Thank you for joining me in this exciting format. My name is Darren
Griffin. I'm Professor of Genetics in this fine institution. What I thought I'd
tell you about today was what I see as the 10 commandments of being a successful
academic scientist. But before we get to those ten commandments, one other
thing I think it's quite important to think about is: how would we know? How do
do we recognise a successful scientist? First of all, one of the things that
people look at me a lot and often the first question is how much funding have
you raised? How much money have you got? This is often the first thing people
will look at, not only in promotion criteria but if you're looking for a new
job in a particular area. Secondly, the
publications: academics have to publish. That's what we do, so quality and
quantity: how many papers have you published? By the usual metrics we look
at with these things: what is the quality of them? Number three, and this is
relatively new in comparison, it's only been around for the last ten years, the
research councils are thinking a lot more about what they call impact,
What is impact? Well I'd like to summarise that as the price of chips. So
how does your research impact on society? Is it publicly accessible? Does it affect
industry or public policy? Another thing that we looked at a lot is our graduate
students: how many people have we trained, say to PhD level? The question I'm asked
most is how many or what proportion of your graduate students have submitted
their thesis within four years of registration? How much have they
published for each of their PhD theses? So we're also judged on our
teaching: first of all the degree of innovation; how
innovative are we and our student satisfaction. But if you remember nothing
else from this talk, one of the things I'd like to get across to you is this.
Perception is reality. It doesn't matter how good you think you are, it's how good
you are perceived in the general community that is important. It's a
little bit like being a dancer. You might be the best dancer in the world but
unless you get out and dance no one will recognise you for being such. So, in my
opinion, what are the best and most memorable scientists; what traits do they
have? Well, first of all, I think they produce high quality and very readable
papers; something that's interesting and makes you want to read it. They raise
substantial funds for their work. They're good at persuading people to give them
the funds to do their research. They're very good at team building. They build a
group around them that are active, productive and settled. The presentations
that they give are interesting and they're very entertaining, and I'll leave
you to judge whether this is a good example of that. They network in the
scientific community. They talk to people. They're well known. The research they do
is yes, of high quality, but it's also relevant to society. They engage with the
public; they actually get out there and talk about the work that they do and why
it's interesting. They are good citizens. They make the machine of science work.
Science requires a lot of administration. It requires the reviewing of grants and
reviewing of papers in a fair and balanced way. They support and encourage
their colleagues, regardless of how senior these colleagues are, so
whether they were the most lofty professor or the most brand-new graduate
student. And we're all colleagues in science and that's hugely important.
And then, finally, in inverted commas, they produce other scientists; their students
and their postdocs, that have similar traits. One of the
proudest things that I do in my job is see my students through and how they
develop and how they develop some of these traits that I've shown you. So you
might ask yourself, am I perceived to be a good scientist? Well sometimes when I
give this talk, I have a list of what I think my achievements are. I won't do
that today because really there is only one thing you need to know about me.
I'm really not very intelligent! So how do I get around that fact? What is my advice
to you if you want to become a successful scientist, particularly if,
like me, you're not the brainiest person in the world. Well, number one, top of the
list is this. There is only one good way to do good scientific research and that
is this: just get on with it. Write that grant, write that paper, talk to your colleagues
about new ideas, get your students through their PhDs,
help them but whatever you do, don't sit around thinking about it. Do it.
Number two is all about opportunity. Opportunity will knock many many many times
and astounds me the number of times you see people not taking
advantage of that. So when opportunity knocks, it is important to open the door
and see what's there. See if that opportunity is for you.
In science, gone are the days where a lone scientist is sitting in their lab at
midnight on their own, doing nothing else. It is important to be able to build a team
around you and equally important that team, all those individuals in that team,
are better than you are at certain things, certain aspects of what you do
because, if you think about it, otherwise they're no good to you.
if you can do it better and quicker. I'm hopeless with computers but I have
students who are incredibly good at programming and so we get our heads
together and we do what we do, because with good people you can do anything.
You can achieve anything you like. Now I mentioned to you a moment ago,
please don't spread this around, I'm not all that knowledgeable. I would argue
it's not about your knowledge. It's about your imagination and your ideas and your
team and your collaborative colleagues because we all know these days, if you
want to find something out, we can turn to our smartphones and find it out
almost immediately. So if you want knowledge, just go and look it up on the web.
Always bring something to the party. If you want something you're far more
likely to get it if you offer something in return, so perhaps I can help you out
with this, but would you mind doing this for me.
I really need this doing but perhaps I can get 90% of the way. I can help you out
because I need this from you. It makes a huge difference. Now this reference is to
do with funding. So often there are very very large, highly funded organisations
with big guns, if you like, but often it's not about how much money there is there.
Sometimes it's the time when you shoot; so it's when you shoot because shooting
wisely and efficiently and quickly might help you define the target. There will be
many times in your career where the system will not work for you. Now if you
think about it, you only have three options. The first is to try and change
that system, work hard to make it change or make it change
for you at least. Secondly you can walk away and do something else but if
neither of those are going to happen there's really not a lot of point in
complaining about it. So if you can't change it and you can't do something
else, what's the point in complaining? No-one likes people that complain for no
apparent reason. Science is full of rejection. You often get papers that are
rejected and grants and so on. Of course that is disappointing; you spend a lot of
time asking why, why does this happen? Why is this process the way it is? What
evolutionary advantage is there? But often when you get a little bit of
rejection, then asking 'why not' is the appropriate question. So can you tell me
why I didn't get this grant, what was wrong with this paper? I really want to
learn from it. I think perhaps this reviewer was
mistaken in their view for these very factual reasons, so make a point of
asking 'why not.' It's your career after all. Because taking no for an answer the
first time isn't always the appropriate means of doing it. Every time you get a
no, if you ask why not and if you learn from that, it gets you closer to a yes
the next time. And it's very very easy to run after things yourself in comparison
to try and encourage people to chase you. Easier to chase than be chased. No
one is gonna walk in your office and get a million pounds out of their pocket and
give you the money in order to do your research. You've got to go after it. You've
got to run after it. Now I like to do a little bit of yoga from time to time and
this is a very yogic commandment and that's this: you're on a journey,
you're a journey of discovery. I still am. I still like to go after many scientific
questions and often when you start in your PhD,
or a postdoc, or as an early career researcher, then you're always on a
journey. And of course you often have a goal in mind: getting a grant, getting a
paper, getting a PhD. But consider this. Often the journey on which you are is
more important than the destination, more enjoyable sometimes, so do enjoy the
process because it's a lot of fun. And then finally number 10, and I think this
is perhaps the most important of all the commandments, is be nice to people. First
of all because it's the right and noble thing to do. But secondly, it's actually
in your interests. It's to your advantage to do that because often, if people are,
or if you're nice to people, they will be nice back to you. And if they're not,
perhaps they're not worth bothering with in the first place. And on that note I
just thought I'd cheat with the 10 commandments and just give you another
one, because sometimes when people aren't nice to you, there is a little bit of
advice that I can give you. And I have to say I'm not a Latin
scholar. This isn't proper Latin but if you look it up on Google you might find
what I'm on about. So, in conclusion of being a successful
scientist; first, the only way to do good research is to get on with it. When
opportunity knocks, open the door, see what's there; it might be important. Build
yourself a team, because with good people you can do anything. It's not about your
knowledge, it's about your imagination and your ideas and your enthusiasm.
Always brings something to the party. If you want something, offering something in
return upfront will often get you that a lot quicker, and in a way that people
find more rewarding and enjoyable. It's not the size of your gun.
It's not always about having big bucks. Often it can be about
judicious shooting; finding the right target, helping to define the target.
The system may not work for you from time to time, and in which case you only have a
few options. Don't ask why all the time; sometimes ask why not. The yogic one: the
journey; enjoy the journey that you're on, and then finally and most importantly,
please, please, please be nice to people. My name is Darren Griffin. Thank you very
much for listening.