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The Craft of Scientific Research - Chapter 9. How to build and run a research group

In my career, I have established three research groups from scratch.  The first, from 1990 to 2011, at the Rizzoli research hospital; the second, at the Insigneo Institute for In Silico Medicine at the University of Sheffield, from 2011 to 2018; the third and last, at the University of Bologna, from 2018 to 2025.  Along the way, I have made many mistakes, but I have always tried to learn from them.  

Over the years, some ground rules have emerged from this trial and error, bolstered by specific readings I had on leadership, team building, etc.; all this is summarised in this chapter.

Specifically, I talk about leadership, vision and strategy, funding and resources, upskilling and motivating team members, and building effective internal communication.

As usual, I take some space for some digressions on whether, in my humble opinion, academic research is a job or a vocation.

Enjoy the reading!


Summary of Chapter 9 of “The Craft of Scientific Research”, by Marco Viceconti, self-published and Green Open Access book on the Zenodo repository: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18069190. 

 

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