weisser-wuerfel

about black box science

A lot of our scientific culture is quite opaque – almost like a black box in some cases.

Particularly for young scientists it is usually quite difficult to get a clear and real/honest insight into the life of a scientist. What is typically communicated are polished results, straightforward careers and an overly idealistic view of science.

picture rainer kaufmann
weisser-wuerfel

about black box science

A lot of our scientific culture is quite opaque – almost like a black box in some cases.

Particularly for young scientists it is usually quite difficult to get a clear and real/honest insight into the life of a scientist. What is typically communicated are polished results, straightforward careers and an overly idealistic view of science.

picture rainer kaufmann
Rainer
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Part 07 – Why are we scientists?

Because it is fun and exciting to explore the unknown.

Besides all the negative aspects that are associated with being a scientist, what is our motivation to be scientists? What was our mindset and our goals when we once enter the scientific world and how does this compare to our current thinking/feeling?

Part 06 – Research like a business

There are more similarities between starting a research group and starting a small business then I would have imagined before becoming a PI.

Does a PI have to be a cold-hearted business strategist or is there still room for idealistic ideas, which were born entirely out of curiosity for new scientific discovery?

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Part 05 – Metrix

Should we not get away from numbers that
we calculate to compare each other?

Impact is difficult to measure and not the same as attention. How much impact someone’s research creates requires looking at the long term effects.

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Part 04 – Covid and everyday scientific life

Time is probably the most valuable good for a researcher. We have lost a lot.

So much still is unclear. What is clear, is the fact that this pandemic has uncovered quite a bit of the fragility and inequality of our research system.

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