There are many qualities that a good researcher must have. Dhanonjoy Chandra Saha is a Jamaica-based Bangladeshi researcher and a professor. He is a Veterinarian (DVM) and MS Ph.D. Saha served as the Director of Research Information and Development at New York Medical College. He is the director of the Office of Grant Support and works as the Research Professor of Medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He believes that every researcher should have a few qualities in order to succeed.
- Humility before failure and before others.
The first lesson to learn in life is that not everything always goes well, nor are we perfect (although some of us are very close). Jokes aside, the first thing you should be clear when entering a laboratory, and being unorthodox is that you are going to screw up a lot and many times. That is why they will correct you a lot and many times. This does not mean that you are a scumbag, but everyone screws up and everyone has to learn. If you are not prepared, if your ego is not able to withstand this, and above all, if you do not have the patience to start over and over again, and fit that the work of your last week, month or (Darwin does not want it) year does not It has served for nothing … then you have a problem. If you are able to take advantage of your mistakes … then you will learn a lot and quickly.
- Venture out of the city.
There are people who want to investigate, but they want to do it in their city, if possible in their neighborhood. If you don’t dare to leave Spain, you should at least expand your borders. Nothing like changing the city, knowing other laboratories. Almost certainly your ideal place is not near your home. The secret is to move, and with a little luck you will end up being in the right place at the right time.
- Work 25 hours a day
Researchers work as mules, they charge little and they are happy. I ignore the gene that causes this anomaly, but it is so. As I read in Mulet in Amazings some time ago:
Only the [students] who ask where you have to ask for authorization to access the laboratory on weekends are the ones who end up publishing articles and reading the thesis.
If you want to get a tattoo, you should tattoo that phrase in a very visible place. It has more reason than a saint.
- Knowing how to investigate is not the same as knowing how to study
If you are a studious person, who gets good grades and strives during the race, you have half the way traveled. But that is not all. The other half is not studying and is what I call “knowing how to think.” You can be a good student and a bad researcher, or be a bad student and a good researcher. In any case, only people who are capable of being innovative, having ideas and solving problems (which is what research is) can succeed in researching. Being able to memorize 50 enzymatic routes does not help much if you don’t know how to take advantage of that information when you play.
- Organization
The Notebook is the most precious asset of the scientist, and therefore must be impeccably neat and organized, devoting a good space of time to it. Think that you are going to dedicate YEARS to a project, and everything must be thoroughly explained and detailed. To facilitate your task not only to you but also to others. Personally, I am very much about pointing four things on a piece of dirty napkin and getting along with it. Without a doubt this is one of my weaknesses.