How many of us appreciate being criticized for our work? One of the best lessons I have learned through my postgraduate years is to be able to absorb criticism and feedback and appreciate the positive side of it. I did not always have this appreciation…
I am almost a year into this very important phase of my life, my doctorate. Although I never underestimated the process, I also didn’t anticipate it to be quite as mentally taxing as it has been. A few weeks ago, I had an interesting conversation…
Whatever you put around yourself, you will be the mirror of it. Surround yourself with things you love. Marcel Wanders One of the most important things to do is to make friends who help you grow and who can be your support system in academia. Thi…
I often get questions from my friends and family about cancer. In fact, it is not just limited to what I am studying, I get questions about all diseases, and recently I have been bombarded with questions about COVID-19. Too often we find ourselves in c…
Some questions are difficult to answer or even think through. One of those questions is what has been my worst and best day in academia? Where do I even start? Don’t get me wrong, I have not had so many challenges that I can’t count them, nor am …
‘Dress the way you want to be addressed’ – Tony Taylor ‘If you look good, you look good, and if you feel good, you do good.’ – Georges St-Pierre One of the biggest and most daunting things to think about as an academic, and particularly as a scientist,…
‘We cannot think of being acceptable to others until we have first proven acceptable to ourselves.’ – Malcolm X Most of us played with puzzles when we grew up. We might have done this for the fun of it, for our personal development and the enhancement …
As a first year PhD candidate, I had imagined my first year to be focused on interacting with people in the lab and other postgraduates to familiarize myself with the ‘new’ environment. Fortunately, and unfortunately for me, I have started this new PhD…
One of the most important quotes that I have encountered in my life, words of Marie Brennan, reads, ‘our wisdom grows not by staking out claims and defending them against all comers, but by sharing information freely, so that we may work together for t…
