Becoming a PI
My journey (briefly)
- IT industry (Australia) for about 15 years
- Taught me the value of reliability and somewhat how to achieve it
- PhD in Reinforcement Learning in robotics (2003) at RMIT University
- Cambridge University postdoc (4 years), RFID and industrial robotics
- Coventry Uni since 2007 (Wireless sensing)
- Reader in 2012, Prof in 2018
What is this talk?
- Not persuasion—not everything will suit everyone
- Reflect, reject or accept, adjust, make it your own
- Quite short—feel free to discuss with me after if something’s not clear
Curse of knowledge
- Your point of view limits what you see
- Make sure you ask others for advice
Vancouver protocol
- Don’t wait until you get in trouble with your co-authors
- Absorb and understand the vancouver protocol for yourself and teach others around you
- Science is not a game, your paper count / citation count is not the score
Proofreading club
- Writing quality is critical to science
- Being able to edit your own and others work is a key skill
- Bring others together for proofreading sessions to
- learn this skill collaboratively
- edit each others work in a friendly environment
Time management / professionalism
- Spend time learning how to increase your productivity
- Zero your inbox regularly
- Don’t wait for your boss to come check on your task list
Value diversity
- Not everyone is good at everything
- Strong teams are diverse
- Everyone should be involved with writing papers and proposals though
First one is for free
- To engage with industry, you need to show them what you can do
- Two ears, two eyes, one mouth—use them in those proportions
- Don’t assume you know more than they do about their topic area
- When you understand what they need, create a demo solution
- But do the first one for free
Thanks!
- Questions?