When I came to Ireland, I expected green grass, lots of sheep, and lots of rain.
And it was as I expected.
What wasn’t going as expected was research. I realized what uncertainty in research looks like.
As part of an MSCA doctoral network, secondments let you visit a new institution or company for a few months, usually in a different country. This seems like a great opportunity at first, and I agree, but it’s less about research and more about your development as a researcher. You need a lot of planning to move your research around the world and across different research environments.
From this experience in the first secondment, I want to share my main 3 learnings:
- Building a system for your research
At a guest location, you’re usually highly dependent on the people hosting you. This can be great because you get time and access to resources without moving a lot. On the other hand, you need someone on the other side to support you and help you get access; if they’re not available, it can be difficult to be fully independent. This initial access builds the system for your research. You can support this by taking parts of your setup to achieve a minimum viable system at the guest location.
- Preparation & time as the limiting factor
Usually, in your own lab, you get things sooner or later, and there’s not much rush because you have a relatively long contract. In a secondment, where time is the limited resource, you need to set everything up before you start. This means asking for access to labs and equipment, and checking chemicals, their quantity and quality, for the experiments before you start. As much as possible, as early as possible.
Because of time limitations, there is pressure, but it also fits Parkinson’s law: you take as much time as you set yourself, which is quite practical.
- Exercise gratitude and enjoy your life
Research is highly uncertain and can feel stressful and uncomfortable on a small scale, when an experiment doesn’t work or you make an error. But overall, a PhD is a big gift and probably one of the most unique opportunities you can get. Getting paid to “play” around with costly equipment and materials, and being fully funded, is quite unusual in our world. From my experience, you can only get this kind of opportunity through a PhD. Unfortunately, the only way to achieve that degree is through your research. But a PhD is so much more than a PhD, such as learning new cultures and diving deep into a new research environment. So if things do not work, or you have to show patience, allow yourself to take a break- more practically, especially in a secondment, talk to people, travel in the new country, and generally enjoy the PhD life.
