Lot's Wife Edition 6 2015

30
SCIENCE & ENGINEERING
BY CoURTNEY BAKER
What’s Up Doc?
Daniel Newman completed his undergraduate and
Honours degree at the University of Queensland where
his work studying attention in humans was awarded
the McElwain Prize for the best research thesis in
Psychology in the state. Currently doing a PhD in
cognitive neuroscience at the Bellgrove Laboratory at Monash University, his research will
add to our understanding of the neural systems governing spatial attention in humans.
So tell me a bit about your field of research?
I’m doing research on attention in humans. It’s in the field
of cognitive neuroscience. We look at different explanations
for different attention abilities in humans. So my Phd is
about the ‘state vs trait’ influences on attention where state
influences might be how much sleep you’ve had, whether
you’ve had any stimulants like Ritalin or caffeine. Trait
influences on attention include genes or connectivity in your
brain, so white matter or structural connectivity.
What got you into that field of research?
In 2008 I started an undergrad in psychology at the
University of Queensland and I loved that. I thought back
then that I would become a clinical psychologist, but then
throughout my degree I became more and more interested
in neuroscience. I did my honours in the Queensland Brain
Institute which was focused more on cognitive neuroscience
with humans and so I decided to get into neuroscience with
a Phd.
What, in your opinion, makes psychology different to all
other sciences?
The fact that psychology is very broad. I’m doing biological
psychology and I’m actually publishing in neuroscience
journals. Something like molecular biology has certain
boundaries whereas something like the studying the human
brain might actually use something from molecular biology.
Do you find that doing a PhD is quite stressful and if so
how do you deal with that?
Yeah it can be really stressful so my way of dealing with it is
just working hard and getting the work done because once
it’s done you’re not stressed anymore.
But it’s not all work and no play, even with the all-consuming
task of completing a Phd. daniel gets plenty of help from his
colleagues in dublin where he has visited twice during his
PhD.
What was the purpose of going to Dublin?
The project I’m working on is running here and at Trinity
College in dublin. The purpose of me to go over there was
actually to learn some analysis techniques from them
that I couldn’t learn here. I did two stints in dublin; one for
two weeks and the other for a month. The second trip was
work for a month and then my girlfriend came over and we
travelled around Europe.
Do you have any advice for undergrad students going into
postgrad?
Firstly, you have to love it and the reason you have to love it is
the limited number of spaces in research for a large number
of people. So basically you’re going to have to work really hard
doing long hours of difficult work for not as much money as
you’d get in other fields. So if you’re going to do this you’ve
got to love it because otherwise why would you do it?
Do you feel like your Honours prepared you for a PhD?
definitely, in my particular case it definitely did. I don’t think
that’s always the case, the lab you’re in and the project you’ve
got in your Honours varies a lot. In my case it prepared me
well. I definitely recommend Honours to just get a little taste
of research and then if you really love that then I recommend
getting into research. But if you’re unsure then I would
definitely advise against doing a Phd. You have to be fully
sold on it and really motivated if you’re not fully sold and
motivated at the start then you definitely won’t be by the end.
What skills did you develop through Honours that
prepared you for a PhD?
Initiative, the ability to search for answers when you come up
against a problem. Rather than waiting for someone to solve
it for you you’ve really got to go and solve it yourself. That’s a
big part of why I was successful in Honours. That’s the best
thing I learnt from Honours is if you want to do well don’t
wait for somebody else to do it for you, go and work it out for
yourself. Actually, between the end of my third year and the
start of Honours I also did a Summer Research Scholarship.
That’s a great idea. They pay a little bit of money to take
the pressure off so you can do that over summer instead of
having a part-time job. I definitely recommend that.
So according to daniel if you’re thinking you want to get into
research a Summer Scholarship is the best way to ‘get a
taste’. An Honours year is a great way to follow and if by this
point you’re still hooked on research then a Phd is for you.