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More About This Title A Self-fulfilling Prophecy - Building a Successful Career in Health Research
English
The book breaks down the key to a successful career in health research, through a systematic analysis of how you can improve your curriculum vitae and positively influence external factors that will determine the eventual success of your career. PhD candidates and Post-Doctoral Fellows provide insights into how they have developed their own research careers, thus providing evidence that it is possible to achieve something substantive if you are able to think and judge your career in a critical manner.
A Self-fulfilling Prophecy: Building a Successful Career in Health Research offers guidance on the following issues:
- How to choose an attractive research topic
- How to benchmark yourself against peer competitors
- How to compose a competitive research grant application
- How to improve your overall skills as a health research
- How to break the mould and stand out as a health researcher
This book will be a useful and informative read for anyone who is starting a career in both non-medical and medical health research or for readers who are looking for direction and inspiration in their existing career.
English
English
Author Profile vii
Foreword ix
Preface xi
1 Becoming a Strategic Researcher: Increasing your Chances of Long-Term Success 1
Introduction 1
Mentors and Role Models 2
Positive Peer Relationships 5
Hot Research Topics 6
Active Professional Engagement 7
Rapid Career Progress 8
Summary 9
2 Critical Self-Analysis and Personal Improvement: Do I Currently Have the Skills and Knowledge to Become an Expert Health Researcher? 11
Introduction 11
Critically Evaluating your Strengths and Weaknesses 13
Summary 20
3 Benchmarking your Capabilities and Performance: Improving your Chances of Success within a Competitive Environment 23
Introduction 23
Benchmarking your Career Progress 24
Identifying your Career Targets 26
Profiling your Competitors/Peers 27
Understanding the Background to Research: Australia’s National Priorities in Funding Health Research 28
Purpose of Personal Support: The NHMRC Post-Doctoral Training Fellowships 30
Scoring Individual Applications 31
Picking the Winners 37
Summary 38
4 Choosing the ‘Cutting-Edge’ of Health Research 39
Introduction 39
Identifying a ‘Hot’ Research Topic 39
New Research Horizons: The Heart of Soweto Study 42
Increasing Admissions for Heart Attack in Soweto: A Historical Comparison 46
Taking it One Step Further: Identifying a Unique Topic 52
Summary 54
5 From Potential to Reality: The Importance of Achieving Timely Milestones to Bring your Research to Fruition 57
Introduction 57
Completing a Timely and Successful PhD 59
Key Qualities of a PhD-Qualified Researcher 64
Consolidating a Foundation for Success: Post-Doctoral Fellowship 68
Summary 70
6 Becoming a Prolific Publisher 73
Introduction 73
Publishing: What Should You Be Aiming for? 74
Key Attributes of a Prolific Publisher 77
Summary 80
7 Successfully Applying for Competitive Research Funds to Support your Career Path and Research Programme 81
Introduction 81
Improving your Chances of Funding Success 82
Putting It All Together as Part of a Persuasive Research Application 85
Developing a Compelling Curriculum Vitae 121
Completing a Successful Interview 130
Summary 131
8 Putting It All Together: A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of Career Success in Health Research 133
Introduction 133
Putting It All Together 133
Personal Reflections on an Emerging Research Career 135
Summary 165
References 167
Index 169
English
"It will be an informative read and invaluable resource for anyone who is starting a career in health research..." (Journal of Advanced Nursing, November 2007)
