Catalyzing Creativity in Scientific Research
Building a community that fosters unlikely collaborations
Hi, I’m Rini, VP of Community Development at Knowledgr.
I am a formally trained molecular biologist who has studied the role(s) of heme transport in mammalian red blood cell recycling. Just like most graduate students, I spent a lot of my time in the lab working on experiments and writing manuscripts. When I managed to find some free time away from the lab, which PhD students should really not have, I enjoyed exploring my creativity through cooking. In the kitchen, I didn’t have to follow recipes to the microliter like I did with the protocols in my lab — I could truly think out of the box (or pot, if you may).
If I could improve one aspect of research for future young scientists, it would be to encourage more creativity in science.
For as long as I can remember, I have been a student of the sciences. My favorite field was always biology — I was fascinated to learn that human beings are basically the manifestation of genetic material, known as DNA. The amount of machinery and organization it took to go from DNA to proteins to cells to organs simply amazed me. I thought that understanding mammalian biology would be the coolest thing I could ever accomplish.
Growing up, I also found myself drawn to the arts. Classical music, painting, pottery, t-shirt design — I wanted to try any activity in which I could bring something new into the world. Creating things with my own two hands made me feel alive. In college, I discovered the world of scientific research after spending two years in two different labs as an undergraduate researcher. Since then, I wanted to keep doing science: creative science.
Fast forward to today, I now have a PhD in Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics. Everything that scientists do in the lab still feels like an art to me. The intricacies of studying gene expression through quantitative PCR, perfecting histochemical staining of tissue sections; it all requires perfection at the bench — just like creating art.
I imagined that the most creative science happened in academia where research is not driven by capitalism, but by passion. Along the way, it became apparent to me that true creativity in academic research is often discouraged. This is because of a lack of resources or funding, an aversion to risk-taking, and the fear of failing. Oftentimes, suggestions for novel research ideas are avoided if they deviate from the traditional “research focus” of the lab.
So what is true creativity in science and how do we empower researchers to be creative?
Just like how I enjoyed exploring my creativity through the arts, I believe scientific creativity means taking risks and not being afraid to make mistakes. I believe the practice of open science can encourage this kind of creativity in science.
The four fundamental goals of open science are:
- Transparency in experimental methodology, observation, and collection of data.
- Public availability and reusability of scientific data.
- Public accessibility and transparency of scientific communication.
- The use of web-based tools to facilitate scientific collaboration.
By increasing transparency in research and improving the accessibility of scientific data, researchers are less likely to work in total isolation. They are therefore more likely to form collaborations, which have been proven to be a key aspect of enhancing creativity. For example, the success of Bell Labs was highly attributable to its culture of collaboration between theorists, experimentalists and developers.
The concept of collaboration as a positive outcome of open science is not all that novel. Even in the world of traditional journal publishing, it is generally agreed that open science can lead to new collaboration between researchers.
My goal is to find these scientists and bring them together in hopes of unleashing new pathways for open, collaborative creativity.
When I was first introduced to Knowledgr, I connected the dots immediately. I saw Knowledgr from the perspective of a young researcher. We need a platform and community where we could feel safe sharing our science. Once we have the green light from our advisors to share their protocols or research findings, we should not have to worry about not being given recognition for our hard work, or about competitors “scooping” our data off the internet.
In my opinion, this is more than a platform to exchange findings and ideas. Knowledgr is an attempt to form a community comprised of scientists from all backgrounds where anyone will be able to let down their guard and simply “talk science” without judgment or fear. This freedom will result in an environment that catalyzes both unlikely and creative collaborations.
I envision Knowledgr as something bigger than just a collective of like-minded researchers; I want to build a community of mentors, mentees, and citizens in science. I know that this type of community has the ability to empower future young researchers, just like myself, to think outside of the academic box and facilitate a new generation of creative, collaborative science.
