build very close working relationships with many new colleagues. It created opportunities to be involved at a national level in policies related to vaccine development (e.g., UK Clinical Vaccine Network, Covid19 task force of the British Society of Immunology).    Listening to our conversation will prompt your thinking: ·       How embracing the silver lining of the Covid pandemic created more opportunities and exposure than ever ·       How embedding yourself into larger projects creates the economy of scale needed when you get started as a new PI ·       Why keeping lines of communication within your network increases your opportunities  

Prof. Jason King is a research scientist at the University of Sheffield who progressed his career via the fellowship route. He has spent the last 10 years working as a Principal Investigator and building a team with the ebb and flow of PhD students and Postdoc contracts. Jason has travelled the country from Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow to Sheffield from his undergraduate degrees to his current role as a Cell Biology Professor. He has held 2 fellowships, following a long postdoctoral period at the The Beatson Institute for Cancer Research. Jason shares how building a research team can sometimes feel quite haphazard, and is shaped by the opportunities that arise. As a new PI eager to start a new research group, it can be difficult to not take opportunities to recruit team members quickly. However, finding your feet when you are transitioning from a Postdoc into a fellowship may takes slightly longer than you anticipate. There is a fine balance between the eagerness of recruiting team members, the availability of opportunities and having things set up for your group to be functional. His advice to new PIs would be to take their time at the beginning of their fellowship and not recruit too many people at the same time. Research teams are always in flux with team members joining and leaving. One of Jason’s concerns is the challenge of retaining critical technical skills in the team. Thinking about the transmission of key skills within a team is an important consideration for retaining research expertise. Listening to our conversation will prompt your thinking: How to be not too precious with your research niche but flexible to see it evolve and even pivotHow constantly appraising your approach to individual team members is needed to best support themWhy promoting efficient working matters more than assuming hard working More about Jason https://jasonkinglab.sites.sheffield.ac.uk/home

Dr Leili Rohani is a research scientist with a specialism in engineering heart tissues for cell therapy. Leili currently works at The University of British Columbia in Canada in the  department of Cardiology and cardiovascular surgery. Leili has had an itinerant research career across different countries and continents. She started her career as a graduate in Iran, then moved abroad for a PhD in Germany, followed some Postdoctoral positions in Canada as well visiting research periods in Austria and the US.  Leili is now at the threshold of wanting to establish her own research group and shifting towards research independence. Her interest in stem cell therapy may see her move either way to industry or academia. Listening to our conversation will prompt your thinking:   Do you have a regular assessment of your resources and support system (for work and home) to maintain your resilience?How are you broadening your own perspectives through experiencing different contexts (e.g., different countries, various professional settings, meeting other types of professionals than just your usual bubble)?What was your last “ah ah moment” that put a buzz in your research life?What magic could happen if you started thinking differently about how you are recruiting your team? Could using more evaluation of Emotional Intelligence in your recruitment strategy change for the better the dynamics and effectiveness of your team?

Dr Madeleine Jotz-Lean has always had a passion for mathematics and research, which was nurtured from an early age by her teachers and supervisors.  She began her publication record early, with 10 articles to her name by the end of her PhD.  After moving from the US to Sheffield into a lectureship, she became more involved and interested in teaching, as well as equality and diversity, particularly tackling unconscious bias and stereotypes.  She has also been involved in public outreach, using knitting and crochet to explain complex mathematical concepts to a wider audience. Madeleine is now a Junior Professor at the University of Göttingen (Mathematisches Institut). Look at the interactive timeline: https://academicstories.group.shef.ac.uk/madeleine-jotz-lean/ More recent info about Madeleine: https://www.uni-math.gwdg.de/mjotz/home.html

Jonna Kulmuni’s love of nature began at an early age but biology wasn’t her strongest subject.  The challenge was what drove her to pursue a biological career and she fell in love with ants during her Masters degree, where she worked with a very supportive group and continued on to a PhD.  At the same time, she completed a Masters in Science Communication – an invaluable experience, which has supported her career ever since and seen her become increasingly engaged in public outreach.  She came to Sheffield in 2014 as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and is always thinking ahead about the next opportunity to apply for funding. Jonna is now a Principal Investigator at the University of Helsinski. https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/persons/jonna-kulmuni View her timeline: https://academicstories.group.shef.ac.uk/jonna-kulmuni/

Prof. Jim Thomas was inspired by his father to become a scientist but, after not achieving the best degree in Chemistry at Reading, he opted to teach in the UK before going to Western Kenya with Voluntary Services Overseas, where he taught in a rural high school for several years.  This lent him a great deal of perspective and led him to revisit his childhood ambition of becoming a research scientist, commencing a PhD as a mature student. While his late entry into an academic career would normally mean that path was closed, he continued to pursue it, despite being offered a job in industry with a top company.  He achieved a high profile Postdoc position with a Nobel prize winner in France but soon returned to the UK, to Sheffield, where he began to apply for fellowships.  He was awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship but also chose to take on a relatively large teaching timetable to show his commitment to the department and also to get to know students with whom he might potentially collaborate in the future.  He has also engaged in science communication work, which has honed his skills in terms of writing proposals and technical papers and generally being able to write in a more interesting way. More about Jim: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/chemistry/people/academic/jim-thomas Access career timeline: https://academicstories.group.shef.ac.uk/jim-thomas/

Dr Julie Hyde’s love of chemistry was inspired by her father and experimenting with him in the garden shed when she was young. She left school with no qualifications but got a job in the chemical industry as an Analytical Chemist while also studying part-time at college. It was here that one of her tutors suggested applying to university, which she did. After her BSc, Julie moved into lecturing/ teaching chemistry in Further Education. During this time she taught on both academic and vocational courses as well as managing vocational programmes. This job was later combined with part-time study in her spare time for a PhD in Organometallic Chemistry and Crystallography at the University of Sheffield, aided by an extremely supportive research group and teaching colleagues. Julie currently teaches undergraduate chemistry at the University of Sheffield specialising in laboratory programmes and for the last seven years she has spent approximately three months each year delivering practical chemistry on the University’s joint BSc with Nanjing Tech University (NJTech) in China.  Julie is also the Director of the Year in Industry Programme in Chemistry. Julie is a Chartered Chemist (CChem) and Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) and, alongside her teaching roles, she is also heavily involved in public outreach as the Schools Liaison Manager.  Julie received a Senate Award in 2017 for excellence in learning and teaching in the category of Sustained Excellence and in 2018 was presented with an RSC award for her promotion of chemistry locally, nationally and internationally. https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/chemistry/people/academic/julie-hyde#tab00

Dr Nicola Nadeau became interested in the natural world at a young age. After studying Zoology at Newcastle, she secured a PhD at Cambridge in evolutionary genetics.  She moved from being unsure that genetics was really the area she wanted to be in, to becoming captivated by the possibilities it presented. She thoroughly enjoyed the PhD process, helped along by a supportive department and supervisor.  After completing her PhD and a brief stint as a postdoc with her PhD adviser, she moved on to a 5 year postdoc position in a different lab. With the support of her postdoc adviser, she developed a side project into a fellowship application.  After a few unsuccessful attempts, she bolstered her publication record with some high profile articles and was eventually successful, securing a NERC fellowship at Sheffield.  This was a major transition and quite lonely at times but she formed some strong collaborations and has now settled into managing her own research group on the evolution of structural colour in butterflies. More about Nicola: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/biosciences/people/academic-staff/nicola-nadeau Look at her timeline and career milestones: https://academicstories.group.shef.ac.uk/nicola-nadeau/

Dr Jenny Clark developed an interest in biology at school in Belgium, but found it too qualitative and so ended up studying physics at university. She did her undergraduate and Masters at Imperial College London, with a year in Padua, but a summer stint at UCL was enough to cement a desire to work in the field of Biophysics.  However, for her PhD she chose to work in a completely different research area, attracted by a more positive and supportive atmosphere. Her supervisor moved away after her first year but she managed to acquire another via email, who became a collaborator, friend and mentor to her and gave her the confidence to move on with the next stages of her career.  While an academic career path does generally mean moving around quite a lot, placing her relationship and family life first has never negatively impacted on her career. She continues to love her work and find it fascinating, learning something new every day. More on Jenny: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/physics/people/academic/jenny-clark#tab00 Explore Jenny's career timeline and milestones: https://academicstories.group.shef.ac.uk/jenny-clark/

Professor Sherif El-Khamisy started off in community and clinical pharmacy in Egypt but the repetitive and unchallenging nature of the work left him seeking more. He completed a Business Administration diploma at the same time as a Masters in Pharmaceutical Sciences before securing a PhD position in Sussex, attracted by better research funding and facilities to be found abroad.  This was self-funded at first, but he soon acquired a scholarship with the help of an encouraging supervisor. After a failed attempt at setting up a research group back in Egypt, he went to the US to improve his research profile and make himself more competitive for fellowship positions.  He brought back the training on mouse models of human disorders he had acquired there to the Genome Centre at Sussex, where the Director was supportive and made sure he was separated from his PhD supervisor.  In 2012, he successfully established a Genome Centre in Egypt in partnership with a Nobel laureate to give something back to his country and, for himself, he gained huge experience in managing infrastructure and people.  After his fellowship, he was drawn to the welcoming and nurturing research environment at Sheffield, where he took up his current role in 2013. More on Sherif: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/biosciences/people/academic-staff/sherif-el-khamisy#tab00 Explore Sherif's career timeline and milestones: https://academicstories.group.shef.ac.uk/sherif-el-khamisy/

Prof.  Ivana Barbaric discovered a love of scientific research through competing in a national biology competition she entered in secondary school, for which she won 1st prize.  Early on in her career, she realised the importance of networking and began to develop an international network of colleagues, as well as amassing new technical skills, through working and studying abroad.  During her PhD in Oxford, she completely changed the direction of her research to focus primarily on a new found fascination with stem cells – a challenging but positive experience. She went on to a postdoc position at the University of Sheffield where she started to think about what she needed to do to obtain an academic position.  She made sure to keep publishing in good journals, apply for lots of funding and show her willingness to teach, which she did by taking on undergraduate and Masters student groups and completing a Certificate in Learning and Teaching. More on Ivana : https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/biosciences/people/academic-staff/ivana-barbaric Explore Ivana 's career timeline and milestones: https://academicstories.group.shef.ac.uk/ivana-barbaric/

Dr Andrew Lin is a senior lecturer in the School of Biosciences at The University of Sheffield. He was previously Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow in the Department of Biomedical Science when he was awarded a 5-year European Research Council Starting Grant. From a young age Andrew had his sights set on a career in academic research, pursuing his passion for neurobiology. Following his PhD at the University of Cambridge, he took a slightly different direction with his postdoc to expose himself to a wider range of techniques, questions and approaches. More on Andrew: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/biosciences/people/academic-staff/andrew-lin#tab00 Explore Andrew's career timeline and milestones: https://academicstories.group.shef.ac.uk/andrew-lin/