Young scientists face numerous challenges at the beginning of their scientific journey. Effective progress in career paths can be heightened by information and advice provided by highly experienced colleagues. Ilanit 2020 offers four “soft skills” topics, relevant to graduate students, postdocs, young PIs and others who are interested in boosting their ventures.
- How to Choose a Lab for your PostDoc
Maya Schuldiner, WIS
- How to Write a Fellowship Proposal and CV
Chaim Cedar, HUJI
- The Fine Art of Time Management and Balance
Karen Avraham, TAU
- The Challenges and Joys of Science and Parenthood: How to Combine both Successfully
Panel Moderator: Neta Erez (TAU);
Panel members: Tamar Geiger (TAU), Ruth Scherz-Shouval (WIS), Adi Barzel (TAU), Micha Berger (HUJI)
How to Choose a Lab for your PostDoc
Maya Schuldiner
Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science
Choosing a laboratory to perform your postdoctoral studies is an important and difficult decision. The wealth of options, lack of information and feeling that the right (or wrong) choice could make or break your career all weigh heavily when coming to start looking for the next step in your academic career. In this short workshop I will discuss some simple ideas to make your search easier and more focused as well as give some advice on how to increase your chances of getting an interview in your favorite lab.
How to Write a Fellowship Proposal
and CV
Chaim Cedar
Department of Developmental Biology and Cancer Research, Hebrew University
Knowing how to write a fellowship or grant application is one of the most important skills required for a successful scientific career. Like many things in life, knowing how to organize and present one’s thoughts, background information, accomplishments and future goals is probably the most important aspect. In this workshop we will explore the basic rationale of this process and suggest helpful methodologies for conveying the candidates full message in an interesting and convincing manner.
The Fine Art of Time Management
and Balance
Karen B. Avraham
Faculty of Medicine & Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University
The goal of this early morning session is to ask questions – and come up with approaches – on managing time and finding a way to keep a balance between work and relaxing and/or fun activities, in order to go through your career without feeling stressed most or all of the time. How do we define ‘busy?’ How can we get a great deal of work done in a short amount of time, while taking care to be thorough and without compromising quality? The approaches are mostly personalized – there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach, but I hope to provide general guidelines that have helped me in my career and lifestyle.
The Challenges and Joys of Science and Parenthood: How to Combine both Successfully
Panel Moderator: Prof. Neta Erez (TAU)
Panel members: Prof. Tamar Geiger (TAU), Dr. Ruth Scherz-Shouval (WIS),
Dr. Adi Barzel (TAU), Dr. Micha Berger (HUJI)
Wake up early to share the experiences and lessons of juggling a scientific career and parenthood, and trying to be successful in both. In this panel we will ask questions and share our experiences on balancing the two extremely challenging roles of PIs and parents. How to keep the balance between the two, how to deal with the “built in” guilt and frustration. How to stop comparing yourself to other parents and other scientists, and form your own style of juggling –in order to go through your career without feeling constantly frustrated on both fronts. There is obviously no one perfect answer, but we will try to share our insights and tips to find approaches that are helpful for us, and may be useful for others.