104 NATURE | VOL 426 | 6 NOVEMBER 2003 | www.nature.com/nature

A plan to phase out housing subsidies forpostdocs at Rockefeller University in NewYork has been put on hold. Suggested inJuly, the move would have slowly reduceda 15% rent subsidy to zero.

The proposal was put forward longbefore new university president Paul Nursewas due to take up his post full-time; andwhen the university’s postdoctoralassociation learned of the plan, it mounteda concerted effort to tell him what thefinancial impact of the cut would be. Thesubsidy, it said, was what made it possiblefor postdocs surviving on a stipend toafford to live in New York.

Reacting to the postdocs’ concerns,Nurse has suspended any changespending a comprehensive review of theentire postdoc remuneration package,including salary, housing, health benefitsand day care — all issues raised in arecent survey that was commissioned bythe postdoctoral association.

The challenge now is for the wholeRockefeller community to work together toresolve this situation. But if the tone of thewelcoming party held by the postdoctoralassociation for the new president is anyindication, Rockefeller postdocs canconfidently look forward to a fruitfulexistence under his guidance. ■

The Rockefeller University Postdoctoral

Association

➧ www.rockefeller.edu/pda

YOUNG SCIENTIST

Paying the rent

Naturejobs Career View

Dale Carnegie, whowrote the best-selling book How to

Win Friends and InfluencePeople, asserts that you canmake more contacts in twomonths by becominginterested in others’ workthan by spending two yearstrying to get theminterested in yours.

But how can this helpyour science career? Simple.Developing a network ofmutually beneficial contactscan ease any of your careerchallenges — from changingjob, to securing a grant orgetting a promotionrecommendation.

Networking is a give-and-take process thatrequires a genuine interestin and focus on others. It isnot limited to the stagedand formal gatherings ofexperts; it happensnaturally all the time.Everyone, even a socialacquaintance outside yourprofession, is a potentialresource who may knowsomeone or something thatwill prove useful to your

career. Move beyond yourusual sphere of influence todiversify your network ofpeople and ideas. Start witha fairly comfortable venueand progress to morepersonally challengingsituations.

To ease into first-timeconversations, develop athree-part introduction that includes your name,your speciality or focus, andan interesting point ofdistinction. If you can getpast the introduction andare a good listener, you’ll beready on any occasion witha flowing response to therecurring question: “So,what do you do?” If you are

seeking assistance beyondthe introduction, be conciseand specific in your request.Get to the point, beconsiderate of time, andlisten as much as you speak.

Remember, you need toadd value as well as makerequests. So consider thesupport, information andresources that you cancontribute. Help others byreviewing manuscripts forjournals, serving on studysections for grantingbodies, taking part inprofessional associations,speaking on alumni panels,adopting a collaborativeapproach at work andsharing credit with thosewho have helped you.

Networking is a vitalforce in both getting workand getting work done.To enjoy the benefits, steerclear of the ‘me, me, me’mindset and focus on whatyou can do for others. ■

Deb Koen is vice-president of Career

Development Services, a national

career-management firm, and is a

columnist for The Wall Street

Journal ’s CareerJournal.com.

&With Deb Koen

Careers consultant

NUTS BOLTS

Per Ahlberg’s career as apalaeontologist has been markedby a constant search for balance

— between teaching and research, hisprofessional and personal life, and hisnative Sweden and his adopted home inEngland. His new position at UppsalaUniversity, he says, brings all of thoseelements into line.

After earning his PhD in 1989, Ahlbergtook up a post, the title of which is nowextinct — he became a ‘departmentaldemonstrator’ at the University of Oxford.That meant a fixed-term contract, with aheavy load of supervising practical labclasses and individual tutorials. Looking

back, Ahlberg feels that the mix ofteaching and research stood him in goodstead. But at the time, he was worriedthat the position would shackle himprofessionally, as his teachingcommitments meant he couldn’t take onthe kind of research that can make orbreak a palaeontologist’s career.

Ahlberg used a combination offortune, experience, knowledge andinstinct to turn this disadvantage on its head. Because he had little time or budget for travel, he devoted much of his non-teaching time to combingthrough collections in museums. At onemuseum, he noticed that some fossilsthat had been classified as bony-fishfragments in the nineteenth centuryactually had features, such as adistinctive snout, associated with land-based vertebrates, or tetrapods, that he had collected on a postgraduate dig in Greenland. Ahlberg showed thatthe mislabelled bony fish was actually

the oldest known fossil of a tetrapod.The discovery served as a springboardfor his scientific career and reinforced his inclination never to acceptconventional wisdom.

A series of related findings led to apost at London’s Natural History Museum.But after nearly a decade, the pendulumhad swung too far in the other direction.He had plenty of time for research andtravel, but was missing teaching. “I likethe contact with the undergrads,” Ahlbergsays. And the 90-minute journey to workin central London took a toll, particularlyafter the birth of his daughter in 2001.

The Uppsala appointment resolvesall those issues, he says. He has theright teaching load now, and the office is a five-minute bike ride from home.Ahlberg sums up his career with a simplestatement: “I was able to recognizesome things that hadn’t beenrecognized.” The same might be said forhis recognition of the need for balance. ■

MOVERS Per Ahlberg, Professor of Evolutionary Organismal Biology, Uppsala University, Sweden

1994–2003: Researcher (fossil fish andamphibians), palaeontology department,Natural History Museum, London

1989–1994: Departmental demonstrator (vertebratebiology), zoology department, University of Oxford1989: PhD in Zoology, University of Cambridge

CV

© 2003 Nature Publishing Group