ReMO Podcast

Today's guest is Mateja Erce, a PhD student in Renewable Materials for  Healthy Built Environments at the University of Primorska in Slovenia  and a ReMO Ambassador. In the second part of our conversation, Mateja presents a description of  what a healthy, functional, reasonable and realistic scenario for a PhD journey would look like in her opinion. Cooperation vs. competition, clear expectations and support throughout the process are the pillars of this scenario. Thank you for listening to this podcast. For more  episodes, please check out our website, at remo-network.eu

Today's guest is Mateja Erce, a PhD student in Renewable Materials for Healthy Built Environments at the University of Primorska in Slovenia and a ReMO Ambassador. In the first part of our conversation, we talk about some of the challenges that researchers face in their careers, both at personal and systemic level, including a misleading perception of the job, which leads to wrong expectations. We talk about the pressure to produce as much as possible, without a ceiling, a clear notion of how much is enough; finally, we talk about the intensive intellectual labor (as opposed to physical labor) and the competition among colleagues even within the same group or team. In the second part of our conversation, I will ask Mateja to talk about how things would look right to her, not really a plan for action, but a description of what a healthy, functional, reasonable and realistic scenario would look like in her opinion. Thank you for listening to this podcast. For more episodes, please check out our website, at remo-network.eu

Today's guest is Wainer Lusoli, Deputy Head of Unit of the European  Research Executive Agency (REA), and we talk about METASCIENCE. In the second part  of our conversation, Wainer talks about what may be positive about the megatrends mentioned in the first part of the conversation, such as speed, the mechanization of science, the professionalization of science, the monetization and the industrialization of science - and what we may want to keep in planning our way forward, in  trying to orient the next transformation of science in a way that  safeguards and ensures the personal wellbeing of the professional of  science. Thank you for listening to this podcast. For more episodes,  please check out our website, at remo-network.eu

Today's guest is Wainer Lusoli, Deputy Head of Unit of the European Research Executive Agency (REA), and we talk about METASCIENCE. In the first part of our conversation, Wainer points out some of the megatrends that define the scientific ethos, such as speed, the mechanization of science, the professionalization of science, the monetization and the industrialization of science. Ethics plays a big role, too. Ethics that is not written in stone, but co-evolves with society. In the second part of our conversation, I will ask him what may be positive about these trends, and what we may want to keep in planning our way forward, in trying to orient the next transformation of science in a way that safeguards and ensures the personal wellbeing of the professional of science. Thank you for listening to this podcast. For more episodes, please check out our website, at remo-network.eu

Today's guest is Luca Viganò, Professor in Cybersecurity at King's  College London and we talk about MENTORSHIP. Besides being a professor  in cybersecurity, he is an experienced supervisor as well as a former  coordinator of a PhD school. In the second part of our conversation, we talk about the strategies that may be adopted to improve a critical situation between mentor and mentee, about whether a mandatory training for supervisors may be helpful, and finally whether we should expect that PhD supervisor be able to support their students in personal, emotional struggles. Thank you for listening to this podcast. For more episodes, please check out our website, at remo-network.eu

Today's guest is Luca Viganò, Professor in Cybersecurity at King's College London and we talk about MENTORSHIP. Besides being a professor in cybersecurity, he is an experienced supervisor as well as a former coordinator of a PhD school. In the first part of our converation, Luca outlines what the job of a supervisor is and what it is reasonable to expect from a supervisor. He shares some of the common complaints that he has received from PhD students when he was serving as the director of a PhD school. In the second part of this conversation, we will talk about the strategies that may be adopted to improve a critical situation between mentor and mentee, about whether a mandatory training for supervisors may be helpful, and finally whether we should expect that PhD supervisor be able to support their students in personal, emotional struggles. See you again in the second part of this episode of the ReMO podcast with Luca Viganò.

This podcast is about researchers and their journey through the challenges of today's academia. In this episode, we meet Camilla, a multidsciplinary globetrotter with a determination to become a university professor. Someone who has always seen higher education as the way out of her past, a way to independence. Blessed with the capacity for great insight, Camilla is someone who really knows what works for her as an academic - and what doesn't.

Camilla's story is interesting, because she is someone with an acute awareness of her own weaknesses and struggles, as well as of her strengths and potential. She is critical of academia today, but the insightful person she is, she also knows what she brings to the table. Camilla admits having suffered from mental health issues almost all of her life, and she was recently diagnosed with ADHD. Her story reminds us that while academia should not be such a toxic environment as to BREAK healthy people that walk into it, it should aactually be so healthy to accommodate people with a history of (not extreme) mental health issues. In a way, after all, who doesn't have, or who hasn't had, a rough time where they didn't quite have it all together? And this is a good time to remember that our focus should only be on mental health (as in absence of pathologies) but on well-being, which is a condition where people thrive - not survive, not get by, not manage to meet a deadline without a full blown meltdown - but THRIVE.
I am Federica Bressan, host and producer of this podcast. Join me on this journey.

This podcast is about researchers and their journey through the challenges of today's academia. In this episode we meet Dilara, a PhD student who found herself confused and isolated during the writing of her master thesis. Finally someone stepped forward and helped her through that difficult time, and now, as she is busy with the PhD thesis, she makes a point of connecting with younger colleagues and always offering them support and a safe place to be heard. 

Dilara's story is inspiring because of the strength of her spirit, her determination to help herself, to never give up, and to rarely place the blame on others, even when she could. And to keep calm through it all. But no matter how strong you are, you can always use some help. When you're stuck, when no one reaches out a hand or seems to care or understand what we're going through, sometimes you meet someone who gives you exactly what you need, and they turn your whole situation around. For all intents and purposes, that person is the angel in your life.
I am Federica Bressan, host and producer of this podcast. Join me on this journey.

This podcast is about researchers and their journey through the challenges of today's academia. In this episode we meet Carla, a postdoc, a mother of two, and someone who once had the courage to say enough and to leave a toxic situation, as well as her PhD. She eventually went back, finished her PhD and decided that science is what she really wants to do, but without the toxicity. I am Federica Bressan, host and producer of this podcast. Join me on this journey.