Papers are peer-reviewed, funding proposals go through the committee. Impact factor (value of IF would be a great post for later!), JCR ranking, citation numbers, h-index… It feels like everything in our community is continuously measured, compared and assessed.
But what about grad school laboratory? If you just start looking for which lab to join. How much info do (or did) you have about laboratories or the potential PIs?
When we apply for University, grad school or even postdoc, the schools or Pis want and they can have information about us. And try to choose the best candidates available. But as a beginner researcher when you apply for the lab, all we get is the webpage of the laboratory or google scholar profile (if they have). Oh, how about you just contact current lab student and ask them how it is? Yeah, it cannot work… Either their thesis, next paper authorship or even recommendation letter could be in jeopardy. So yeap insider information is a no-no.
How unbalance is that? how much really important information we are missing, or not even realise that we could ask?
With that idea in mind, some youngsters in Korea created a website so-called 김박사넷, phdkim.net. ‘Kim’ is a really common surname in Korea. And part of their contents is similar to that of Tripadvisor if you exchange ‘trip’ to ‘laboratory’. So you get the idea. The website tries to adjust this unbalanced distribution of information.
With anonymous input from the students’ side, information of each laboratory is provided in public. Like the below image.
Measured categories are
- the ambience in the lab: like the relationship with colleagues, or whether the meeting is aggressive or soft
- the personal character of PI
- lecture skill
- mentoring or writing skill of scientific journal paper
- and practical financial support from the lab.
Not only this but also you can leave a short comment to describe your experience with the lab. Like a google review. There are way more to this website now because they are growing. Scholarship info, admission info, how to write a CV and anonymous online forum where you can discuss sensitive issues, etc. Unfortunately, it is only for Koreans now. Only in Korean language and about Korean labs.
It sounds so beautiful so far right? Well, we all know nothing can be perfect in real life. Already in most scientific communities, the authority of Professor over students is super strong. As so-called, academic parents. And Korea is not an exception. So there were some legal actions from some professors. Rumours about some lab comments were censored by professors. And lots of students are afraid to participate and contribute to the website at the beginning of this project.
Also, inputs from students could be tainted and biased also. It is an apparent temptation for people using anonymity to express their personal anger. We already see twisted side effects in the platforms like google reviews, Tripadvisor, Airbnb… And how many different labs or professors you could experience as one person. The reviews will be always personal and subjective.
So I cannot say it is the perfect solution to the issue that we have in the community but it is something new and meaningful start. Yes, I think it might be already happening that some lab’s reputation is unfairly criticized, or some professors fighting back with their authoritarian power. But I hope this new idea grows and evolves in a good direction.
You might be more familiar with the site (or app) ‘Blind’ that provides an anonymous forum for people in industries. Information like salaries, promotion, interview and internal policy rumours which normally only shared by insiders (especially higher in the chain) is getting revealed on to the surface. I am seeing a pattern here. Cannot say this new trend is going to be a bliss or a curse yet.
Have you ever heard of a similar concept like this in other countries or communities (let’s say not even in science)? Appreciate it if you could share us with a comment.
Coffee Break Special 