Remote work during Coronavirus Pandemic

A huge, stressful global ‘work from home’ experiment is being forcefully conducted courtesy of the Coronavirus with no two people having similar experiences or conditions or for that matter tasks to achieve. Researchers are no different. So what can a researcher do to optimize productivity outside the comforts of their research laboratories?

1. You come first. Take care of yourself.

Your physical and mental health is paramount just as much as those around you. Jumpin jacks, yoga, meditation, whatever that works for you, do it! A healthy body and a healthier mindset is what will get all of us through these unprecedented times.

2. Take on a new challenge, learn a new skill

You will be far from an expert but do not let that discourage you from acquiring a new skill that could come handy in your research publications. Take this time to learn something new like learn how to produce documents in LaTex or create a graph in R. This could also be that much needed time you needed to catch up on what is going on in your respective fields of research, what your colleagues are up to or even better explore opportunities for cross collaborations.

Tip: MyScienceWork hosts a global community of 500k scientific members in various disciplines and research fields.

3. Revisit that long forgotten project.

You do not have to be a Researcher to have some unfinished work in the very depths of your computer files. Dig up unfinished manuscripts or unpublished data and take this time to figure out if there is any publishable material there.

4. Boost your online profile

Social distancing is not social isolation.

Take this time to amplify your profile within and beyond the global scientific community. Create a profile with MyScienceWork, upload your work and better still, get in touch with the MSW editorial who will give visibility to your work, past, present and future.

5. Look out for funding

Here you go with all that time you needed for scouring the net for grants and fellowships.

Look beyond the obvious places such as federal grant agencies and seek out industry awards, low scale research funding and lower profile fellowships and increase your chances at landing one. The very experience of maturing your grant writing skills is a win in the long haul.

6. Explore new and promising career opportunities

You do not have to be the researcher who comes up with the cure for Coronavirus (though the timing could not be more perfect) to have a highly demanded profile. Long hours of laboratory confinement will have you hopping from one experiment to another, and neglect long-term career planning. Carve out some time to brainstorm on skills that you have, would like to have and visualize where you see yourself headed in the future. Check out career options with online job simulations, or use free introspection tools, such as myIDP to support you in the task.

Bonus tip : Help each other out

You are not in solitary confinement, not really.
“When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives.”