I once tried to explain to a friend what exactly a fellowship is in the field of science – and I failed miserably by trying to make analogies to Lord of the Rings. At that point I realised that a fellowship in science is kind of opposite to the type forged in Middle Earth.
In LOTR, the eponymous fellowship of the first book is a band of warriors joining forces with one (or more) common goals. Although this sounds a lot like what science can and should be about, it’s not that way at every stage of a scientist’s career. When I was lucky enough to win this fellowship, it was, somewhat ironically, the start of my independent research career.
Despite the idea that independence is a metric of career success, getting anywhere in science is impossible without the support of hundreds of scientists/non-scientists/friends (elves?). The days of lone geniuses running experiments in a basement are gone. Perhaps this cliché still lingers, because when it comes to moving “up” the academic career ladder it’s often every person for themselves. This has always been something contentious for me philosphically. Science is fundamentally about working as a team to destroy a proverbial piece of jewellery/bring down a dark lord (I haven’t seen the films in ages so don’t expect any dazzling metaphors!).
One thing I took from this fellowship application (and many previous failed ones) is the feeling that you really need to sell yourself as a superhero. A typical application involves a few pages about the science you propose to do, how much it might cost, and then several more pages about why you’re the best person to do it. Is this part of the reason why diversity at top level positions is so low? It’s easy to be put off by these kinds of exercises unless you already have a very particular mindset.
In a typical academic career, a researcher will write funding applications several times a year, to keep their research going. I personally didn’t enjoy the ego-inflating aspects of my previous applications – it felt unnatural and unscientific and sometimes had a negative impact on my mental health. But this seems to be the current model for scientific funding and I don’t know whether change is on the horizon. What I do know is that university academics are stretched in many directions throughout their career, and based on Twitter posts many are not best pleased with the current system.
So unlike the type led by hobbits, a fellowship in the research sense can be a lonely pursuit, especially when moving to a new institution (or country). But I should end on an optimistic note, because I am thoroughly enjoying my fellowship and the opportunities it has given me to try new science and meet new people. I expect the new connections I make here in Graz will help me build a scientific team of warriors in the future!
disprochemist 