Message from the Director
THRiVE-2 commends its fellows for writing nearly all articles in this issue of THRiVE News. Some researchers, however, have no drive to write articles for this newsletter. Yet, sharing ideas, research findings and experiences is a key aspect of good science and it is beneficial to researcher and the readers.
The fellows’ writings remind us of the statement by the philosopher Allan Bloom, “Every educational system wants to produce a certain type of human being”. What type of researcher does THRiVE-2 or DELTAS educational systems want to produce? We should also ask “What is the purpose of each student’s future working and professional life? The consortium’s purpose for producing doctoral graduates and the individual trainee’s motivation for pursuing research training matter a great deal and help stakeholders to determine how and what the program focuses on.
We need to nourish our students’ spirits and to facilitate their professional and scientific careers. High quality mentorship should form a very significant component of this undertaking. Excellent mentorship by faculty should be rewarded in no less than research prowess. The articles written by the fellows remind us of the aim in scientific writing not to lose the forest for the trees. The whole essence of scientific writing is to tell a comprehensible story arising from the available data or information. Mimi Zieger (2000) emphasised “two good reasons why it is desirable to write clearly:
- first, to be sure that you yourself know what you mean, and second,
- to be sure that you get your message across to your readers”.
Clear writing helps you clarify your own thinking (Woodford, 1967). So, to all THRiVE faculty and fellows why not take advantage of the opportunity to write more articles for future issues of THRiVE News?