The imPerfect Scientist

Uncertainty and the VUCA world


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What do you think of when you think of the word “uncertainty”? What kinds of feelings does that trigger in you? Maybe you are thinking of the uncertainty of scientific contracts, maybe about the uncertainty and the unpredictability of research per se. 


Uncertainty is a big topic in research and during your scientific career. As scientists, most of us feel comfortable handling some level of experimental uncertainty which goes along with the very idea of testing a hypothesis and figuring out how things work. But we are also - understandably - quite anxious about uncertainty in the professional environment. And we come to decisions points quite often, where uncertainty certainly (see what I did there? -wink!) plays a big role. 


In this week’s episode, Daniel and talk about our experiences with uncertainty and how we have learned to embrace it and even welcome it under certain circumstances. As always, we discuss tools that have helped us move on despite uncertainty and give you examples of our dealings with uncertainty in our scientific career. 


Some of the topics we discuss in this episode include:

  • What a V.U.C.A. world is and how you can use VUCA to deal with uncertainty
  • How Eva intuitively used VUCA to make the decision to move internationally twice within less than 12 months 
  • Why Daniel got sh* scared when he got his permanent position and how he overcame it
  • How thinking about what your life would be like if everything in it was certain can help you overcome the anxiety that usually goes with uncertainty
  • Why setting goals is an excellent tool, but focusing on defining your values and on the process rather than the end are even better tools
  • How you can turn volatility and complexity into an actionable course of action 
  • Why focusing on your actions can be much more effective than getting tangled up in the uncertainty spiral 
  • Why we both believe that dealing with uncertainty is as much a skill as anything else that you can train and get better at and how to do so
  • Why we believe that being able to maneuver around a VUCA world will be an essential skill for the future

  • As you can see, this is again an episode loaded with interesting information that we believe you will be able to relate to from your daily life. Now tell us about your own uncertainties!




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    The imPerfect ScientistBy edurational