How to succeed as an early career researcher? Be motivated and inspire others

Success in research as an undergraduate student should not be the main reason for pursuing a PhD. Motivation for doctoral studies should come from enthusiasm for your field of research and a feeling that, for you, questions outnumber answers. 

Here, I offer personal insights and motivations for making a career as a researcher that might be beneficial for early career scientists.

Find and retain inspiration in the long term

An event that initially seems unfavourable can help us find goals and keep at them. For example, when I was awarded second prize in neuroscience at a congress of the Scientific Students’ Association of Semmelweis University, I was clearly disappointed. However, the result motivated me to become better at what I do. My long-term commitment paid off seven years later; I was selected for a leadership position at a national clinical neuroscience centre.  

Throughout my journey, one thing has remained the same: I enjoy working rather than feeling obliged to work. I find clinical neuroscience one of the most fascinating areas of health sciences. 

Start early and keep working

While the first year of university studies is typically a time to adapt to new learning processes and broaden theoretical knowledge, the second year is the optimal time to enter science. Many students put off applying with excuses such as: “I want to finish the comprehensive exams first”, “I prefer down-to-earth practice over research” or “I am waiting for the opportunity to work with a famous professor.” 

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However, becoming a professional, which in my field means understanding technologies such as neurophysiology, neuro-imaging and neuropsychology, requires a long-term commitment. Frequent participation in multiple studies is also necessary to develop a solid methodological background. So it is better to start as early as possible. 

An early decision should be to select the first target research group. Participating in scientific conferences of student organisations with an experienced group, such as senior students, members of student associations or experienced PhD students, can be a great opportunity for a freshman from both a social and professional perspective. It makes sense to look for student presenters who demonstrate a sound background in the entire research process; they have a broad knowledge of the literature background, can formulate good research questions, work with a clear methodology, and can articulate their results and the key messages of the applicability of their findings in a clear and concise way. The affiliations of the selected presenters can provide valuable clues.

Find the right mentor and get inspired

Applying for an open position is a critical first step for university students to gain access to research laboratories. Since appropriate guidance is crucial in early career research, finding your mentor is a key step. I was fortunate to find great mentors who were known for their medical professionalism, teaching skills and rigorous and ethical research activities. 

Great team leaders are usually open to receiving CVs and motivation letters from interested newcomers, so students should not be afraid to apply for positions and send out emails. If you progress to interview stage, be prepared. Read recent papers from the group, search for ongoing research grants and familiarise yourself with the basic background of the applied methodologies and the targeted disorders or physiological processes. 

The key question is: how do you find the best research mentors? Consider reaching out to undergraduate and PhD students in the target group; if you find people who have been working in the same lab for many years and are still enthusiastic about science, you are probably in the right place. Another important factor is learning about the scientific career paths of the lab members. The quality of the work in a laboratory can be judged by the number of scientific presentations, peer-reviewed academic articles authored by undergraduate/ PhD students and early career researchers who have won grants and individual funding. However, personalities are not always well matched. Perfect chemistry between the mentor and the student is rare. 

Be clear about your own constraints and motivations in terms of the time and energy that you can devote to scientific work. This awareness may help the adjustment to the research team. Energy invested almost always pays off. Perhaps you can only dedicate half a day a week. It is obviously not enough for high-quality scientific, work but investment in data management or data acquisition can help the team, and could even serve as the basis for a later thesis.

For example, if an early career researcher dedicates every weekend to science, they might become a co-principal investigator after a few years. A researcher must carefully assess their mental and physical resources and communicate them from the very beginning and throughout the years to benefit both themselves and the team.

Invest in the future

Working as a PhD student is underfinanced everywhere in the world, so one might earn significantly less for many years compared with your classmates who have not pursued an academic career. However, this training enables students to learn valuable life skills such as working and interacting in global settings, cooperative problem-solving, appreciation of lifelong learning, strict data analysis and presentation, and effective leadership skills. 

Neuroscience, for example, is an interdisciplinary field involving medicine, physics, biology, chemistry, information technology and data science. So your PhD could be beneficial in various sectors.

Holding a neuroscience PhD along with a medical degree provides diverse career options. You can work as a medical professional in a classic clinical environment but with a better understanding of medical sciences, new protocols, research data and novel guidelines. You will have a sound background for introducing new solutions and technologies to daily practice. Or you might run drug trials, biomarker validation studies or clinical research laboratories.

In my opinion, the greatest benefit of pursuing neuroscience as a lifelong profession is the enormous improvement in adversity quotients. Your papers may be frequently rejected, your scientific grants and scholarships may often be unsuccessful and, in most cases, your hypotheses may be proved false. Despite the failures, the experience of scientific discoveries is joyful and priceless and might make you resilient, opening a window to the entire world. 

András Attila Horváth is head of the Neurocognitive Research Centre of the Nyírő Gyula National Institute of Psychiatry and Addictology, and assistant professor in the department of anatomy, histology and embryology, at Semmelweis University in Budapest, Hungary.

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