SCELSE-Graduates & Postdocs Seminar Series: How to ask good questions in Scientific Seminars?

Speaker’s Biography:
Dr Viduthalai Rasheedkhan Regina is a principal research fellow at SCELSE and the Deputy Research Director of the L’Oréal-SCELSE joint research laboratory. He leads the skin microbiome research program in SCELSE, in collaboration with academic and industry partners (NTU, NUS, L’Oréal, SRIS/A-star). Dr. Vidu attained his Ph.D. and did his postdoctoral research at the Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Centre (iNANO), Aarhus University (Denmark). Dr. Vidu was the founder of ‘VRR biotech’ that offered consultation on biofilm mitigation for food industries, before joining SCELSE as a research fellow in 2016 to specialize on microbial communities and synthetic ecology. Dr. Vidu intends to discover novel microbial community processes and exploit that knowledge to develop microbiome-targeted health technologies.

Workshop Abstract:
Inquiry forms the core of scientific pursuit. Therefore, asking and answering questions are inherent in the scientific process that helps in advancing knowledge. In the pursuit of becoming independent scientists, and early career researchers including research staff, PhD students, and postdocs, it is important to develop the mindset for asking questions and to participate in scientific discussions. Apart from the inherent benefits of asking scientific questions such as stimulating new ideas and inventing new scientific perspectives, asking questions during seminars and conferences provides visibility and new collaboration opportunities for early career researchers. However, it is not an easy task for many young researchers to raise their hands and ask a question in a room full of people. This is not an intellectual problem, but it has to do with a lot of different factors including cultural background, lack of practice, fear of standing out, etc. This workshop aims to address this problem and discuss some of the tools that can be used to overcome the initial barrier to asking questions during seminars and conferences. This will be an informal interactive session. All Ph.D. students and early career researchers are encouraged to attend this workshop.

Please RSVP here. If you are from NUS, please click “Public” to sign up.
Transportation between NUS & NTU will be provided for NUS-based researchers (please indicate your interest in the registration form).

SCELSE-GPA committee