There are limited opportunities for PhD students/ Postdocs to develop career skills and experiences alongside their day-to-day roles. The Ximbassador Programme is tailored specifically to these audiences to widen their sense of what their future career paths could look like and to provide them with the skills and experiences they need to take advantage of these career paths. We spoke to Geetika Singh, a Ximbassador from the University of Tennessee Health Science Centre to discover how the Ximbassador Programme helped her develop vital skills for her future career.

Geetika Singh from the University of Tennessee Health Science Centre

Overcoming PI objections 

Many PhD students and post-doctoral fellows are aware of the concept of entrepreneurship and the idea that research tools of all kinds, created in their lab could be commercialized. Few though know how the process of translating their research works or have any awareness of the business side of science.

“I didn’t know much about translating research into market. I’d taken an entrepreneurship course as well as participated in elevator business pitch competition organized by TN academic alliance therefore  I was aware about the idea of bringing product discovered in the academic lab into the market. But I never have had the real-time industry experience and Ximbassador position was an excellent opportunity to gain that experience” 

- Geetika Singh

The Ximbassador Programme aims to involve PhD students and postdoctoral fellows in the technology transfer process. Run in conjunction with the university’s technology transfer office, the 6-month, paid, part-time internship encourages the Ximbassador to engage with other laboratories on campus, to uncover new research tools and materials of interest to other scientists. For Geetika, the Ximbassador Programme provided her with the chance to “learn about the business side of the science” and in particular, “how we can make use of what we discover in the lab to directly impact  human society.” 

One of the main challenges PhD students and postdoctoral fellow  often face in joining a Ximbassador Programme is overcoming the objections of their supervisors, to get permission in order to pursue offsite industrial internship . Many Principal Investigators (PIs) are concerned that taking part in the Ximbassador Programme will distract the PhD students and postdoctoral fellow  from their day-to-day laboratory roles. Geetika was no exception with her PI “thinking it’ll waste my time, so he didn’t want me to leave my laboratory and research.” However, with the internship requiring flexible  5 hours a week with these hours not set to a particular time, the Programme is designed to be fitted around a day-to-day role and carried out in a PhD student’s or Postdoc’s free time. Geetika was able to convince her supervisor to allow her to take part in the Programme.

“It took a while, but as the Programme takes place on campus, and is flexible, I was able to convince him to agree that I could take part. Since he gave permission, he hasn’t noticed I was even doing the Programme as it’s not interfered with my Laboratory work.”

- Geetika Singh

Gaining confidence in your abilities

The main role of the Ximbassador is to identify new research tools for translation, raise awareness of the university’s technology transfer office, the partnership with Ximbio and the benefits of translating research. This involves networking with other life sciences researchers and laboratories across campus and presenting at faculty meetings to develop leads for new research tools as well as collating information on the research tools discovered. For Geetika, these tasks “helped me gain confidence in public speaking. I’m an introvert so for me gaining confidence in talking to people and going to facilities I had never been to before, was a big achievement.” Geetika also managed to discover 67 new research tools which are in the process of being added to Ximbio’s portfolio.

Convincing researchers

One of the biggest challenges Ximbassadors need to overcome in their roles is convincing unresponsive and reluctant PIs and researchers of the importance of translating their research and why they should take part in the scheme. This was the biggest challenge Geetika faced because “as a Ximbassador it can knock your motivation to keep going back to researchers and repeatedly asking for a meeting.” Having perseverance was a vital skill Geetika found she needed.

“It was important to keep going as it took 2 months for the first researcher to share their reagents. I found the faculty talks particularly useful as a tool for getting researchers on board with the translation process – they were a lot more open after these conversations”. The trick Geetika discovered, was to “try different approaches. They don’t really respond to emails, so I had to go speak to them in person or call them to follow up. Another trick was to organize talk in the department where I was to meet faculties so that they remember the mission of Ximbio”

However, with a variety of differing commitments and limited time, many researchers simply lack the time and energy needed to translate their research. This is where the Ximbassador Programme can benefit researchers. Geetika managed to convince some of her university’s researchers by asking them “for the name of the relevant paper” and then “I’d say I’d do the work for them. It gave them confidence that we could do the work for them and so they were more responsive to translating their research.”

Providing skills for the future

The Ximbassador Programme equips PhD students and Postdocs with the skills needed for roles outside of academia, particularly those in industry or tech transfer. For Geetika, the Ximbassador Programme has allowed her to consider “jobs apart from sciences, like business development, technology transfer and  marketing roles. I’ve achieved the skills needed for jobs outside the research field”.

“Whilst completing my PhD I wanted to do an internship elsewhere. However, my boss wasn’t ready for me to leave the laboratory, so the Ximbassador Programme was an excellentopportunity to pursue industry-oriented internship alongside my day-to-day lab research.”