The Era of Self-Education as a Researcher
Hey Neurons,
I’ve just joined the team at King’s College London to work on computational psychiatry, building models for understanding and predicting psychosis in individuals. Over the coming years in London, I want to treat this as an opportunity to learn as much as possible and to create along the way. You may have noticed I’ve been posting less recently; that has partly been intentional on my side. I want to refocus on what it truly means to be a researcher and a scientist.
As a researcher, one of the core responsibilities of the job is to keep learning, making sure your knowledge stays up to date with the latest developments in science. Recently, I’ve been making a lot of videos on self-education, and feel like we’re seeing something of a revival of this concept: learning not just out of necessity, but for the genuine joy of it. When it comes to making self-learning and research a fundamental part of your journey, there are three main considerations:
Making the time
Most of us (myself included) feel like we don’t have enough time to sit down and study. There might be family obligations, demanding jobs, and lifestyles that do not allow for extended learning blocks. What has worked for me is integrating learning into moments that would otherwise be “downtime”. For example, during my commute, which is now considerably longer, I listen to several neuroscience and psychiatry lectures on YouTube. If you have YouTube Premium, you can even listen with your phone off. I find that using this method allows me to listen to two/three lectures a week, and in general, it is much easier to integrate this into my day. When you consider your own day, try to see where there are little pockets of time that potentially would allow you to listen, read, or engage with some of the scientific content that is out there.
Creating the habit
While I’m not convinced that everything can become a habit, certain activities can be integrated into daily routines with small environmental changes. Early in my PhD, I realised I needed to read far more papers and books than I had time for, so I tried building the habit of reading one article each day at the end of my workday. Now, I’m experimenting with something similar using books, reading at least one chapter every evening. I’ve noticed that placing an activity at the beginning or end of the workday makes it much more likely to happen, simply because it is the first or last activity you do. In general, there are many books written on habit formation, which have some science behind them, and might be worth giving a read. What I took home from most of them is that it is helpful to see what we do regularly during our day, and then try to attach one or two activities to those base activities, in this case, reading a chapter a day.
Finding the resources
The final challenge is identifying the right resources. In school and university, we’re given structured curricula that guide us toward some level of expertise. Outside of those systems, we quickly realise we have to design our own learning paths, and that’s almost an art form. To know what you need to learn, you often already need some level of expertise. On my YouTube channel and through university work, I try to build structured pathways for those interested in computational neuroscience and psychiatry. But going beyond what is already known or taught requires actively exploring unfamiliar ideas, resources, and perspectives. In the coming weeks and throughout this year, I’d like to reflect more actively on this topic together with you. One question I’d encourage you to ask yourself is: “What is one small change you could make this week to create more room for learning?”
📚 Something to read
📚 Book - Love’s Executioner and Other Tales of Psychotherapy by Irvin D. Yalom - This book offers a glimpse into the work of a psychoanalyst and his patients. While it is very much a product of its time (and includes moments where the author’s judgments, particularly toward some female patients, feel dated), it still contains moving insights. Dr. Yalom reflects on recurring human concerns: fear of death, the limits of knowing another person, and the sometimes unsettling arbitrariness of life. It prompted me to reflect on these themes myself, and I find myself returning to certain passages.
“Maybe that’s part of the reason you feel empty inside. One way or another, every relationship must end. There’s no such thing as a lifetime guarantee. It’s like refusing to enjoy watching the sun rise because you hate to see it set.”- Irvin D. Yalom
👀 Something to watch
👀 Series - Emergência Radioativa - I’ve been working on improving my Brazilian Portuguese, so I’m always excited to find a new series from Brazil. This one immediately drew me in. It tells the story of the Goiânia accident, where a radioactive substance was unknowingly spread throughout the region of Goiânia. What stood out most to me wasn’t just the event itself, but the societal response, the way different layers of society reacted. The series highlights how the most vulnerable populations were often the most affected, while those in positions of responsibility sometimes seemed more concerned with protecting their image than addressing the crisis.
🎧 Something to listen
🎧 Podcast — Neurosalience - A podcast I return to regularly is Neurosalience, supported in part by the Organization for Human Brain Mapping. I especially enjoy the conversations between the host, Dr. Peter Bandettini, and his guests. Listening to researchers discuss their work in dialogue provides a level of nuance that’s often hard to extract from papers alone. Scientific articles have limitations, and while these are usually acknowledged, they can be difficult to fully grasp when you’re new to a field. If you’re working in neuroimaging or neuroscience more broadly, I’d recommend giving it a listen and exploring the work of the guests as well. It can deepen your understanding of the science, as well as make you appreciate the people behind the science.
🧠 NeuroSnips Community
Lastly, I'm creating a membership for anyone who wants to support the channel and mailing list, and access to a specially curated resource bank designed for bachelor's, master's, and PhD students.
- Access to monthly curated templates, goal planners, and reading trackers
- Access to dedicated Notion workspaces for (PhD) students: meta-learning dashboards.
- Future access to the Beta version of The Infinity Lab community upon launch
Charlotte Fraza