OPEN

what could be the metrics of a “successful” phd (both objective and subjective terms)?

How should mentors relay the information to mentees upfront when they are not optimistic about or losing interest in their original research?

where do you see the role of a grad union/postdoc union in case things go wrong with mentoring?

Sometimes when the PI-student relationship is not good, the PI will be reluctant to add a new mentor to the team and working with them can be difficult. Any additional tips for the mentor (either postdoc or PI) who has to decide to join a student-PI collaboration that is not going well or even toxic?

Could all of you briefly talk about the incentive structure for good mentoring? And conversely, the repercussions structure for bad mentoring?

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ANSWERED in writing by Chiara Bertipaglia and Yael Niv

When do people think about leaving academia, and what are important factors to consider when thinking about this decision - how do you know that it’s more than just avoiding an ongoing project that is not working out, but academia isn’t actually right for you?

	Chiara: I can answer based on my personal experience and perspective. For me the eureka moment was when I realized I was’t feeling the thrill of designing and conducting experiments any more (for any projects I was working on). In parallel I wasn’t enjoying any other aspect of what it means to work in a lab.
	Yael: If you are not excited about doing research, and about teaching others how to do research, it may not be a good career for you. How do you know if you are excited about it beyond your one ongoing project? One question to ask yourself is: how frequently do you go to talks or read a paper and get so excited that you want to tell people that you don’t work with (family and friends) about this cool thing that you just learned? I use this both to test if I am still interested, and to ask myself what I am interested in. This is how I “found out” that I am more interested in cool experiments than in computational models (even though I am trained as a computational neuroscientists, and did only theory through to the end of my PhD — which goes to show, as someone asks below, that you CAN change areas of work to align with your areas of interest!). 

As a mentor, how does one draw the line between giving freedom and holding hands of the mentee?

Chiara: I love this question because it is such an important topic true for any kind of manager, meaning anyone in any role where they supervise or manage others.
As a previous mentor in the lab and as a manager in an office team now, I like to ask how much control versus autonomy people would like to have. I start with what I believe is a reasonable scenario and see what they think. My starting position is to trust that they can succeed in the way they propose things and we set a timeline to reassess things. At the end of the timeline agreed on, we would analyze together if the method worked. I’d give feedback based on what I noticed as mentor/manager, and I’d ask what their impressions are. I find that this way of treating mentees as adults, by seriously considering their take on how to do things rarely leads to situations where there’s deep disagreement on how to proceed from there. However, as a mentor, you do have more experience. So if you think that in a particular situation the mentee does actually need more help, you shall say so frankly (without micromanaging secretly or in passive aggressive way). I am guessing that these would be specific situations out of which the mentee hopefully will draw a learning lesson, so next time even more autonomy can be granted. At the end of the day, the mentor’s role is to guide the mentee towards being a well-rounded independent researcher and scientist.

What support do PIs want/need from their intuitions to be better mentors/mangers to their students?

Chiara: I would say training in mentorhsip, lab management, personnel management, leadership, emotional intelligence, cultural competency (this is what they need; not sure it’s what they want -.- )
Yael: we are working on building such a course :)

For someone who does not have psychology/neuro science background but want to conduct research in the intersection field of psychology/neuro science and data science, do you have any suggestion? would it be almost impossible? Thank you very much!

Chiara: Do you have a background in data science? Might it be possible to enter the field you’re interested in with an internship, leveraging the skills you have that would be an asset to conducting the research you’re interested in? 
Yael: Also, please know that neuroscience is a field that draws on many other fields (from physics to philosophy to linguistics to computer science), so many students come from other fields. Becoming a full time research assistant in the field for a year or two is a great stepping stone to graduate school, if that is what you are looking for. If you are looking for a postdoc, just apply — data science skills are useful for many labs, and you can find a good fit where you will learn neuroscience/psychology, and they will benefit from the knowledge you bring to the table. 

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ANSWERED live

How to be frank with PI about your personal and time limits on work, hopefully without fear of retaliation in such a power dynamic?

What to do with notoriously bad mentors who bring lots of money to the university and therefore the leadership would never want to take any measures 'against' them? How to deal with, and eventually get out of, a toxic lab environment?

I have received poor mentorship in my PhD which has left me with no completed papers at the end (projects are mostly finished, but lab has not had many experimental papers in the last 4 years submitted despite being an empirical lab). How can I express in potential postdoc meetings that my advisor has held me back, without looking like I am making excuses for myself?

What are some steps that mentors and mentees can take early on to ensure a successful partnership?

Is it more important to have a mentor who you get along with personally, or one who is an expert in your very specific area? (One assumes they’d be in your general area at least)

How do you find a mentor who is not your supervisor?

How can I let the moods of my supervisor(s) affect me less? How can I remind myself that my supervisor(s) are also human, make mistakes and have bad days, and that if they sometimes show less support / are jerks it does not mean I am not doing enough / am not good enough?

Is it better to have a mentor that is older and established in the field, or a mentor who is younger and perhaps has more time for you or flexibility in what projects you could take on?

How does one deal with the situation where a mentor’s teaching / leadership style doesn’t mesh well with your learning style, but their expertise is very niche and specific to your interests and would be hard to come by with a different mentor/lab?

How do you deal with conflicting interests with your supervisor (e.g. wanting different projects prioritized for grant deadlines, papers vs thesis)?

How can a PI ensure that both the men and women in their lab have equal opportunities? I.e., what are the key characteristics of a PI who has mentored both male and female trainees that end up with successful careers?