Objective
Give you the mindset and tools to recognize, map and start leveraging your academic network.
Overview
Week 1 shows you the utility of networking in academia. Through a simple exercise you will see how a small the world of academia can be
Key Topics: Mindset, Personal Network, Academia
What is networking? Simply put, networking is the process of building social relationships. These relationships can provide you with feedback, advice and other opportunities which can be extremely valuable for your career in academia or wherever else you would like to go. Why networking in academia? Academia can be a very small world. Especially if when you start to specialize you are only a couple of steps removed from central figures in your specific research field. The same goes for internships, jobs, PHD positions or whatever else you desire. Opportunities can be very close by and it is upon you to be aware and make use of them. We hope that the following modules will provide you with some tips and tricks to make that process as smooth as possible for you Reference letters and internships
Activity
To prove to you how small the world of academia really is let us do a small exercise. I want you to think of a researcher or a professor whose work you admire or even who you could see yourself working for.
- How many steps removed do you think this person is from you? A step removed consists of one link between two people. This could be something like working together on a project or being on the same panel at a conference.
- Let’s put it to the test. How many steps removed are you actually? LinkedIn is not a bad place to start to see who worked with who. If you want to get a bit more granular and look into publications researchgate or ORCID are useful.
- Contrast and compare. Were you close to your estimate? Looking through these websites did you notice that there was a lot of contact info. That might be useful for the future weeks
I hope you enjoyed this model come back next week to continue your journey!