Scientific or Scholarly Isolation is Real
Nobody talks openly about this topic. If they do it’s in hushed tones. It happens in colleges and universities large and small. No one is exempt, from undergraduate students to principal investigators. The humanities and social sciences are not immune to this phenomenon either. A few graduate student members of my knitting group in those disciplines told me horror stories of committee disruption and taking up to 10 years to finish dissertations.
Reasons abound for why research isolation occurs. Bad projects happen. Research interests may conflict. Budget woes are often part of the mix. General neglect of the situation seems the mostly likely cause. The right kind of mentoring for students and faculty would probably address most of the reasons for research isolation. If you’ve been paying attention, NSF really encourages concrete mentoring plans through the broader impacts requirement of their grant proposals.
I experienced a few of these research isolation scenarios myself over 20+ years of the academic life. Having funded research helps. Not long ago I wrote a white paper that describes what happened to me and what I did to fix the problems. Click the button below to receive the white paper.
Free Report
How to Get Research Grants Funded and Give Killer Scientific Talks
It is official. Join Stefanie Robel and myself on July 10 at 3 PM EDT for our joint webinar on science grant writing and 
giving great scientific talks. We have plenty of tips to share whether you are a graduate student, postdoc, research scientist, or a faculty member. There will be something for everyone. Learn from our different experiences as a foreign-born postdoctoral researcher and a faculty member with years of smaller research university experience.
Grant Writing Webinar & More To Come
I am jumping off the webinar cliff in the next week or two. Since I used to teach general biology for majors among other classes, I should know something about giving presentation to large and small groups. On July 10 or thereabouts, I am joining forces with Stefanie Robel of Stefanie Robel Consulting as a guest and co-presenter on our joint topic of storytelling for scientists:
How to Get Research Grants Funded and Give Killer Scientific Talks.
Stefanie is originally from Germany and has a unique perspective on scientific presentations. Subscribe to my newsletter for updates about the webinar, more trainings, and other services. Watch for more updates here at The Grant Science Lab, on twitter @grantsciencelab , @DeborahCook6 and Facebook. Please respond to my short survey on Academic Consulting Services, so I may better serve the needs of academic scientists with grant proposal preparation and career goals.
