Kicking off our autumn term of employer events, we welcomed two researcher employers to discuss an important and hard to define area – leadership. So, what skills make up good leadership and what are researcher employers looking for? Mansi Vithlani, Business Unit Director from Dolon Consulting and Matt Tsim, Head of MedTech at Costello Medical, joined our researcher community to share their insights.

Strategic, critical thinking

Whether in an interview or on the job, Matt and Vansi agreed that employers are looking for people with a strong ability to think critically and strategically when solving problems. They shared several ways applicants and employees can demonstrate this – including adapting a structure, identifying key project risks and mitigation strategies, and planning and delivering a longer-term strategy. Matt highlighted critical thinking as the main area he assesses at interview – he seeks to understand the thinking behind the answers.

Emotional intelligence and professionalism

Mansi shared the need for leaders to demonstrate emotional intelligence and professionalism in their roles. In addition to understanding and responding to the needs of a team, this skill is a key part of cultivating strong relationships with colleagues and clients. Employers are looking for people who can manage the complexity of behaviour, strengths, and challenges in others, and use this to build relationships.

Autonomous self-driven working

In a junior role, you will have a manager or senior leader directing and overseeing your work. As a leader, you become the main driver of progress for your team. You will decide what areas to pursue, what holds value, and how you can achieve your goals. While this can be a fun part of a leadership role, it can also be challenging. You will be responsible for setting and achieving targets and creating a balance for yourself and your team within that freedom. Matt recommended developing your vision and strategy by thinking about the key things you aim to achieve in six or twelve months, and working backwards from there.

A leadership position means that you will face a series of challenging situations where you will have to use your skills to manage complex situations. These will come into play when pursuing projects, dealing with team dynamics, and implementing change. As Matt discussed, the complexity can be overwhelming. As a leader, it is your responsibility to guide your own and your team’s efforts to the things that make a difference. In seeking your first role outside of academia, you may not transfer directly into a leadership position. However, these skills are important to remember as your experience puts you in a strong position to take advantage of progression opportunities.

If you’re interested in finding out more about researcher positions in consulting, sign up for our Researchers Careers in Consultancy Panel on the 13th of October.

You can find more workshops and employer-led events through the Autumn Term Researcher’s Careers Calendar.

This week, UCL Careers was joined by four speakers from the museums and cultural heritage sector:

• Claire Pascolini-Campbell – Research Manager, National Trust
• Christy Henshaw – Digital Production Manager, Wellcome Collection
• Simon Kocher – Geoscientist, Natural History Museum
• Ted McDonald-Toone – International Engagement Manager, British Museum

The panel members reflected on their own career journeys and gave advice to those looking to enter the sector. Speakers agreed – entering into and maintaining a career in museums and cultural heritage can be rewarding, but challenging. Covid has shifted government funding priorities, and the full impact on sector is yet to be determined. With that in mind, speakers shared their advice and guidance in securing and maintaining a career in this field.

Flexibility is key

Flexibility was a theme weaving through each of the panellists’ reflections and advice. When looking for a role in the museum and cultural heritage sector, this can take many different forms. For example, some people may avoid maternity cover positions due to their nature as fixed-term contracts.  However, it was shared that undertaking one, or multiple, maternity cover roles within this sector is often the best way to build the skills and experience needed for a permanent position. In addition, flexibility in the type of role you are looking for can help you start your career.

Look to the future

Technology has been transformational across the museums and cultural heritage sector. For some of our panellists, their roles have significantly changed over the past twenty years. With that in mind, you may want to research the emerging skills that will be needed for the roles you want in the future. Your additional experience, training, and ability to anticipate the needs of the sector can give you a distinct advantage against other applicants. This also ties in with the third point raised below – showing initiative.

Show initiative

The realities of securing a role in the museums and cultural heritage sector were acknowledged by each of our speakers. To stand out, you will need to show initiative. This can be done through volunteering, securing work experience, and building your network. When looking for volunteer roles, it is key that you identify the right person to reach out to and can demonstrate you have valuable skills to contribute to a specific area. It is understood that not every person is able to volunteer, and speakers shared their experiences in using Step Ahead to secure temporary paid roles within the sector to gain experience. If you are working or volunteering and have the opportunity to meet with external stakeholders, make sure you get involved and communicate your contributions to them – never miss an opportunity to build your network.

The future of the museums and cultural heritage sector is yet to be determined – but being able to adapt your skills to the current and future needs of the field is key. It is never too early to start building your CV and skillset for the role you want.

With many thanks to our speakers. 

Additional resources:

• National Museums Director’s Jobs Council Website
• Museums Association
• National Trust volunteering opportunities

View our full summer term of researcher careers events here.

Bernardo Milani Alvares

Bernardo is a Strategy Manager at Abcam

A career transition often takes place in a context of ambiguity and conflicting emotions. Despite the setbacks of academia, most researchers are passionate about their subjects and have high-achieving personalities. Switching careers may feel like giving up an important part of our identities.

Exploring alternative careers means questioning our goals, which can be daunting, especially as we live in an outcomes-obsessed society, where we are measured by our results (e.g., money, number of likes on social media, etc). Such pressures are magnified by three factors:

• Goals for researchers are usually very strong, as they are often built against societal expectations. Maybe our parents wanted us to have a well-paid job; as doing research defeat their expectations, we created strong goals for ourselves; swimming against the tide made these goals more engrained;
• We feel invested in an academic career. In Business this is called the “sunk cost fallacy”: when we cannot make a difficult decision to cut losses (e.g., shut down an unprofitable factory) when we have already committed significant resources to build it;
• Our perfectionistic tendencies as researchers. We may judge ourselves for questioning goals that were solid in the past. We feel less in control.

The unsettling feelings generated by this “identity crisis” may propel us to set new goals quickly. However, these goals tend to look backwards, as they are based on old identities. It is vital to pause and avoid the temptation to make drastic decisions.

That’s when experimenting comes in. As you try new things and learn more about yourself and the world, and you can make more meaningful decisions, and set goals that are aligned with your new identity. To illustrate these points, I want to introduce you to the three main stages of the career journey:

• Execution: the activities happening in our current roles, such as learning, delivering results and promotion. That’s probably you right now (e.g., doing a Ph.D.);
• Explore: we immerse yourself in new activities and environments to explore other interests, meet new people and learn skills: the focus is on exploration, identity-shaping, growth and self-awareness;
• Goal setting: we define your short, medium and long-term goals; building a roadmap with the activities and roles to reach our goals.

As you prepare for a career transition, you need to explore new interests during the execution phase. I developed an interest in Business when doing an undergraduate placement at the pharma company GlaxoSmithKline. I enjoyed the fast-paced nature of the work and how the company responded to changes in the market. This curiosity drove to explore opportunities to learn about Business during my PhD at UCL.

Extracurricular activities are a great way to build the flexible, service-oriented, and collaborative mindset required in Business, where you must serve the needs of others (e.g., customers, managers, shareholders) and have less control of your schedule compared with academia.

Although there is no “magic formula” for picking extracurricular activities, the more you can experience a collaborative, fast-moving and externally facing environment, the better. This means activities in which you:

• Are not the expert;
• Feel passionate about the project;
• Do something bigger than you;
• Work as part of a team to solve real problems impacting real people;
• Work with people different from yourself and/or challenging audiences;
• Mobilise resources, influence and inspire other people;

Finding interesting extracurricular activities can come with a touch of serendipity. After attending a start-up lecture at UCL, I met a group of students who had started the UCL branch of Enactus, a global student society focussed on social entrepreneurship, where students in the world’s universities form teams apply Business skills to develop projects that bring benefit to society.

I set up an employability project leading a team of 9 university students helping young people living in more deprived areas of London write CVs, prepare for interviews and develop transferable skills, in partnership with the university’s Careers Services. Our audience was initially reluctant to engage in the activities, so we gained their trust by demonstrating a genuine interest in who they were as individuals and their concerns around career decisions and getting their voices heard in society.

Not only did the project cover important transferable skills, it also helped us gain the confidence and emotional and cognitive flexibility to navigate unfamiliar territory. It also served as a good example of Entrepreneurship, of mobilising resources to tackle a real need creatively and realistically.

When it comes to extracurricular activities, I noticed many graduate students come to a decision paralysis. They think they must do several extracurricular activities and courses. The important thing is not the number but the quality. It is much better to have two solid experiences during which you demonstrated personal development on a deeper level rather than five shallower experiences.

Choose something you are passionate about, as you will be doing it whilst tired after a long day. I was passionate about improving lives through education, so spending evenings and weekends did not feel like a burden.

A good friend of mine with a Ph.D. in Neurosciences currently working in management consulting made an excellent point about the fact that extracurricular activities are not the only way to develop the professional behaviours required in Business:

“Professional behaviours are key. When you have a journal club, don’t wait until the last minute. Be on time for meetings. Come prepared for your presentations. Respect your peers and colleagues even if there is a culture of being late. Develop professionalism. Reply to emails in a timely manner and avoid typos. There are many small things you can do to develop a more professional way of being. It will make your life a lot easier; when you move to Business there will be clear expectations. The more you realise that expectations are different, the earlier you can start addressing them before moving into Business”

I have recently launched the ultimate guide for a successful career transition from academia into Business called “Break into Business without a Business degree”. The book has four main sections:

• Prepare for the transition: build the right skills and behaviours for a successful career transition;
• Become an outstanding Business problem-solver: develop a consistent method to solve Business problems with impact, with plenty of insider tips, real examples, and exercises;
• Showcase your skills: write a Business-ready CV and ace jobs interviews (including the infamous case interview);
• Thrive in a Business environment: develop behavioural and on-the job strategies to shine in your new role;

Although most academics (including myself at the time) worry about learning Business-related content, mindsets and behaviours are key. My intention was to make a more “human” book, with plenty of testimonials and real case examples, including successes and failures. I am very pleased to share the book with you, which you can find here.

I wish you all the best in your career transition and look forward to your feedback!

Bernardo is Strategy Manager for Abcam (a biotechnology company based in Cambridge, UK). Prior to Abcam, Bernardo worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company LatAm office for two years focussing on Healthcare and the public sector.  Before consulting, Bernardo did a PhD in Immuno-oncology at University College London (UCL) and worked at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) for one year (Industrial Placement) during his Biomedical Science BSc. Bernardo is passionate about supporting PhD students on their professional journeys, having given talks and workshops at leading universities in the UK and Latin America, and is currently writing an e-book on the topic.

Throughout the year we will be taking a deep dive into some key topics and career paths discussed in our events programme.

In these posts, we will be exploring what careers in a variety of different industries look like for a researcher. Each contributor will give us their key tips for following a non-academic career path whilst letting us in on the things they wished they’d known before taking the leap. Find out about the roles their organisation has to offer and get some key tips on applying.

This month it’s all about clinical trials…

Taking a deeper dive into the world of a full-service clinical contract research organisation, we have our contributor:

Andrea Flannery
Andrea is a Clinical Trial Manager at Medpace
Andrea studied at the National University of Ireland and has a PhD in Microbiology

Tell us about being a Clinical Trial Manager…

A Clinical Trial Manager oversees the day-to-day clinical operations of a trial. This involves acting as the project lead for multi-full service global clinical trials. The position interacts with sponsors and manages the timeline and all project deliverables.

So, who are Medpace and what do you do?

Medpace is a full-service clinical contract research organization (CRO). We provide Phase I-IV clinical development services to the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device industries. Our mission is to accelerate the global development of safe and effective medical therapeutics through its scientific and disciplined approach. We leverage local regulatory and therapeutic expertise across all major areas including oncology, cardiology, metabolic disease, endocrinology, central nervous system, anti-viral and anti-infective. Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, employing approximately 3,500 people across almost 40 countries. We have two offices in the United Kingdom, Central London and Stirling, Scotland.

Did you find any transferable skills from your PhD to your role now?

My PhD was in infectious disease microbiology and it investigated interactions associated with antibiotic resistant bacteria and the innate immune system.

There are lots of transferrable skills that can be applied to my job now. For example,

• Collaboration/team work – working with other labs and co-authors to complete lab work, draft and publish papers
• Project planning/organisational skills – you manage your own project. What needs to be done and when.
• Time management – you manage your own time to get your research completed for key milestones and deadlines.
• Coordinating Laboratory logistics – being responsible for certain tasks within the lab (product ordering, liaising with vendors to get equipment calibrated or ordered.
• Problem solving – this what a PhD is all about!
• Presentation skills – internal and conference presentations.
• Adaptability – Often a result changes how you plan to proceed with your research, and you must adapt. Also learning new techniques, training on new equipment, learning new areas of science for PhD etc.
• Computer skills – word, PowerPoint, excel etc.

What were the challenges transitioning from academia to industry?

It was challenging to multitask learning a completely new industry and taking on a role outside of the lab. There was good training and on the job experience provided at Medpace which meant this challenge did not last very long.

Is there anything you hoped someone had told you before leaving academia?

Network as much as possible! Reach out to alumni of your university or people on LinkedIn to have a quick chat about their day-to-day jobs and find out if that interests you. Once you decide on the industry you want to work in, you can start to reach out to more people in that area to ask for tips and advice for your CV and/or interview.

And any tips specifically for Postdocs…

Medpace hires people with postdoc experience and a few of my colleagues worked as postdocs. Use your years of experience and skills gained throughout the years and apply them to the industry you are applying to. I think it’s important to show that you are willing to learn and adapt to a new industry.

If someones interested in your organisation, are there any minimum requirements to roles?

At minimum, a bachelor’s degree in science is required. We welcome people with a PhD in life sciences, especially for one of the training programmes available where PhD graduates are employed and on an accelerated training pathway.

And finally, what kind of job titles should people be looking for if they’re interested in clinical trials?

Project coordinator (PC), clinical research associate (CRA), regulatory submissions coordinator (RSC) and data coordinator (DC) have entry level positions available at Medpace.

Thanks to Andrea for sharing your experiences! We hope you found this useful and keep an eye out for more of our guest blogs… If this has inspired you to explore a career outside of academia, come along to one of our events in this years programme – click here for more information

People leave academia for all sorts of reasons. For some it’s an active choice: maybe they want more job security or a better work-life balance, or maybe they’re just not as fond of research as they had once anticipated. For others the decision may be taken out of their hands, as they move from post-doc to post-doc, finding it increasingly difficult to secure the next role or chunk of funding. Dr Shelley Sandiford, ex-researcher and founder of science communication business Sciconic, has written a Next Scientist article to encourage those in the latter group to make the move out of academia before “wasting years in postdocs”.

The article isn’t for the faint-hearted. As Sandiford sets out the difference between PhD “Student As”, those with potential, and “Student Bs”, those who will never make it, she attempts to send out an early wake-up call to those she says simply won’t succeed in today’s competitive academic sector. These are students who’ve found themselves with disappointing PhD projects in poorly-resourced and/or unsupportive teams, and who haven’t built a respected research profile by the end of their doctoral degree.

But Student Bs shouldn’t feel too bad, because Sandiford says they’re the norm not the exception. In her opinion, “upwards of 90% (or more) of PhD students SHOULD LEAVE Academia“. Indeed, we know that the vast majority of PhD grads do eventually leave academic research. And outside of academia, the playing field is level; PhDs, whether they’re Sandiford’s Student A or B, are all high achievers with an equal chance of building successful, fulfilling careers.

So are you a Student A or a Student B? If you’re feeling strong enough (!), give the article a read and see. If it feels a little too cutting in places, remember that Sandiford considers herself to be an ex-Student B, so her harsh words are an attempt to save others from making the same post-docing mistakes she feels she made. If you don’t have the time or the stomach for the full article, why not try out her handy “Do you have what it takes to become an academic?” flowchart, right.

Studies show that women leave academic research in larger numbers than men, and are poorly represented at higher academic levels. Initiatives like Athena SWAN have been set up to address the problem, but there are other sources of support out there too. One example is STEM women.

The site was put together by Dr Buddhini Samarasinghe, Professor Rajini Rao, and Dr Zuleyka Zevallos, three women with PhDs who wanted to generate open debate around how to improve the situation for women in STEM. Over the next few days, we will hear from each of these women about their own career journeys. Here, Buddhini tells us a little more about the site.

How did you first start the website?

Back in 2012, I think it was on International Women’s Day, someone on Facebook shared a list of female scientists whom you may or may not have heard of. Obviously Marie Curie was in it, and there were lots of other black and white photos of women who were mostly already dead. Great that such a list is being shared, but I figured I should put together a list of more current female scientists to whom people could better relate. I used Google +, which was pretty new at that time and had lots of female engineers and scientists who were posting publicly about their work. So I started compiling a list of their names and ‘shared’ them around, making a group of strong female role models who could inspire people. Off the back of that, I teamed up with two other female researchers and launched a website to celebrate females in STEM, and to comment on the current issues they face.

What kind of things does your website cover?

We profile successful female scientists, and host Q&As with them, to help inspire the next generation of female scientists. For example, we featured an amazing woman called Annika O’Brien who runs robotics workshops in disadvantaged areas in LA, and has her own company now. And we also talk to high-profile male scientists to try to get their input in how to improve the STEM environment for women.

And we call out and comment on current issues that are relevant to women in STEM, such as sexism. As an example, last year the journal of Proteomics published a paper on the sequencing of the coconut genome, and the picture that accompanied a link to the article featured a scantily-clad woman holding coconuts in front of her breasts, which was extremely inappropriate. One of my fellow website authors wrote to the journal’s editor to complain, and she received a less-than-satisfactory response from him, telling her it was all normal, and as a physiology Professor she should be familiar with female physiology!

The photo has since been taken down in response to a twitter storm involving outraged people like us. But I think this perfectly highlights why a site like ours is needed. Firstly, the picture went up when it absolutely shouldn’t have. But secondly, when it was taken down, the apology was far too wishy-washy; they were sorry we’re offended, but they didn’t really acknowledge what they’d done wrong. Which is why things like this keep happening e.g. The Rosetta-landing shirt controversy. Some people think it’s silly to focus on these things, that at least the situation today is better than it used to be. But these are the microaggressions that make women feel less welcome in the male-dominated scientific space. We want to shine a light on sexism within STEM, to help the women facing it know they’re not alone, and to try to move the field forward.

Picture courtesy of STEM women, taken from their Nature blog article.