Jess Martin

How did you get to where you are today and how did you land your current role? (obligatory question)

I have had a bit of a whirlwind of a career to date. I did my PhD full-time at the University of Glasgow on Poultry health and welfare and I worked as a Research Assistant while doing it (first example of me over-doing it!). I completed my PhD at the start of 2015 and managed to secure funding through one of my industry partners for a post-doc for a year – if you don’t ask you don’t get. However, the long cycle of fixed term contracts was slowly destroying what I loved about an academic career: research – so my hunt for a permanent position began. I managed to secure my first permanent position at the University of Edinburgh Vet School in Dec 2015, not through my field of expertise (animal welfare), but from a secondary skill which I had worked on for a long time and thanks to the kind training during my PhD from a whizz statistician! I sussed that everyone seemed to hate doing it and therefore there was always a need for these people: statisticians! My first role at the Vet school was a Teaching Fellow in statistics to support the PGT students. This was the first most important open door in my career and the whirlwind swept me up from there! Over the next four years my progression from Teaching Fellow, to Lecturer and then Senior Lecturer in 2019 was down to three key things: luck(!), a fantastic series of line managers and mentors and finally finding my research niche. I definitely over-worked and failed at a work life balance during this period in order to do my job and develop my research profile, not something to shout about or strive for! However, once this was established, I had the freedom and the support to mould my current post into what I wanted it to be: an eclectic mixture of leading animal welfare research and research methods and statistics teaching for PGT. My latest promotion to SL was down to two things: research impact (papers, funding, and changing an EU law on welfare at slaughter!) and leading teaching at PG level for research methods. I have been very lucky to have worked with some of the kindness and most brilliant research collaborators who have helped me transition from a post-doc to a Principal Investigator.

How did you learn to embrace risk-taking?

I don’t think I have! Terror and anxiety grip me every time – but this is where my network of mentors and trusted collaborators comes in as one of my most important assets. I run ideas and concerns through with them and get advice. I have learnt that you don’t get very far without taking the odd leap, but I like to minimise the risk by planning out all (hopefully!) the potential strategies and outcomes and discussing them with trusted folk.

Tell me about a recent career setback. How did you recover?

Academia is filled with regular setbacks. Every time you submit for a research grant that you have put everything into and might be one of your best ideas, in the space of a couple of months reviewers and panels will tear it to pieces! Sometimes you get useful feedback and sometimes you don’t. The key is not to take it personally (I definitely did at the start of my career). It’s such a competitive career and there are so many brilliant scientists applying for proportionally the tiniest amount of money! I’ve managed to get into a mindset of putting sweat and tears into the grant proposal and submission, but literally then accepting it will be rejected as soon as I press submit – that way I minimise my disappointment and get the odd nice surprise!

What do you wish you had known before taking your first clinical/ academic/ teaching /management or support role?

The one “lesson” that I would pass on is the importance of a support network, including collaborators and mentors – if you don’t have this, then get one even if it involves moving! Feeling isolated and unsupported slowly eats away at you, so make every effort to surround yourself with the best people.

Which career skills were the most difficult to develop?

Networking! My biggest challenge and worst nightmare is the coffee breaks or lunches between activities or conferences where a load of very smart people all appear to manage small talk or high level scientific chat and I just want to run away and hide. I’m naturally quite an introverted person and the thought of just randomly joining or starting a conversation with someone fills me with dread and I can’t get my words out. I’ve worked hard at this through practising and learnt that I can manage it for small bursts and I have to be in the right state of mind. Again, having a good support network has meant that my amazing colleagues act as good “wing people” if you are having a bad day.