One important aspect of scientific research is that no project is ever going to be ‘complete’.

This can be both a good thing and a bad thing.

If you enjoy the feeling of closure, then it’s very unlikely that you’ll get it.

It makes things very difficult for a researcher, because you never know when to draw the line to stop, and move on to something else.

This is especially true if you’re the student, because you’re essentially under the whim of your supervisor. If the supervisor wants you to keep doing experiments, but you want to finish up your thesis and move on…

WELL

You’ll need to have an awkward discussion, then. If there’s even room for discussion.

But another thing that can happen is for someone else to come along and ‘inherit’ your project, so that it continues on under someone else’s hands.

That way, you can finish up, and the responsibility is now on someone else’s shoulders.

I’ve written about my project before (see the extensive index I wrote out the other day), but I actually have someone who inherited an aspect of my project.

And they just submitted their manuscript to a scientific journal for review.

It’s very exciting for me, because it’s nice to see that the story continued after you’d left.

Also it’s an extra publication to add to the list (yes, I know it’s not first or second author, but I still get excited about it).

So yes, I’ve been hitting the #refresh for a bit now, but I just noticed that the journal has officially sent it off for peer-review, so I’ll stop checking. 😂 The next time I hear about it, it’ll be with the outcome of the review process.

Here’s hoping it’ll be good news. 🤞🏼

Categories: Ph D posts

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ABugsLife

A Ph. D graduate in Microbiology, residing in Victoria, Australia. Currently working in multiple locations but still in the STEM field. 👀 🦠 🧫 🧬