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PANOPTIKUM » Interview: Barry Dickson
» Australia would have been my
first choice, but there is no comparable
infrastructure there; and my
wife is from the U.S. We thought about the
U.K., but nothing there really appealed for
all kinds of reasons. I considered a couple
of university positions in the U.S., but Janelia
just seemed like the best option.
» Bernhardt: Not to be topped by anything?
» Dickson: Well, if Janelia were located in
Australia that would be the perfect combination.
Whenever I come back to my home
country, I realize how much I love it to be
there. By the way, I have just accepted a
part-time appointment at Brisbane.
» Bernhardt: That is possible?
» We have […] sub-group meetings,
two to three people, working closely on related
things, sitting together with them informally,
chatting around data and ideas. « Barry Dickson
» Dickson: Yes, Janelia Research Farm requires
you to be there 75 per cent of your
time. That does not sound
that much, but it is.
I’ve probably not
been at the IMP
more than
75 percent of
my time. At
Janelia they have
a lot of excellent
meetings, and one is not expected
to serve on all sort of advisory or review
committees, so I assume that I won’t be travelling
as much as I do at present.
» Bernhardt: Looking at your CV, I learned
that after your time in Zurich you almost
avoided universities. Is this conclusion
correct?
» Dickson: Yes, but perhaps more by accident
than design. I am primarily motivated
by research and at universities it is clear
that some of your time is devoted to academic
teaching and administrative
things – that was one of the reasons I
turned down offers from U.S. universities.
I know that as far as my teaching skills are
concerned there would be plenty of room
for improvement; I have been through one
or the other disaster in that respect. And I
don’t mind writing grants, but at many
U.S. universities now it seems that is almost
becoming a full-time job in itself.
» Bernhardt: What is a day, Barry Dickson
regards a perfect working day?
» Dickson: Fridays, Fridays are perfect.
This is the day I devote almost entirely to
discussions with lab members. We have
group meetings, but not the typical lab
meeting with the whole group, but rather
what we call sub-group meetings, two to
three people, working closely on related
things, sitting together with them informally,
chatting around data and ideas. I
schedule all of those meetings on Fridays,
talking to the PhDs and the postdocs for
three to five hours in total. That is a perfect
day. Janelia will be all Fridays; that is
why it appeals so much. I also hope that I
will find more time to write, I love writing.
Reading, searching for clues in the literature,
almost like a detective. Looking for
hints in past papers, observations that may
» Barry Dickson, born 1962 in Melbourne, Australia, studied mathematics, computer science and
genetics at the University of Melbourne, and moved to the US in 1987 to become research assistant
at the Salk Institute in San Diego. In 1992 he finished his PhD studies at the University of
Zurich, Switzerland, and started his postdoctoral research at the University of Zurich and
then the University of California, Berkeley. In 1996 Barry Dickson returned to Switzerland
as junior group leader, University of Zurich and in 1998 Barry Dickson was appointed
group leader at the IMP, Vienna, and became a senior scientist in 2003 at the IMBA,
Vienna. In 2006 he was appointed director and senior scientist at the IMP, Vienna. In
October 2013 Barry Dickson will become a group leader at the Janelia Farm Research
Campus, established by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in 2006.
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