Cultivating the research group garden

Prof. A: All these projects we dream up and our group members fulfil, do you ever worry that they won’t be useful?

Prof. B: Oh of course, but even if the projects never make it anywhere, we’ll always have our impact on training students.

I was in the middle of my postdoctoral fellowship when I came across the above interaction on chemistry Twitter. At first, I felt a little disappointed. I fantasised about one day being ’Prof. C’, and chiming in with ‘If you two feel that way, send your resources over to me and I’ll make something useful out of them.’ I expected professors to be as bold as the introductions to their grants and papers, which state how important their research area is, and how the fruits of the research will make a positive impact on the world! After all, if academics are going to spend research money taxed from teachers, nurses and truck drivers, we had better set our sights on discovering something tangible to give back to them. Shouldn’t the chief purpose of a research group be to make the most and best contributions to science and society?

I started to question this assumption during my postdoc. I moved to a faraway country a 10 hour flight away from my girlfriend and spent my spare time doing experiments, writing papers, learning techniques and applying for funding, all in service of the dream of becoming a professor. One day I felt a loss of momentum; my interest turned from the day’s to-do list to larger, more philosophical questions. Would I be a good professor? What does it mean to be a good professor? What is the chief purpose of an academic research group?