Being a researcher by DA
Hi everybody, my name is DA; I am a researcher in systems theory and only recently began looking at biology for inspiration on possible directions for my research. I am glad to post my contribution to the blog, following a convincing invitation by Laura, who started this whole thing out.
A couple of tricks which were useful for me.
First of all; why did I choose research ? there are many reasons of course, the main is that I like to be free while I am working, following the ideas that may pop up on a daily basis. No pressure needed, neither from a boss nor from a funding agency... Talking about freedom never forget that research may be interesting but it is still a job; if problems follow you at home do something about it, this is not good.
How do I choose my topics ? For as obvious as it may sound, one way is to start with a natural mathematical question.. if questions are natural very often there is a rich theory behind them for you to dig out; choose unexplored territories, this leads to much higher production rates.
The other way, usually much harder, but still very important, is to start from real world applications; if you do so be prepared to learn a lot, and to study a lot, very often problems will lead you in completely unexpected directions, potentially very far from your expertise area.
Last, but not least, work in parallel on more than one question and leave your phd students free to develop their own interests. This is in the long run much more effective.
Have fun !!!
A couple of tricks which were useful for me.
First of all; why did I choose research ? there are many reasons of course, the main is that I like to be free while I am working, following the ideas that may pop up on a daily basis. No pressure needed, neither from a boss nor from a funding agency... Talking about freedom never forget that research may be interesting but it is still a job; if problems follow you at home do something about it, this is not good.
How do I choose my topics ? For as obvious as it may sound, one way is to start with a natural mathematical question.. if questions are natural very often there is a rich theory behind them for you to dig out; choose unexplored territories, this leads to much higher production rates.
The other way, usually much harder, but still very important, is to start from real world applications; if you do so be prepared to learn a lot, and to study a lot, very often problems will lead you in completely unexpected directions, potentially very far from your expertise area.
Last, but not least, work in parallel on more than one question and leave your phd students free to develop their own interests. This is in the long run much more effective.
Have fun !!!
posted by LAURA at 9:35 PM
2 Comments:
research as freedom
freedom in 1) choose a topic
2) develop ideas
3) explore new territories
nice but a bit too utopic??????
i like this post. the author discusses how the start of a research process looks like, how he gets the idea. I would like to know what he does, after and before getting the idea. Is his research usually part of a bigger project? does his experiments involve huan being, for example as participants to tests? does he collect numerical data? does he look for statistical evidence? does he construct simulation as software programs?
Post a Comment
<< Home