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3. The Research Journey_Navigating Uncertainty, Setbacks, and Discovery - Part 01 – Transcript
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Okay. So you join the research program. There is this initial enthusiasm, lots of expectation. I'm going to be now a a doctor somebody.
there is there is this curiosity to as to what problem I'll be solving and bringing out something to this world that enthusiasm continues to happen [clears throat] and the way that you look at the entire uh program would be okay I'm I'll be picking a problem I'll discover uh something related to that problem I'll
write to journal journal will accept the paper then I'll write the thesis PhD D the usual stuff that happens to a new research scholar but then all of us know who have done research and a PhD [clears throat] it's not that way okay though beginning is a lot of eagerness curiosity I mean excited to do
this one goes through a yo-yo ups and downs ups and downs The research is rarely one direction up and that's it. It is always this way and if you ask anybody who has done research this is what they they're going to say.
This ups and downs are a part of the journey whether it is to find direction suddenly you'll find oh okay I'm not sure where to search what to search there is so much of confusion and this itself starts to now doubt whether you're capable right you you will feel though okay my god 2 years are gone
probably let's say 3 months are gone I'm stuck I'm not able to find a good problem to solve and therefore you start to now feel low.
You get isolated. You see no progress. Right? All these things would happen. You would go down to a valley. But then suddenly sometimes what happens is you you have a h aha moment. There is an idea that suddenly stuck, right? and you wanted to now try it out. There is this confidence suddenly up comes up
but this may not last for a long time. It may probably uh get you to a setback again. It could be because you write a paper you send it to a journal thinking that oh okay my idea is a great idea but then you get reviewer comments probably not to the expectation of yourselves.
The viewer [clears throat] says no no no you have to revise etc etc and the experiment that you conducted could probably be uh not going as per what you thought this unexpected dip again will put you down again [clears throat] you will try to uh come out of it and this would go on and on till you finish I still remember I've
guided a a lot of research scholars I still remember when they come to the last leg of PhD. I tell them okay you have been able to get this across in terms of research and perhaps that is the highlight of your thesis when you write it but they're not very sure uh is it so that I have completed etc etc there is this mixed
emotion also um hopeful that know there is something more that I can do usually what happens at the end of PhD they want to do a lot more because now they've come to a stage where I can do this, I can do this, I can do this, I can do this. Oh, each one will give a paper to me etc etc. So [clears throat] the point I'm making
here is research is not something that is as linear as you would have started to think initially right over a few years you will start to find this is what it is. Five years is a long period.
There are so many things that happen. Usually at a a period when you are 22 21 22 you would join uh research program typically and this phase of life is quite different from a life that you enjoyed in your undergraduate program.
Life takes another turn. You go to another stage of life and so on. >> [clears throat] >> If you look at uh regular course program, curricular program, it's very different.
You have set curriculum, you have classes to attend every week. There will be assignments, there will be quizzes, there will be exams, you'll finish the exams, you will wait for uh results and you'll move to the next semester. It's well defined. It's very structured, predictable when you're going to end this program, when you're
going to end the semester, all those and what is it that you should learn so that you reach the milestone. But research is not like that. Research is very different, right? You start with the question. The question itself is not so um straightforward, right? You need to keep on searching and searching and searching.
>> [clears throat] >> You would design an experiment but the experiment pro is not as expected and therefore there is no result things are not working sir it is not working sir this is a standard thing that happens and that puts them off it's [snorts and clears throat] naturally so right so you'll start to rethink after discussing with your adviser you will question the idea that you
started with you will want to adjust here and there so that the next step of oh okay this is what I missed out etc etc would happen you'll start to learn you'll gain in insight remember what result was not happening now starts to happen which means that the previous result is not a waste right so you'll try again you test the new hypothesis
you'll probably get something and then you'll keep going okay let me have a new question, I'll start the loop again. And this research is like this. And it's usually exploratory. It's like climbing a mountain and you don't know where you're going to reach or going in a forest, right? You're not very sure whether you're going in the right path,
etc., etc. But the exciting thing about all this is it's full of discovery, right? Sometimes a visible uh result is going to spoil you compared to a result that probably says oh you know progress has happened.
And therefore folks remember research is unique program not like the regular academic programs that you have the course oriented programs.
It is like a roller coaster ride. How many of you like roller coaster ride? Forget about you know the fear that initially you would have but you will have friends who will sort of convince you okay let's go for that journey right and you'll start on this roller coaster uh ride there'll be uncertainty suddenly it may go up right and it's it's going to fall there there is that preparedness that you would have oh it's going to
fall let me grip the uh the support very tightly and then [clears throat] it'll again go down go up. You know how it is as far as roller coaster ride is concerned. It's not a straight line as we see in a a train journey. Right? And therefore we prepare ourselves for this journey.
Right? The moment we prepare ourselves for this journey and know that there are uncertainties, there are downs and ups and you know turns etc etc. You'll suddenly feel oh okay let that curiosity starts to happen in your mind and you wish to enjoy that curiosity. It's a beautiful program where there are so many things that constitute
a research program that you will completely miss as far as curricular programs is concerned and therefore what will happen to you is initial expectation etc etc will start to sort of take a dip here and there right it'll get a beating but that's a part of research program I'm going to now focus us on your journey.
One of the important places of your journey is your research lab. Now as you enter as you just say you as you step into the lab it is not just the researcher who is with the intelligence coming in. It is the entire person, the entire package,
your body, your mind, your emotional uh and uh social connections, everything enters the lab and that's the big biggest difference because it is the whole human being who is entering the lab as a new entrant to the lab. There are people who are there inside the lab who you will start to call as labm mates.
The body, mind as well as the emotional spirit have to connect with those labmates that exist or will come later also. Right? All of them sort of shape up your research journey. So it's not you only it is yourself as body and mind as well as the emotions that come about the feelings the friendships that you
get the support you get or lack of support that you get that this my lab all these things play a big role in terms of calling yourself a researcher in a lab naturally In that you will see that there is a lot of things that would happen
right you'll try something new as far as experiment is concerned and uh the uh facility may not be available for some time you'll have to wait this is standard thing and during wait what shall I do there is this uncertainty whether the experiment will work or not but to get the equipment itself is is taking time So you start to