On May 27th, the International Campus held the “SPARK Night”, a social event for faculty and staff, with the theme of the career development of junior PIs. The event was featured by the talks by Prof. OUYANG Hongwei, dean of the International Campus, and Prof. JI Jian, member of the Functional Polymer International Research Center on issues related to the professional development of the young faculty members on campus.
Some topics addressed that night covered "How to develop a good lab culture?", "How to motivate students during teaching?", "How to balance teaching and research?", "How should junior PIs create an original research?" and "How to keep the International Campus international in the post-epidemic era?".
On Developing Lab Culture
A harmonious and stable lab culture is essential for research. According to Prof. OUYANG, the basis of a good lab culture lies in trust and fairness. On one hand, treat the lab members as family members and strive to develop mutual trust with them not only in the lab but also during social activities. On the other hand, communicate with your graduate students frequently so that questions can be answered, and ideas exchanged. All in all, those efforts will influence the team members in an accumulative way and a healthy lab culture will develop gradually.
On Motivating the Students
It has always been a concern for the faculties that how to make students more proactive during research. For that, Prof. OUYANG emphasized the roles of ‘role models’ and ‘aspirations’ in empowering the students. He holds that the teachers must help students realize that their dreams are reachable.
Meanwhile, Prof. JI stressed the pivotal role of reflective thinking in doing research. He thinks that as long as the students keep thinking, they do not need to always stay in labs. As for instructors, they would benefit from "teaching students in accordance with their aptitudes" if they plan to stimulate students' initiatives. A thorough understanding of who they are teaching helps the faculty members provide well-informed guidance and suggestions.
On Balancing Teaching and Research
Balancing between teaching and research is a challenge for junior PIs. Prof. JI believes that scientific research and teaching are the same in terms of improving one’s abilities.
Prof. OUYANG mentioned that PIs will have different priorities at different times. For example, young faculties usually put more energy into teaching to help themselves get prepared, but the focus will shift as time goes. Therefore, PIs must plan wisely at different times.
On Making the Campus More International
Looking into the future, Prof. OUYANG asserted that the development of the Campus is promising and steadfast. On one hand, the Campus will put more effort into faculty development, expecting the faculties to develop in an all-around way. On the other hand, the campus will keep tapping into international resources and fostering connections with universities overseas.
Prof. WANG Yufen, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee, and the directors of relevant departments of the campus attended the event.
The Spark series of activities are organized by the Faculty Community Organizing Committee and undertaken by the campus Labor Union. The SPARK aims to promote academic conversations on campus and stimulate the collision of ideas across disciplines. SPARK takes three forms: Spark Salon, Spark Seminar, and Spark Night. Up to now, the Spark series has been held for about 20 sessions, during which nearly 30 keynote speakers from various fields have come to share their research experiences and accomplishments.
Translation: WANG Ruoqin
Article: ZHOU Xiaochen
Photography: LIU Shuaiyin
Editor in charge: XIA Ping, LI Yinan