How do you learn leadership skills as a researcher, and how well is science served by its current crop of leaders?
These are just two of the questions asked of scientific leaders from a range of sectors and backgrounds in this five-part Working Scientist podcast series, all about leadership.
In this penultimate episode, stem cell biologist Fiona Watt tells Julie Gould that one of her leadership mantras is: “There is nothing wrong with being wrong,” and that science is in good shape if it can acknowledge this.
Watt is director of EMBO, the European molecular biology organization, based in Heidelberg, Germany.
Her leadership positions before joining the organisation in 2022 include leading the Centre for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine at King's College London.
In this role she was able to indulge an interest in improving scientists’ working environments as part of a redesign project of its labs, offices and core facilities. In 2018 Watt was appointed the first executive chair of Medical Research Council, the UK funder.
She compares her own hands-on and largely self-taught leadership skills (helped by a strong network of female colleagues earlier in her career) with opportunities for young aspiring lab leaders today.
These include EMBO’s lab management course, which provides researchers on the cusp of independence with a trusting environment to learn about the common challenges group leaders are likely to face.
Watt also tells Julie Gould about the role of science leaders in articulating the need for government funding for science, but says that spending decisions should sit with them, and not with politicians.
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Moving labs: a checklist for researchers with disabilities
‘The dumbest person in the room:’ moving labs and switching fields
Moving labs, moving countries: how to get both right
‘Trailing spouses’ and ‘two body’ problems: how to move labs as a scientist couple
‘Is the PI a jerk?’ Key questions to ask when you’re moving lab
More support needed to survive the mid-career stage in science
Mid-career scientists: advice to our younger selves
Why the mid-career stage in science can feel like a second puberty
Burnout and breakdowns: how mid-career scientists can protect themselves
When life gets in the way of scientists’ mid-career plans
Muddle of the middle: why mid-career scientists feel neglected
Science in Africa: tackling mistrust and misinformation
Science in Africa: a wishlist for scientist mothers
Science in Africa: Diaspora perspectives
Science in Africa: ‘The world needs science and science needs women’
Science in Africa: lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic
Science in Africa: is ‘decolonization’ losing all meaning?
Science in Africa: lessons from the past, hopes for the future
Science in Africa: a continent on the cusp of change
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