My career as an Astrophysicist. What worked for me

by Maria Lugaro

​I am a nuclear astrophysicist who studies how nuclear reactions inside stars produce the chemical elements that make up our bodies, the world around us, and all the other stars and planetary systems in the Universe. I still wonder today… after 35 years… how did I get here? As a little girl, I wanted to be a ballet dancer! 
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I studied at the University of Torino, my hometown in Italy, and chose physics simply because my mother is a physicist and she suggested I give it a try. I was very undecided, then I thought I could become a high-school teacher, like my mother.
After a difficult, very slow start, I began to receive top marks and, in the end, I graduated cum laude.  Really, one should never take oneself for granted. The fact that I love physics and I am good at it was a big surprise! This sparked the motivation and interest that still feed my enthusiasm today. 

I learnt many different skills along the way

Studying for my PhD in Melbourne at Monash University, I was able to learn English fluently and start working in different teams. During my first post-doc in Cambridge, I could pursue my own research and realised that I wanted to keep doing independent research. So I started applying for funding grants. Moving to Utrecht with a fellowship, I learned that doing independent research actually involves lots of practical responsibilities, such as delivering results, reporting progress, managing time, etc. On returning to Melbourne with fellowships and eventually a lectureship position, I found myself, for the first time, not only covering personal expenses but also managing research funds.  This experience taught me that financial management is also a crucial skill for a scientist. Later, thanks to moving to Budapest with a major grant, I could lead a research group for the first time! I was then promoted to a permanent position and had more opportunities to apply for additional grants to support my work. I quickly learned that being a group leader involves a lot more management than I expected, of both time and people.

What worked for me

First of all, not identifying myself as a scientist from the beginning has been, perhaps surprisingly, very helpful. I have never been personally attached to an image of myself as a scientist, which means that I also considered other options in case the job market or the funding opportunities would not work out. This gave me the excitement of applying but spared me from excessive anxiety. I always thought I could become, for example, a high-school teacher, and that could be equally fun. After organizing many conferences, I also thought I could be an event organizer. 

Moreover, I developed humility, which, for scientists, I think is like a superpower. It makes it easier to accept and learn from mistakes, failures, and bad referee reports! I like a quote from Margot Fonteyn, who defined the image of the ballerina for most of the 20th century, “The one important thing I have learned over the years is the difference between taking one's work seriously and taking one’s self seriously. The first is imperative and the second is disastrous.” This perspective also allowed me to try the hardest challenges for the fun of it, not for the final achievement. This sounds counterintuitive, but for me it worked.

I felt quite free to dare to be ambitious and strategic in my objectives by, for example, thinking, how can I contribute to science as a whole? How can I help answer the big questions? Part of this strategy has been networking with people and becoming part of collaborations, which I also genuinely enjoy from the human social side. I built up and advertised my image/brand – I know this might sound awful to some, but, for example, referees and potential employers need to be able to find your website, and if they do not already know you, it is important to clearly present your achievements. It’s just providing information - not being pretentious.

On the “publish or perish” question, again, it sounds awful… but our work is a service to the community: other people cannot progress if they do not see your step forward printed in a publication. To build an outstanding publication record, both types of first-author and collaborative papers help.

On Family and Work: Just going for it, if one wants, is possible! But discussing a clear plan with one’s partner is crucial, and to work on this as a team, if both parents want to keep working (see my previous piece on the blog regarding this here). As I was pregnant with my first baby, my officemate told me, “Having children is going to destroy your publication record!”. From my experience, this is only partially true: during each of my four maternity leave periods, my publication record indeed decreased, but that did not stop me from going back to being productive once back in the office, also thanks to the practical tips below. 

TIP1: Organising conferences is one of the best ways to get people to know your name!
TIP2: Getting used to the idea from the start that one of the main tasks for a scientist is writing (do an academic writing course), as well as reading a lot.
TIP3: Setting finishing papers always as a priority, and in the order of how close they are to publication: so, to be 1) proofread, 2) revised, and 3) submitted
TIP4: Invite people to be coauthors even if they made a very small contribution! Better to be inclusive than forget (or offend!) anyone. And then they may invite you to their papers, too.

In practice, having the freedom to take up challenges both at work and in personal life worked for me. I believe this freedom also helped to avoid judging myself too strongly as a scientist and being open to possibilities and opportunities.

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