{"id":144,"date":"2017-11-23T11:30:00","date_gmt":"2017-11-23T11:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/?p=144"},"modified":"2017-12-11T08:43:55","modified_gmt":"2017-12-11T08:43:55","slug":"networking-or-how-to-talk-to-about-your-research-in-the-real-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/2017\/11\/23\/networking-or-how-to-talk-to-about-your-research-in-the-real-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Networking, or how to talk to about your research in the real world"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Daniel Glaser is the Director of <a href=\"https:\/\/london.sciencegallery.com\/\">Science Gallery London<\/a> at King\u2019s College London, which connects art, science and health, driving real innovation in the heart of the city.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel\u00a0is a neuroscientist by training and joins King\u2019s from the Wellcome Trust where he headed up their engaging science work. He was the world&#8217;s first scientist in residence at an arts institution at the ICA in 2002 and was the first scientist to judge the Man Booker prize in 2014. He writes a weekly column in the Observer Magazine.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_148\" style=\"width: 230px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/202\/files\/2017\/11\/15120842-WEB.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-148\" class=\"size-full wp-image-148\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/202\/files\/2017\/11\/15120842-WEB.jpg\" alt=\"Daniel Glaser, Science Gallery London\" width=\"220\" height=\"220\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/files\/2017\/11\/15120842-WEB.jpg 220w, https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/files\/2017\/11\/15120842-WEB-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 220px) 100vw, 220px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-148\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Daniel Glaser, Science Gallery London<\/p><\/div>\n<p>He recently gave a sparkling and important talk on helping PhDs and other researchers to confront their fears about that dreaded activity: networking &#8212;\u00a0 both\u00a0for academic or other career purposes.<\/p>\n<p>We have summarised the key points of his talk below:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You have to<strong> talk to people in terms that they will understand<\/strong> and make sense of! Can you get them to be thinking about what you want them to say, before you even meet them?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Be proud of your specialism!<\/strong> By the time you\u2019ve got to the end of your PhD or other research, perhaps only 100 people in the world will understand the real niche that you have created for yourself. In effect, you are \u2018being trained to be incomprehensible\u2019, and that is something to be proud of! Own your narrowness.\u00a0 You have to learn the language of your research, to be a good researcher.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Try this exercise<\/strong>: work with another researcher, and get them to explain their research to you. Now, find someone else to explain your colleague\u2019s research to.\u00a0 Examine the language that you used in that description. It is probably a whole lot simpler than your colleague would use themselves to describe their work.\u00a0 Apply the same technique to yourself when you are trying to describe your research.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>When you start networking, <strong>imagine the positive outcome that you are trying to get to<\/strong>. Then break down the process it will take to get there. If you need help understanding this point, read <a href=\"http:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/\">Getting Things Done by David Allen<\/a> which provides solutions for people to manage their time more effectively.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>One way to start networking is to <strong>share your work online<\/strong>. Use publicly available images (e.g. slides) that are professionally produced, to help you look good; crucially, what you\u2019re trying to do is to seek feedback from people. If you\u2019ve got something interesting to say, pop it onto YouTube! Creating content is in effect sharing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>In terms of networking for careers, read <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jobhuntersbible.com\/\">What Color is Your Parachute<\/a> by Richard Bolles. What you want to do is to be able to ask people the question: \u2018what does what I like doing look like where you come from?\u2019\u00a0 Using this question means they have to be interested in you, and also that they have to talk about themselves and their work.\u00a0 You are not asking them for a job, just for information.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Find a talk in a domain you\u2019re interested in<\/strong> (use <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kcl.ac.uk\/careerconnect\">KCL CareerConnect<\/a>, or the <a href=\"https:\/\/londonist.com\/\">Londonist<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eventbrite.co.uk\/\">EventBrite<\/a> or Meetup): go, and then talk to the people there. They must have something in common with you or they wouldn\u2019t also be going to the talk.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Come up with an opening line<\/strong> (\u2018What brings you here?\u2019; \u2018What are you working on at the moment?\u2019) and use it for everyone at the event that you can talk to. An achievable goal might be just talking to three people you didn\u2019t know before you arrived.\u00a0 Tag team with a friend and leave the event when you\u2019ve achieved your goal.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Networking could, in fact, make your boss look good.<\/strong> If you go and talk sensibly with another academic, they will automatically be impressed that your research group (and by extension, your group leader) produces such good researchers.\u00a0 Hence, PIs or supervisors should be pleased that you are finding opportunities to go and talk about your work.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Daniel will have coffee with anyone: including you!<\/strong> The Science Gallery will open summer 2018 and will be looking for \u2018mediators\u2019 to collaborate and engage with.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Get in touch with the Science Gallery at King&#8217;s College London and with Daniel <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/london.sciencegallery.com\/contact\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Daniel Glaser is the Director of Science Gallery London at King\u2019s College London, which connects art, science and health, driving real innovation in the heart of the city. Daniel\u00a0is a neuroscientist by training and joins King\u2019s from the Wellcome Trust where he headed up their engaging science work. He was the world&#8217;s first scientist in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,1],"tags":[10,30,31,32],"class_list":["post-144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-careers","category-pgr-community","category-uncategorized","tag-careers","tag-networking","tag-science-communication","tag-science-gallery-london","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/805"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":156,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144\/revisions\/156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/doctoralstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}