Revision as of 16:56, 23 January 2020

Funding Opportunities

• Mitacs graduate and post-doc funding (for private sector /NGO internships, or academic travel scholarships)

How to do science

• Konrad's paper writing 101
• Konrad's 10 simple rules for structuring papers advice: read this before you start writing!!!
• PLoS CB - 10 simple rules collection: a must read for everyone!
• Colorbrewer: great tool for selecting colour schemes on publications
• How to peer review a manuscript: Webinar and resources from SfN Neuronline.
• How To Review Modelling Papers: A webinar + resources from SfN Neuronline. The webinar date has passed, but if you 'register' there is an email link that will lead you to the archived video.
• The pleasure of publishing (Malhotra & Marder, 2015): Elife editors' opinions on what makes an effective manuscript.
• How to do Open Science slides

How to be successful

• Ed Boyden's advice on how to think
• Developing better thought processes
• How to argue well
• Habits for success
• Hitchhikers guide to a Career in Neuroscience
• Slow is smooth and smooth is fast
• Survival Skills for Graduate School and Beyond (Fischer and Zigmond, 1998; still very applicable)
• 3 golden rules of scientific success by Dijkstra
• Secrets to writing a winning grant

Career development

It is never to early to think about what you'd like to do in the future! This is true at any stage in your training or career. Critical (re-)evaluation of skills, goals and gaps allows for better planning and ultimately better job and happiness prospects. Take it seriously!!!

• CIHR individual career development plans
• your professional digital presence on the web is crucial for future employment! Future employers look at it! Use LinkedIn, make and maintain a web site (e.g. Google Sites), use Twitter professionally, etc
• how to give a job talk

Work-life balance & mental health

As an undergraduate, graduate student or postdoc, as exciting a time as this is, you will face stress, frustration and deception. Your passion for science can suck up all your time and wack your physical and mental health out of balance. This can lead to a downward spiral out of which comes no good. Yes, grad school / postdoc work is hard, don't let it destroy you. So here are a few tips to avoid that in the first place. For Queen's students, please consider contacting Student Wellness Services if you feel you could use some help...

• Get enough exercise and sleep!
• The Happy PhD zone: how to maintain a work-life balance in academia
• 6 Ways To Survive Grad School and Achieve Work-Life Balance
• Official McGill University guidelines on work-life balance
• How to maintain your sanity during grad school
• Grad school survival tips
• Three reminders to help you thrive—not merely survive—in grad school
• Break or burn out: a nice article in Nature
• Creative outlets and Scientific Success Scientists are not more likely to have creative outlets, but the most successful ones are
• Ten simple rules towards healthier research labs

Resources for organizing a scientific project

• [1] How to keep your research projects organized, part 1: folder structure
• [2] Setting up an Organised Folder Structure for Research Projects
• [3] Organising your data
• [4] OSF Guidelines
• [5] A Quick Guide to Organizing Computational Biology Projects
• [6] Evernote: Note taking app
• [7] Trello: Collaborate and share notes
• Good enough practices for scientific computing