Got the funding, then the well went dry

[CluelessProf]

Hello everyone. I have not found this topic, so it must be highly unusual.
It is very embarrassing, so I ask any responders to please be nice...

I am in the unusual position of being a fully funded researcher who is running out of ideas much faster than I'm running out of money.

I am in an undergraduate school that puts a higher priority on teaching than on research (though you can't get tenure without doing both), so my research output need not be as intense as in the major research schools. Even so, I found that my output has been very weak.

I have a three-year federal grant. After one year, the original objectives in the proposal have been either fulfilled sooner than expected or discovered to be unattainable. But the first annual report was fairly decent, with a couple of publications. Since then, I have started new studies and directions, but none of them have produced much fruit, and as the second annual report deadline approaches, I know I will have no publications to report -- just a bunch of conference presentations and unpublished work that got nowhere. To make things worse, I am now out of ideas as to what other topics to pursue. For someone in a small lab with slower output pace, I cannot compete with bigger labs and so I must find a special niche -- this makes it difficult to come up with good research ideas in my situation.

I am becoming terribly anxious and embarrassed: I know so many people having trouble getting resources/funding and yet have nothing but great ideas, and here I am with all the resources I need, and not making full use of them. I know that sooner or later the jig will be up, and all I can see is a future ending in catastrophic failure and shame. I am always searching, but I can't seem to catch a break.

What do I want from this forum? I'm not sure -- Maybe I seek encouragement, maybe I hope others have gone through this same problem and found a solution, maybe I want suggestions or tough love.

 

[nucleargirl]

I know nothing about all this, but why don't you collaborate with the people you know who have loads of ideas but no money? give them some of the money and take some credit for their work? does it work like that? yeah...

or do the honorable thing and give the money back! take some time to think of new ideas and apply for more funding after.

 

[Astronuc]

Hello everyone. I have not found this topic, so it must be highly unusual.
It is very embarrassing, so I ask any responders to please be nice...

Quite unusual, and strange.

I am in the unusual position of being a fully funded researcher who is running out of ideas much faster than I'm running out of money.

An envious position.

Without knowing one's field, it's impossible to provide ideas.

In general, one could do experimental and/or theoretical work. I imagine there are plenty of areas for ideas one could find in various journals in one's field.

Establishing a collaborative effort would be worthwhile.

 

[Choppy]

One solution to this is to gather your students together for an urgent meeting and then spend two hours yelling at them for not coming up with better ideas. Alternatively, you could meet with each student in private and do the same thing, but this takes more of your time.

I'm not saying the solution works, but it seems to be a not uncommon approach.

(/Tounge in cheek)

Okay some stuff that might actually help...

- Go back and conduct a current literature review to see what other people are doing, what problems they are having, what assumptions they are making and challenge these.

- Start asking some practical questions. If you're doing more fundamental-type work can you bridge into translational research? If you're doing translational, can you bridge into engineering and/or development?

- Can your lab be used as a teaching tool? Can you reproduce other work that will give your students skills that will help them further their own objectives?

 

[Antiphon]

There is an art to doing funded research.

You made the mistake of not sandbagging into year three.

 

[nucleargirl]

? so? what are you going to do?

 

[Astro_Dude]

Since then, I have started new studies and directions, but none of them have produced much fruit, and as the second annual report deadline approaches, I know I will have no publications to report -- just a bunch of conference presentations and unpublished work that got nowhere. To make things worse, I am now out of ideas as to what other topics to pursue. For someone in a small lab with slower output pace, I cannot compete with bigger labs and so I must find a special niche -- this makes it difficult to come up with good research ideas in my situation.

So to me it sounds like you might actually have more to publish on than you think. Null results are publishable too, don't forget that. Of course, there's a difference between a null result because the data just isn't there and a null result because the data didn't show what you thought it would. You could always bang out a paper saying "So this is the idea, why I thought it would work, but it didn't." I actually appreciate papers like that because it helps others not try the same thing.

Also, is there a reason why you haven't turned those presentations into conference proceedings or maybe short papers?

I am becoming terribly anxious and embarrassed: I know so many people having trouble getting resources/funding and yet have nothing but great ideas, and here I am with all the resources I need, and not making full use of them. I know that sooner or later the jig will be up, and all I can see is a future ending in catastrophic failure and shame. I am always searching, but I can't seem to catch a break.

One thing my adviser always tells me to do to get ideas is to read the pre-print server. For me, that's astro-ph, but I'm willing to bet that arxiv has some section for your subfield. A lot of ideas for papers and work come from realizing that someone missed something, or did something wrong, or maybe you realize a better way to do it. I've had a few papers come from just testing claims made by others just with new data sets. Yeah, it's not a glamorous new idea in physics, but it'll keep bread in your belly. ;)

What do I want from this forum? I'm not sure -- Maybe I seek encouragement, maybe I hope others have gone through this same problem and found a solution, maybe I want suggestions or tough love.

Eh, everyone goes into ruts. Just keep on that literature and keep trying to think of ways to do better than what you're reading!