IndiaBiospeaks

Mental health is a serious concern in academia, across the world and at all levels of professionals. There is an increasing global push to acknowledge and bring discussions on mental health to the forefront ('out of the closet'), and seek and share individual and collective solutions to support and promote the mental well-being of academic professionals. This dialogue is an initiative to create awareness and de-stigmatise mental health to make science in India a more inclusive and a supportive place.

This discussion addressed issues around mental health, particular those that are relevant to early and mid-career faculty. Featuring Sandhya Visweswariah, Maitrayee DasGupta, Imroze Khan and Hansika Kapoor, this discussion was moderated by Karishma Kaushik and Mayuri Rege.

In part 1 of this conversation, the panellists and moderators talk about 'new PI challenges'.

Please find curated resources on mental health here: https://indiabioscience.org/resources-on-mental-health

In this episode, Lakshmi, Shreya and Smita talk about a very important survival skill in one's career progression - professional networking. Find out from this podcast:

1. What is professional networking?
2. What unique advantages does it provide?
3. What are networks made up of?
4. What are the different types of networks?
5. How can you study into your own network and diagnose any common pitfalls?
6. Is networking a natural skill or is it cultivable? What (baby steps) can you take to build, expand and actively manage your network?

Illustrated Handout: Here is a link to some notes with illustrations to help you better understand the various concepts discussed.

Worksheet # 1: Here is also a worksheet that you may use to map your network

Worksheet # 2: Here is another worksheet to write down the steps that you would take to build, expand and actively manage your network.

Works Cited / Further Reading / Listening

1. Harvard Business Review - "How to build your network" - by Brian Uzzi and Shanon Dunlap (2005)
2. Science Careers - "Network your way into work" - by Dick Van Vlooten (2003)
3. Mapping a Social Network
4. Understanding the value of leveraging your network, by Joanna Maunder
5. Five ways to seriously improve your networking skills
6. Networking for introverted scientists
7. "Networking for people who hate networking", a TED podcast that shares some interesting ideas on networking. Listen away!

Please find the full-text transcript to the podcast, on our website here.

Mental health is a serious concern in academia, across the world and at all levels of professionals. There is an increasing global push to acknowledge and bring discussions on mental health to the forefront ('out of the closet'), and seek and share individual and collective solutions to support and promote the mental well-being of academic professionals. This dialogue is an initiative to create awareness and de-stigmatise mental health to make science in India a more inclusive and a supportive place.

This discussion addressed issues around mental health, particular those that are relevant to PhD students and postdocs. Featuring Shubha Tole and Soumitra Pathare as panelists, this discussion was moderated by Karishma Kaushik and Mayuri Rege. In part 2 of this conversation, the panellists and moderators discuss barriers to getting help and future prospects.

Please find curated resources on mental health here: https://indiabioscience.org/resources-on-mental-health

Disclaimer:

This conversation is intended to discuss and create awareness on mental health (in the broadest sense), and specifically in the academic setup. It aims to increase the overall awareness by generating a healthy dialogue among stakeholders in the community towards making conscious, well-informed and progressive changes, both at the individual and systemic level. The information shared and discussed is intended to shape conversations in science in India, to lead to more inclusivity and empathy, and will in no way compromise confidentiality of the participants. This session is not a substitute for medical consultation / treatment / or counselling.

Mental health is a serious concern in academia, across the world and at all levels of professionals. There is an increasing global push to acknowledge and bring discussions on mental health to the forefront ('out of the closet'), and seek and share individual and collective solutions to support and promote the mental well-being of academic professionals. This dialogue is an initiative to create awareness and de-stigmatise mental health to make science in India a more inclusive and a supportive place.

This discussion addressed issues around mental health, particular those that are relevant to PhD students and postdocs. Featuring Shubha Tole and Soumitra Pathare as panelists, this discussion was moderated by Karishma Kaushik and Mayuri Rege. In part 1 of this conversation, the panellists and moderators talk about supervisor dynamics and the lab environment.

Please find curated resources on mental health here: https://indiabioscience.org/resources-on-mental-health

Disclaimer:

This conversation is intended to discuss and create awareness on mental health (in the broadest sense), and specifically in the academic setup. It aims to increase the overall awareness by generating a healthy dialogue among stakeholders in the community towards making conscious, well-informed and progressive changes, both at the individual and systemic level. The information shared and discussed is intended to shape conversations in science in India, to lead to more inclusivity and empathy, and will in no way compromise confidentiality of the participants. This session is not a substitute for medical consultation / treatment / or counselling.

This is part 2 of the eleventh "informational interview" in the season on Crafting your Career in science. Here IndiaBioscience chats with Pragya Verma, a researcher-turned educator, who still manages to do her science and take along with her school students as well as carry out social projects to promote application-based learning among students of all levels.

Please find the full text transcript of the podcast on our website here. Be sure to subscribe to our season to not miss out on any episodes!

Credits: Scripting and Recording: Lakshmi Ganesan, Editing: Manoj Rangan

(Note to listeners: This recording was done during the COVID-19 lockdown over a zoom meeting call. This has resulted in a slightly diminished audio quality with some mild disturbances in the recording, compared to a studio quality recording.)

This is part 1 of the eleventh "informational interview" in the season on Crafting your Career in science. Here IndiaBioscience chats with Pragya Verma, a researcher-turned educator, who still manages to do her science and take along with her school students as well as carry out social projects to promote application-based learning among students of all levels.

Please find the full text transcript of the podcast on our website here. Be sure to subscribe to our season to not miss out on any episodes!

Credits: Scripting and Recording: Lakshmi Ganesan, Editing: Manoj Rangan

(Note to listeners: This recording was done during the COVID-19 lockdown over a zoom meeting call. This has resulted in a slightly diminished audio quality with some mild disturbances in the recording, compared to a studio quality recording.)

IndiaBioscience brings to you the International Grants Awareness Program (iGAP) which aims to help Indian Life Science researchers seek and acquire international funding. Here we explore the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Fellowships.

In the first episode in this series, Zill-e-Anam, PhD student at JNU, talks to two MSCA fellows- Amey Redkar, Postdoc at University of Cordoba, Spain and Mahipal Ganji, Postdoc at Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Munich, Germany. They share their experiences of being an MSCA fellow and tips for applying.

Please find a full transcript of this podcast on our website. Be sure to subscribe to our season to not miss any new episodes

Credits:

Scripting & Recording: Zill-e-Anam

Editing and Design: Moumita Mazumdar

In this episode, Lakshmi, Shreya and Smita chat about the most critical marketing tools for the job hunt - the resume / CV. Find out from this podcast:

1. Are resumes and CV one and the same?
2. What goes into each? Where are they used?
3. How to dissect a job ad and identify key attributes that an employer is looking for?
4. What is the PAR / STAR approach?
5. How to pack a resume / CV with impactful "PAR" statements that can make you stand out?

Please find below

1. Worksheet on dissecting the job ad
2. Example of Master, targeted and smart resume
3. NIH's Guide for CVs and resume
4. Disha - a career resource book for life science and biotechnology students by Dr. Suman Govil

Please find a full-text transcript of the podcast published on our website.

(Note to listeners: This recording was done during the COVID-19 lockdown over a zoom meeting call. This has resulted in a slightly diminished audio quality with some mild disturbances in the recording, compared to a studio quality recording.)

In this tenth episode of the series of "informational interviews', IndiaBioscience chats with Mohammad Atif Alam - a senior business development officer and project manager at the centre for molecular and cellular platforms (CCAMP) in Bangalore about the business of science and opportunities in an innovation ecosystem and the startup culture in India.

Note to listeners: This recording was done during the COVID-19 lockdown over a zoom meeting call. This has resulted in a slightly diminished audio quality with some mild disturbances in the recording, compared to a studio quality recording.

Please find a full text transcript of this podcast on our website here. Be sure to subscribe to our season to not miss out on any episodes!

In this ninth episode of the series of "informational interviews', IndiaBioscience chats with Deepti Trivedi, a technology scientist in-charge of the core fly facility at the National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bangalore, about her long standing relationship with fruit flies. IndiaBiospeaks, explores how she seamlessly integrates her scientific training and creative hobbies to craft her career to serve the scientific community and the larger public through science outreach.

Please find a link to the fly facility at NCBS with information about its various services. In the podcast album artwork, please find the image of the sensory drosunculus that Deepti has created and has described as part of this podcast.

Please find a full text transcript of this podcast on our website here. Be sure to subscribe to our season to not miss out on any episodes!