Burnout and breakdowns: how mid-career scientists can protect themselves

Burnout and breakdowns: how mid-career scientists can protect themselves

Trying to achieve balance in your personal and professional lives is misguided, four researchers tell Julie Gould in the third episode of Muddle of the Middle, a six-part podcast series about the mid-career stage in science.


Jen Heemstra, a chemistry professor at Washington University in St. Louis, says that the aim should instead be to avoid allowing periods of imbalance to last longer than necessary.


Cara Tannenbaum, a physician and a director at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, agrees, saying that the key is to focus on personal fulfilment, and that some aspects of your life will often have to take a back seat.


Inger Mewburn took a data-driven approach to managing her time (and her manager’s expectations) after experiencing two breakdowns in her mid-career stage.

Mewburn, director of research training at the Australian National University in Canberra, now uses a software program to track and prioritize tasks, schedule meetings and negotiate with her supervisor things that she can stop doing.


Chemical engineer Andrea Armani, a vice-dean at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, cautions against accepting all invitations at the mid-career stage, noting that at one point she was sitting on 30 committees.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episoder(221)

The PhD thesis and how to boost its impact

The PhD thesis and how to boost its impact

The thesis is a central element of how graduate students are assessed. But is it time for an overhaul? Julie Gould finds out.How do you decide whether or not somebody is a fully trained researcher? Ja...

6 Des 201912min

Team PhD

Team PhD

Scientific research is not the endeavour of a single person. It requires a team of people. How can this be better reflected in graduate student training, asks Julie Gould.Is science ready for "Team Ph...

28 Nov 201915min

It's time to fix the "one size fits all" PhD

It's time to fix the "one size fits all" PhD

Julie Gould asks six higher education experts if it's now time to go back to the drawing board and redesign graduate programmes from scratch.Suzanne Ortega, president of the US Council of Graduate Sch...

21 Nov 201912min

Too many PhDs, too few research positions

Too many PhDs, too few research positions

Students need to be clear about their reasons for pursuing a PhD and the career options open to them, Julie Gould discovers.In 2015, labour economist Paula Stephan told an audience of early career res...

18 Nov 201910min

My courtroom battles to halt illegal peatland fires in Indonesia

My courtroom battles to halt illegal peatland fires in Indonesia

Adam Levy talks to 2019 John Maddox Prize winner Bambang Hero Saharjo and Olivier Bernard, the Canadian pharmacist whose campaign against vitamin C injections for cancer patients earned him the early ...

12 Nov 201919min

Working Scientist: The award-winning neuroscientist who blazes a trail for open hardware

Working Scientist: The award-winning neuroscientist who blazes a trail for open hardware

Tom Baden's work into the neuroscience of vision has earned him the inaugural Nature Research Award for Driving Global Impact.Tom Baden, professor of neuroscience at the University of Sussex, UK, is t...

8 Nov 201917min

Working Scientist podcast: How to inspire young women to consider scientific careerssode

Working Scientist podcast: How to inspire young women to consider scientific careerssode

Two projects aimed at boosting female representation in STEM have won the second Nature Research Awards for Inspiring Science and Innovating Science, in partnership with The Estée Lauder Companies.Jea...

15 Okt 201922min

Start looking for jobs before you finish your PhD

Start looking for jobs before you finish your PhD

In the final episode of this six-part podcast series about physics careers, Gaia Donati draws on her contact with fellow physicists in her role as a manuscript editor at Nature, where she oversees res...

30 Aug 201911min

Populært innen Business og økonomi

lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
stopp-verden
dine-penger-pengeradet
e24-podden
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
rss-borsmorgen-okonominyhetene
livet-pa-veien-med-jan-erik-larssen
pengepodden-2
finansredaksjonen
pengesnakk
tid-er-penger-en-podcast-med-peter-warren
stormkast-med-valebrokk-stordalen
utbytte
morgenkaffen-med-finansavisen
liberal-halvtime
okonomiamatorene
rss-politisk-preik
rss-markedspuls-2
lederpodden
rss-sunn-okonomi