P1 Guest Talk by Emma Robinson

Title

How I fail: surviving/thriving as an academic parent

Abstract

Academic success often appears to be judged relative to the quantity of outputs, with specific focus on publishing in AI conferences. However, my transition to parenthood long ago forced me to realize that this narrow definition often leads to burnout without necessarily translating into the recognition that we hope for. 

In this session, I welcome discussion on alternative definitions, reflecting on how any impact I may have had in my career can be traced to the ‘luck’ of once being useful to a major open science project. Through this process I realised the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and clear science communication. I'll offer tips on scientific writing, defining your research vision, open software development and balancing the many demands of an academic career. Still, I'm sure I don't get it 100% right, regularly feeling like I am overcommitting to the detriment of my children and team. Ultimately, I am a  work in progress and don’t have all the answers. Let’s discuss  how we can build more sustainable paths forward both for ourselves and the next generation of researchers.

Bio

Emma Robinson is Head of the Research Department of Biomedical Computing, within the school of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging sciences (BMEIS), Kings College London. Her work focuses on the development of open-science tools and image processing pipelines for neuroimaging, with a specific focus on perinatal brain development and computational neuroscience. Most notably her work on the Human Connectome Project (HCP) resulted in MSM: a tool for comparing the human cortex (brain surface) across individuals - which is now a cornerstone of image processing for HCP, developing HCP and UK Biobank processing pipelines. Over more recent years she has become  known for developing explainable AI and mesh deep learning solutions that model neurological processes.  She has two children aged 12 and 7.