Met VW in the weekend course, and our conversation fell back to the problems faced by academic nowadays.
“It is very difficult to have high impact research now – for a young faculty member like me,” the gold medallist sighed.
I cannot agree more. Twenty years ago you could do a randomized control trial with 100 subjects and got it published in the top journal – it doesn't happen now. You probably need 5000 subjects, which means a multicenter collaborative work with much influence from the pharmaceutical industry and is not meant for new comers.
How about high niche basic science work? You need three things: man, money, and facility. I am very intrigued to see how to produce satisfactory result if you can only employ a fresh university graduate as your assistant (note that I do not use plural), the freezer space allocated is only enough to put your lunch box, and the cell culture hood is shared amongst 10 departments and you can use it once each week.
The group from Pluto says, “The resource is limited, but you can still have stunning work if you are really a genius.”
Well, there was an example that Nobel Prize was awarded to someone who used only pencil and paper. I know him well – he is Albert Einstein. Yes, it is nice to have an Einstein around, but I shall be maniac to expect most of my colleagues around are genius of that kind.
It hurts my inferiority complex.
“It is very difficult to have high impact research now – for a young faculty member like me,” the gold medallist sighed.
I cannot agree more. Twenty years ago you could do a randomized control trial with 100 subjects and got it published in the top journal – it doesn't happen now. You probably need 5000 subjects, which means a multicenter collaborative work with much influence from the pharmaceutical industry and is not meant for new comers.
How about high niche basic science work? You need three things: man, money, and facility. I am very intrigued to see how to produce satisfactory result if you can only employ a fresh university graduate as your assistant (note that I do not use plural), the freezer space allocated is only enough to put your lunch box, and the cell culture hood is shared amongst 10 departments and you can use it once each week.
The group from Pluto says, “The resource is limited, but you can still have stunning work if you are really a genius.”
Well, there was an example that Nobel Prize was awarded to someone who used only pencil and paper. I know him well – he is Albert Einstein. Yes, it is nice to have an Einstein around, but I shall be maniac to expect most of my colleagues around are genius of that kind.
It hurts my inferiority complex.
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