In November 2019, scientists had the opportunity to learn more about the research related to the ImmunoSensation Cluster at the Cluster Science Days 2019. This time, the Blog Team carried out a survey to reveal some information about the attendees. Besides participating in the interesting talks of PhD students, postdocs and PIs, the scientists had the chance to place coloured stickers on different graphs to reveal some information about themselves (red/black – University Hospital Bonn (UKB), blue – German Center for Neurogenerative Diseases (DZNE), green – University of Bonn, yellow – other institutes).
Which field are you working in – innate or adaptive immunity?
The innate vs. adaptive immunity graph nicely shows a high diversity in the research fields. A small majority works in the field of innate immunity. As our graph reveals, most researchers either work with innate or adaptive immunity but some scientists would assign their research to both fields. Intriguingly, only few researchers work in neither of the two fields and we can only guess what their field of research is. Maybe you want to write about it ;)?
Tea vs. Coffee – what do you prefer?
The best way to get in touch with other scientists about their research is with a cup of tea or coffee in your hand while having an easy conversation. But what do you prefer? Tea or coffee – or sometimes both? As we can see on the graph, the scientists had a wide variety of preferences. While only few people drink either tea or coffee, most drink both. Interestingly, most tea drinkers are Uni Bonn scientist while the UKB scientist prefer coffee.
Are you on the right track or do you feel lost in the PhD jungle?
Doing a PhD or postdoc can be overwhelming from time to time. Thus, it might be helpful to step back and reflect whether you are still on track or really desperate. We asked the scientists how they feel and associated it with the years into PhD. First thing we noticed is that a slight majority feels on track. Lucky you! Many of those are in their first year so they still have a long way to go. However, some lucky DZNE scientists seem to be at the finishing line so we hope they can defend soon!
What is your main model system?
The methods used during your research are rather dynamic while the model system will be quite consistent in most cases. In the ImmunoSensation Cluster, the predominant model systems are cell culture and animal models. Our survey further showed that only some researchers use human models whereas in silico and biochemistry are underrepresented in our survey.
What has changed over the last three years?
In 2016, the Blog Team carried out a similar survey. Comparing the surveys, we could see that the results are quite similar. There is still a high degree of diversity in the adaptive vs. innate graph and most people use animals and/or cell culture as their main model system. However, the amount of attendees that do biochemistry work decreased. The amount of researchers that are lost on the PhD jungle did not decrease between 2016 and 2019. If you are searching for some stress relieving activities, you might want to read this article.
Last but not least we want to thank all people for their participation. We had a great time at the Cluster Science Days and learned a lot about the scientists and their field of research. Hopefully, we will see each other again at the next Cluster Science Days 🙂
Author: Anja vom Hemdt – for the blog team