To form one’s own research team is both a great opportunity and an obligation: to build something new, assemble a team, do well in international competition, and to find long-term financing. Everyone who had this opportunity agrees that the beginnings are demanding but offer an extraordinary experience and professional growth. They speak about the need for long-term stability and trust, about the importance of intergenerational collaboration that brings together the energy and ideas of the younger team members and the experience and ability to see things in context of the older ones. They also agree that truly excellent science cannot be done without the courage to take risks, share, and collaborate across fields.
- How did you feel about the opportunity to have your own research team, and do you ever regret taking it up?
- From the intergenerational perspective, what can senior scientists offer to the junior ones – and vice versa?
- What is needed for the formation of more new excellent research teams in the Czech Republic?
Martin Sztacho
Prague node, First Faculty of Medicine of the Charles University
Laboratory of cancer cell architecture
- The opportunity to build one’s own research team thanks to the NICR has been quite unique. Such opportunities are rare, both in the Czech Republic and abroad. The early days were difficult because we had to build the lab ‘from the scratch’, that is, get the basic equipment, instruments, chemicals, and laboratory material, and at the same time create a capable and internationally competitive team. The most demanding task was – and is – to find long-term financing, because excellent research usually transcends the framework of three-year grant projects. Even so, I would go for it again. It is a highly intensive and interesting experience from which one can learn a lot not only about science as such but also about leading people, managing projects, and one’s own resilience.
- The younger generation often has fresh personal experience of modern methods and international trends. Thanks to easier access to international stays and collaborations, they bring into the system lots of energy, new ideas, and enthusiasm. Older colleagues, on the other hand, offer a valuable ability to see things in context, deep knowledge, experience with leading people, and orientation in the institutional and systemic environment of science in the Czech Republic. They have the ability to find stable support for long-term research. Of importance is also their personal experience with maintaining balance between work and personal life, because these are the people who managed to stay in science without burning out.
- What is missing in Czechia is a wider selection of start-up grants with a longer financing period, ideally three to five years, which would give new teams enough time to develop their potential. Aside from better financing, what is also needed is a change to the evaluation of science. Success should not be assessed only in terms of the number of patents, applications, or high-index publications. Top quality basic research brings results in a longer temporal horizon and boosts the international prestige of the country and its innovation capacity. Long-term stable support is key to the development of excellent teams, because researchers who are secure in their support can fully focus on science without worrying whether they will have enough money for salaries and operation of the laboratory in the coming year.
Lenka Zdražilová Dubská
Brno node, Faculty of Medicine of Masaryk University
Innovative ATMP for rare diseases
- The foundation of research group Innovative ATMP for rare diseases is something I see as a unique opportunity that would not have arisen without the support of NICR. We see new opportunities not only in research as such but also in terms of involving young colleagues who bring new ideas and energy into the team. The group is based on an interconnection of two strong pillars: the mission of NICR and activities of the CREATIC Centre of Excellence, which is a Central European centre for gene and cell therapy for rare diseases. Our goal is to organically bring together these two missions, transfer research results to the patients, support the creation of innovative therapies, and strengthen expert capacities of Czech science in this extraordinarily promising area.
- Intergenerational links are important for science. Senior scientists bring experience, stability and the ability to see things in a longer-term horizon. They share not only their professional know-how but also the courage to overcome obstacles, persist, and complete projects. They can offer support and inspiration, and they are living examples of the ability to combine a demanding career in science with personal life, family, or other professional roles. On the other hand, there is the younger generation who bring into research fresh energy, new perspective, and natural international scope. Our younger colleagues have the courage to travel, get involved in international projects, and bring experiences from foreign institutions. They are digitally capable, open to new methods, and have highly developed collaboration and networking skills. Thanks to them, the Czech research environment is becoming ever more closely connected to the rest of Europe and the world, gains access to new approaches, and engages in new partnerships.
- Crucial is especially having more people who are enthusiastic about science, driven, and who have the courage to take up formidable challenges. Top research is nowadays necessarily multidisciplinary, it requires the ability to transcend the borders of particular disciplines, to see things in broader contexts, and to collaborate with experts from other areas. What often works as a limiting factor for Czech scientists is narrow specialisation without a wider context. When the goal is to develop something truly novel and transfer it into clinical practice, one must adopt a comprehensive approach.
Helena Kupcová Skalníková
Prague node, First Faculty of Medicine of the Charles University
Laboratory of proteomics
- We started building a new group of proteomics with enthusiasm and now, towards the end of the NICR project, I am sure that it was an excellent decision to take up this opportunity. The establishment of a well-equipped laboratory capable of performing a wide range of methods aimed at the study of proteins, key molecules that determine cellular phenotypes, has been a great contribution to broadening the research of tumour proteomics in the Czech Republic and to increasing the competitiveness of research in our country. Establishment of this group has also aided the development of research careers of its members and collaborators. Being the leader of this group has been a big commitment and responsibility not only towards my colleagues but also the public, and that not only during the NICR project but also into the future.
- I do not see myself as a very senior scientist and generational differences between the members of our group are not very big – or at least we have not yet encountered any intergenerational disagreements. We have open communication within our group. I welcome the views of younger colleagues, because they lead to discussions and broaden our vision of the examined issues or results. At the same time, sometimes one needs to help a little those colleagues who are just starting their scientific career, to find their bearings within the subject matter, place the research in a wider context or gently direct the research or the methods used. I feel that thanks to mutual respect, we all feel comfortable in the group but also within the Institute of Biochemistry and Experimental Oncology of the First Faculty of Medicine of the Charles University.
- The building of specialised laboratories with excellent instruments is highly demanding not only in terms of financing but also in terms of specialised personnel. That is why I believe that new laboratories can be established only to a limited extent and it is more advantageous to bring them together into larger centres, as was the case for instance within NICR. Now with the ending project we are looking for new forms of financing the continued operation of our instruments and the expertise of people who specialise in the cancer proteomics and hope to continue developing the collaborative projects we had started.
Zdeněk Andrysík
Brno node, Faculty of Medicine of Masaryk University
Molecular mechanisms of cancer
- I have perceived – and still see – the opportunity to start my own group as a great privilege and, as the team keeps expanding, also a great responsibility. I do not have data for the Czech Republic but in foreign countries, the proportion of postdocs who end up independently leading a team is about 10%, which is also why I value this opportunity so very much. A year and a half later, I definitely do not regret it and hope it will not change. I am still ready to do my utmost to make sure that things I am responsible for turn out as well as possible. External factors which one cannot influence must be accepted as reality one must rather adapt to. I am thus trying to keep the enthusiasm and fascination of a child who found himself alone in a sweets shop – and make sure I do not end up in the ER with upset stomach.
- It would be great if senior researchers had space for occasional mentoring of juniors and for consultations. In my previous position, it was that way and every junior scientist had an older mentor. It was a highly positive experience. It is, after all, much better to hear scathing criticism of an intended project from a colleague than from reviewers of a grant application. Or their thoughts about a candidate for a Ph.D. position – as a junior, one perhaps even cannot be the perfect leader, and yet with your first students and postdocs, that is what your career stands and falls with. To put together a good team is something I find very difficult and although I believe I have managed to do it, I have a nagging suspicion that I was simply lucky. We, juniors, should perhaps bring into the academic environment energy, desire to do new things and move the entire system forwards, everything forwards, and keep improving everything further, constantly overestimate our strength, bite off more than we can chew, give ourselves ambitious goals, and only after the inevitable crash against reality unwillingly come to terms with the maximum of what is possible.
- I have just a boring and unsurprising answer: money. There is no magical recipe for making science cheaply. Money management is in our academic research, at least as far as I got to know it, highly effective – perhaps even to the extent of being constrictive. But if I were to let my imagination loose, I would think about a further concentration of research into existing centres, ideally university campuses. The benefits of such an approach have been tested abroad and they are obvious: starting with a better use of shared technologies and expertise all the way to making it easier for students, for whom it can be needlessly limiting when they need to juggle lectures and time-consuming work in the lab, and on top of that commute between institutions.
Lenka Bešše
Brno node, Faculty of Medicine of Masaryk University
Cancer immunotherapy
- The programme of NICR had given me a unique opportunity to build my own research group. Without this support, it would have been almost impossible for me to equip my own lab and put together a high-quality team that develops new ideas. Crucial was also the chance to come back from abroad: without the help of NICR, such step would have been extremely difficult. A return requires strong backing and support in terms of both finances and people. Otherwise, it would be very difficult to put together a competitive grant proposal and start my own group. I definitely do not regret joining the NICR. On the contrary, I see it as the decisive step. I believe there should be more such programmes in the Czech Republic, because there are many extraordinarily talented Czech scientists abroad who would like to come back – if they had the right conditions to do so.
- Senior scientists can share with their younger colleagues a vast amount of experience, not only in terms of science but also in terms of people or team skills. A good senior mentor can be for young scientists a real starting point that helps them grow. A mentor can help them understand how the area had developed, provide a broader scientific perspective, and often also highly valuable contacts. Thanks to this, junior scientists can get better oriented in who they should cooperate with, how to build their network, and how to develop further.
- In my view, it is of key importance to systematically invest in young scientists, not only in terms of financing but also through long-term trust and institutional support. Young researchers bring new ideas, methodological know-how, and often open completely new directions of research and work opportunities. Of crucial importance is also the creation of environment that supports an exchange of ideas, discussions, and creativity – not only a daily struggle for survival. If we provide scientists with at least minimal financial stability, they can better focus on daring and groundbreaking projects. Top quality research is inherently risky and uncertain: it brings new concepts that need not immediately deliver positive results but can profoundly broaden the horizons of knowledge. This risky nature of such undertaking often transcends the confines of standard grant financing but without financial backing that leaves space for taking scientific risks, truly excellent science cannot be done.
Vladimíra Koudeláková
Olomouc node, Institute of Molecular and Translational Medicine and University Hospital Olomouc
Virology and Molecular Carcinogenesis
- I saw the opportunity to establish, thanks to NICR, my own research group as a great deal of trust placed in me and as an obligation. Our group focuses on the research of cancers linked to viral infections, especially HPV. It is an area with a vast potential but also many challenges. Still, I definitely do not regret taking up this challenge: it is an opportunity to build something of my own, to move ahead, and to contribute to a better understanding of these issues.
- Intergenerational cooperation is extremely important. More experienced colleagues can share a lot of knowledge, help maintain a perspective on things, and inspire. Younger colleagues can use their contacts and collaborative networks, which can open new opportunities and directions of research. The younger generation, on the other hand, brings new ideas, energy, and the courage to try do things differently. When these two perspectives combine, science is clearly the winner.
- I believe it is of key importance to create an environment that enables young scientists to be independent: to place trust in them, give them space for own decision-making, and stable support to start with. Crucial is also connection with the international environment, openness to new ideas, and mainly adequate and long-term financing. Top-quality science needs time and some level of certainty that the effort invested in building a team and developing a project will lead to continuity. When experience, courage, infrastructure, and stable support are all in place, I think much more excellent science could be done here.