If you want to have an academic career, you – according to the definition used by many funders or university strategies – need to be excellent. Excellence is a very broad term with various facets. Don’t spend too much time…
In the previous post, I discussed how research “excellence” is often defined by proxies such as publication count and grant income. These measures have emerged historically, but are not based on a shared understanding of what excellent research actually is. I…
Basic principles and practical implications Why This Matters Generative AI is increasingly used in research for tasks like summarizing literature, drafting text, writing code, or exploring data. This provides new opportunities and can help you to work more efficiently. At the…
I hear it everywhere, but what is “research excellence”? The term “excellence” keeps floating around in the research ecosystem. In Germany, when people talk about excellence in the context of research, they usually refer to the Excellence Strategy — a…
This is the second part of my blog post series (see here for the first part), in which I provide some strategies that have helped me successfully complete my PhD. Of course everyone and every discipline is different, so not everything in…
If you are not an expert in a field but want to draw from the scientific knowledge base, how do you know what constitutes high-quality research? If you ask scientists, they will very likely tell you to read articles in…
There is a lot of hype surrounding generative AI (GenAI) tools, with discussions ranging from fears of AI taking over the world to hopes that it could solve crises like climate change. In academic research, GenAI currently offers tools that…
Introducing the “Publish or Stall” Phenomenon We’ve all heard of “Publish or Perish”—the mantra that reminds us how important it is to consistently publish our work in “impactful” journals. If you don’t, your CV may not attract funders or employers, and…
Why Open Science Practices Are Important For Upholding Research Integrity The theory Reflecting the core principles of scientific philosophy and ethics, integrity and transparency are foundational values upon which research institutions are built and are therefore indispensable. Open Science is…
Starting a PhD is exciting. Often, people begin right after completing a Master’s degree. Although you technically remain at university, your role is now quite different. Instead of following a predefined schedule of lectures, seminars, and lab courses, you focus…
The Open Science movement is steering the scientific process towards being more reliable, accessible, and collaborative. It is an ideology that is now slowly being transformed into institute policies, funding guidelines and even legislation. Here’s how these sweeping changes directly…
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