The fifth key to successful research career: Efficiency and effectiveness

In the May 10 issue of this column, we introduced seven keys to successful research in academia drawn from our own experiences as researchers. We then discussed the first four of those keys in some detail in succeeding installments. Establishing a separate identity as a researcher on May 10; hiring a good Ph.D. student on May 17; professional networking on May 31; and forming a global research team on June 28). This week, we shall discuss the fifth key: Efficiency and effectiveness.

Contrary to what most people think, the academic’s job is actually very time consuming. We spend extended amount of time for lecture preparation, reviewing papers, guiding student projects, etc. In Asian countries especially, new academic staffs are forced to take up various committees or administrative positions, which is often necessary for someone who needs to prove one’s worth to his or her university. However, no matter who you are, you have exactly 24 hours at your disposal each day. So a key element to be successful researcher is “multi-tasking.” If you are one of those who can only concentrate on one work at a time, it is time to train yourself to handle multiple tasks simultaneously. 

There are a few tricks that we need to learn to be more effective and efficient. First, we need to figure out when is our most effective time of the day. We should then spend that moment for the most demanding task (in term of “brain power”), e.g. writing an academic paper. We then spend time of lower efficiency for other matters (e.g. meetings and administrative paperwork, etc.). If permitted by one’s university, we also highly encourage “working from home,” which often enables us to stay focus on our work rather than having to be disturbed. Of course, we need to have a conducive place for doing that. Both of us often write papers/book in a coffee shop and restaurants, which may inspire the readers to do so! Of course, this sort of off-campus work requires a considerable amount of discipline to avoid being distracted by alternative activities.

Another way to be more effective is to schedule our work properly. It is always more efficient to have several meetings (and even lectures) arranged in the same day, while leaving the rest of the weeks free for research work. For meetings, it is always good to keep them short; if possible, meetings may be avoided for things that can be easily discussed via e-mails or phone calls. You may even try to arrange meetings back-to-back, which then forces the discussions to finish on time (of course, please set reasonable time for the meetings). 

In recent years, many of us are addicted to IT gadgets such as smartphones. Indeed, to a certain extent, they may be useful in improving our efficiency if we use them appropriately. We would like to offer some tips to those of us who are using MS Window-based PCs for our daily work. Some commonly used IT shortcuts that definitely can help us in making our daily work more efficiently (for example, in MS Windows – to switch between active windows (Alt + Tab); print function (Ctrl+P); find function (Ctrl + F); in MS Office – copy (Ctrl + C); paste (Ctrl + V), formatting (Ctrl+B/U/I for bold, underline and italic respective; Ctrl+L/R/E for left, right and center aligned, respectively); select all (Ctrl+A); repeat last action (F4); Save as… (F12). Other time-saving tips include the use of digital signature. This is something not common in the Asians. In most Western universities, digital signature or e-mail permission is commonly used to improve work efficiency. By signing e-form and giving approval via e-mails, academic staffs who are involved in administrative duty get to see less people, which in turn can spend more quality time to do serious research (e.g. guiding students, writing/reviewing papers, etc.). 

At the same time, one cannot underestimate the value of strategically timed breaks in the middle of a hectic workday to recharge sagging mental energy levels. Such a break may come in the form of a five-minute walk around campus, or a few minutes spent for snacks; the time lost for such rest periods may easily be made up when one returns to work with renewed vigor. Such breaks may even yield surprising flashes of insight to enrich one’s research. For example, one of us (Tan) had one such inspired moment while waiting in line for a cup of coffee in February 2011 — an insight that led to an article that was published in the Applied Energy journal just a couple of months later! 

In conclusion, improving efficiency and effectiveness is a good pathway to cope with the surprisingly high workload in academia. There are many “tricks of the trade” one can learn, either from trial and error or from observing successful colleagues; or get to read the book “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” (though it is not dedicated to academics – but some principles do apply). With time and practice, efficiency and effectiveness become second nature, and the benefits manifest through more successful research, just as they would in any other type of career. That now makes five out of seven keys to be successful researchers. As the series nears its conclusion, the last two keys will be the topic of future Star Science articles in the coming weeks.

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Ir. Dr. Dominic C. Y. Foo is a professor of Process Design and Integration at the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, and is leading the Center of Excellence for Green Technologies. He is a professional engineer registered with the Board of Engineer Malaysia (BEM). He establishes international collaboration with researchers from various countries in the Asia, Europe, American and Africa. He is an active author, with two forthcoming books and more than 70 journal papers, and has made more than 120 conference presentations. He served as an International Scientific Committee for several important conferences (CHISA/PRES, FOCAPD, ESCAPE, PSE, etc.). He is the winner of the Innovator of the Year Award 2009 of the Institution of Chemical Engineers UK (IChemE), as well as the 2010 Young Engineer Award of the Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM). He also actively conducts professional training for practicing engineers. 

Prof. Raymond R. Tan is a university fellow and full professor of Chemical Engineering at De La Salle University. He is also the current director of that institution’s Center for Engineering and Sustainable Development Research (CESDR). He is the author of more than 70 process systems engineering (PSE) articles that have been published in chemical, environmental and energy engineering journals. He is a member of the editorial boards of the journals Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, Philippine Science Letters, and Sustainable Technologies, Systems & Policies, and is co-editor of the forthcoming book Recent Advances in Sustainable Process Design and Optimization. He is also the recipient of multiple awards from the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) and the National Research Council of the Philippines (NRCP). He may be contacted via e-mail ([email protected]).