Brunch: July 2019

Brunch at home: July 13th, 2019

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On Saturdays, I usually go to the St. John’s farmer’s market. I love finding local vegetables, crafts, and a wide selection of international food and baked products. I like going early in the morning because I can make my own breakfast/brunch with fresh products when I come back. My favourite: Waffles!

  • Black coffee
  • GF waffle from the Waffle Lady
  • Cottage cheese with blueberries and nectarine
  • GF cream puff from the Nourish Bakery

How to write an elevator pitch on your scientific contributions

Writing the last chapter of my thesis has been the hardest so far. I know my research, its context and background but I had difficulties explaining its impact. I have to make sure that all the contributions are clear towards the PhD defence.

My supervisor recommended me to write down an elevator pitch on each of my contributions. There is a lot of information on the internet about how to write an elevator pitch from a business perspective but I found hard to find something more specific from a scientific point of view. After some thought, I was able to narrow down a series of 5 steps that helped me think and write down the elevator pitches for my research. I’m sharing them below in case someone is looking for something similar:

1. Define the problem: What is what you are trying to solve? I find bullet points very useful and I limit them to 1-2 per section/chapter. Keep in mind that this is not an elevator pitch on the entire thesis so keep it short. Describing the problem gives some context to what comes next…

2. Describe your solution: What is what you propose? try to also answer these questions if you decide to skip step 4: how is it new? how is it innovative?

3. Evaluate its utility: Is it useful? how other people/researchers will benefit from it? can it be built and applied? how?

4. Compare it to existing work: You can relate to steps 1 and 2 and mention what your research provides compared to other work.

5. Milestones achieved (optional): In case there is a publication related to this part of your research, you can mention it as part of the research impact.

The long wait

El que espera, desespera

This is a Spanish idiom that means something like “those who wait, despair”. And that’s exactly how I feel now.

I started to write my thesis in April last year and I had it completed in October. I have been going back and forth with my supervisors with changes since then. Today is July 7. I still have to submit it to the supervisory committee and after that, to the examination committee and that could take months. When will I graduate? October? November? who knows.

I’m currently waiting for my supervisors’ comments on the many-th version of my thesis; it has been three weeks now. Yes, it’s summer, there was a long weekend in between but I’m running out of time, funding, and patience. Really… I need to move on.

On a more positive note, I have published a paper (yay!), I have prepared another one for submission, I have been updating my website and… I have gone hiking!

The importance of positive feedback

Probably if you have read some of my previous posts, you have noticed that I don’t have an ideal connection with my supervisor. During our last online meeting he asked me how he could improve his supervising approach… wait… what? that was my time!

Continue reading “The importance of positive feedback”

Surviving a toxic supervisor

I have been dealing with a toxic supervisor for over 5 years now… After my first year, my main supervisor moved to another country leaving me with my co-supervisor as my main supervisor. I cried. I remember telling him that I didn’t see myself graduating with him. I knew what would happen… I should have graduated over a year ago.

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Networking – my notes, my experience. Part 2

Today’s post is the continuation of a previous post about Networking from a few months ago. If you haven’t had the chance to check it out, I highly encourage you to start with it by clicking here: Networking – my notes, my experience. Part 1

My experience with networking. Part 2

In my first post about networking, I wrote about how I feel about it and the key things I think anyone should mind if you want to get better at it. This post continues listing all those important and simple things.

Continuing from part 1 on Networking…

Show your interest in others’ work/activities/research. We all love when someone shows interest in something we are talking, we feel valuable. Do the same with the person in front of you, even if you are not highly interested in the same topics but it will make the other person feel comfortable and more open to speaking with you. It’s also perfect for breaking the ice after introducing yourselves. Use things like: “This is fantastic, tell me more about it”

Continue reading “Networking – my notes, my experience. Part 2”