Article from WeChat public account:Nature Natural Science Research (ID: Nature-Research), the original author: Chris Woolston

This article is the second article in the 2019 Graduate Survey of Nature. The respondents in this survey requested more one-on-one support and a higher level of career development guidance.

Peter Butler, who was a Ph.D. in physics at the University of Bristol in the UK, always had to stand in front of the whiteboard to calculate problems for a long time, and his mentor stared at him. However, such long-term coexistence did not produce any practical results. He said: “I didn’t get the guidance I wanted.” However, he admitted that the instructor had given him many valuable strategic opinions and helped him publish the paper. He also said that it is useful to seek support from others. “I must show what scientists look like.”

Illustration: The Project Twins

Butler participated in the biennial doctoral student survey conducted this year in Nature. More than 6,300 graduate students from all over the world participated in the survey. They have a lot to say about their institution and the tutor system in the scientific community. of. From their answers and free comments, they often fail to get the guidance they want or need from the mentor.

Welcome to go.nature.com/2nqjndw to see the full data set. A striking figure is that nearly a quarter of respondents said they would switch to a mentor if they could come back – something similar to the 2017 situation.

This survey was conducted in partnership with Shift Learning, a London-based market research firm, and there are some highlights that deserve attention. Overall, 67% of respondents are satisfied with their relationship with their mentor, and 41% of respondents in Africa and South America are very satisfied. Some interviewees are especially grateful to their mentor. “When I first started reading, I was amazed,” said Marina Kovačević, a Ph.D. student in physical chemistry at the University of Novi Sad in Serbia. Now, she wants to run her own lab. In order to encourage her to achieve this goal, several of her co-directors have asked her to help write the project plan and take on some of the lab supervisor’s work. One of Kovačević’s mentor, Branislav Jovic, said: “She is indeed one of the most serious PhD students.”

However, about one-fifth of respondents are dissatisfied with their relationship with their mentor, and this split relationship has a negative impact on their present and future. Ruth Gotian, assistant dean of the Weill Cornell Medical School in New York, said: “Students who are effectively coached perform better than others.”

According to a forthcoming report from the National Academy of Sciences, a positive teacher-student relationship is “Get STEM(Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) The most important factor in a degree.” The report also cites other studies showing that students who are effectively instructed are more likely to publish papers and complete PhD programs.

Emma Williams, a writer and co-founder and founder of British scientist consultant EJW Solutions, said that for students, coaching is not necessarily a person’s job. The findings highlight the importance of networking in the absence of a mentor. “PhD students should be encouraged to find different mentors from the start.” Williams said she received a degree in medical physics from the University of Cambridge.

No time to provide employment guidance

Many students have discovered that not all tutors can spend a lot of time providing career development guidance. In this survey, 49% of students said that they eachWeeks and instructors spend less than an hour alone (see “Come on and go”). “This number is shocking,” Williams said. Although this length of time, or even shorter time, is acceptable for some students, for most students, more direct guidance and attention will be more beneficial. She talked about her personal experience, and although her doctoral tutor has a personal accomplishment, she has no time to stay in close contact with her. “I have already read him halfway with him. He also called my name wrong,” she said. “I was very depressed at the time.”

The employment prospects are a constant concern for doctoral students, but they can’t always rely on the mentor to point themselves. In this survey, only one-third of the respondents were satisfied with the career development guidance given by the mentor and others who read the blog, down from 40% in 2017. When asked how to make current career development decisions, only 28% of respondents attributed them to the mentor’s advice, down from 34% in 2017 (see “DIY-style career development guidance”).

Obviously, 60% of respondents made career development decisions based on information they had after research. Unfortunately, students who try the DIY approach may miss out on options that they are not familiar with, Williams said. “They only search online and already know.thing.

Nick Valverde is pursuing a Ph.D. in physics at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory on the Michigan State University campus. He said that many instructors seem to be busy with their own research, and have no time to give advice to students on career development. “There is almost no one who can understand the current employment trends. The mentor is entangled in various matters, and the trend is constantly changing.” The career advice of the world is even harder. Only 28% of respondents said they have received advice on employment outside the academic circle.

Unwilling to take responsibility

Gotian believes that part of the problem is that mentors who have spent their entire career in academia may not think too much about other career paths. She said: “Many times, the instructors want to shape the ‘mini-mes’, that is, their own replica.” However, if the instructors take off the colored glasses of academia, then they can improve their careers without paying a lot of money. Prospects. “They may not understand the industry very well, but they certainly have some connections and can connect students. But there are not many tutors who are willing to do this.”

Another problem is that the instructors may not have received training in talent management. This shortcoming is likely to cause particularly bad results. In this survey, 21% of respondents reported having experienced discrimination or harassment, and the same proportion of respondents also indicated that they had experienced bullying. Among them, nearly half of the respondents indicated that the instructor is the bully (see “Baby from the superior”). “In this result-oriented culture, personal promotion is very dependent on your superiors,” Williams said. “This relationship is a fertile ground for bullying and harassment.”

Williams said that these numbers once again indicate that students need more than one mentor. “One of my clients came from a well-known university. She had suffered from bullying. Give her another mentor to help her.” p>


Because of the big deal, choosing a mentor or mentor group can be one of the most important tasks for graduate students. Kovačević said she asked potential tutors some questions before joining the current lab. “I think I have the right to ask questions,” she said. “And they have an obligation to answer.”

However, not all students have this condition. “I have no right to speak when I choose a doctoral tutor,” said Samhita Krishnaswamy, a psychology doctor at the University of Guyana in India. She said that she had a very accomplished professor on her project. She was very encouraged, but the professor was not her mentor and she rarely had the opportunity to communicate with each other. In general, she believes that mentors can be better prepared to guide students. “In India, instructors need to have deeper skills,” she said. “They are mainly focused on developing their own careers and are not concerned about things outside of this field of study.”

Despite this, Krishnaswamy is satisfied with the overall doctoral training he has received. In her field of psychology, she has the flexibility to choose different research topics, including Indian Aboriginal Population Psychology. “I have everything I need here,” she said. “This laid the foundation for me to become an independent researcher in the future.”

Valverde is currently in the third year of his PhD, and he says he is also laying the groundwork now. But it’s not easy. At the beginning, the experience and knowledge of the cyclotron researchers made him deeply shocked. “The people who work with you have 40 years of experience,” he said. “They are talking about particles and symmetry, and I, my God, knows the tension of a rope.”

Valverde successfully filled some of the knowledge gaps and established a real relationship with other researchers in the lab – because he had to do this. He said that fundamentally speaking, without the help of the outside world, the challenge of scientific research is too great. “If you try to fight alone, you may be struggling,” he said. “At that time, the tutor was involved.”

The original text was published in the “Nature” professional section on November 20, 2019 with the title of A message for mentors from dissatisfied graduate students< /p>


Article from WeChat public account:Nature Natural Science (ID: Nature-Research) , original author: Chris Woolston