Just for a few minutes let us leave the comfy confines of reality and venture out into the space outside of the box/envelope/window.

If there were such a thing as the PERFECT early career researcher, what skills would they possess? If we can answer that question then perhaps we can begin to firm up a job structure and help others to plan their strategy. Here’s a few to start us off:

- Getting published: not just writing the paper, but strategising over where and when to send it, the tone of the article, who should review it.

- Getting grant funding: not just being successful in attaining money, but in carving out a niche and an identity in their field.

- Managing others: not just to complete data collection but to encourage creativity and autonomy

- Communications: not just dull poster presentations but paradigm-changing calls to arms at conferences, confident and entertaining in the media, and engaging and inspiring to children and laypeople

- Entrepeneurship: identifying problems and creating solutions that could be valuable intellectual property to industry

- Collaboration: Persuading, encouraging, monitoring, and delivering within a team.

- Personal development: To know one’s self and one’s role within the research environment. To have at least one “Plan B” at all times should something fall through.