This blog is my attempt to give back (and give forward) to future students and others researchers who are probably wrestling with the same kinds of questions and the same messy details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s why I also started the student research collective Y-HEART<\/a> (Young investigators in Human Exercise And caRdiovascular Translational physiology)<\/em> in mid 2025. The idea is similar: pass along knowledge and values that shape \u201cgood\u201d research: thoughtfully executed, ethically reasonable, and methodologically valid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I want to share my work process and its fallacies for several reasons:<\/p>\n\n\n\n (i) Science is a team sport.<\/strong> (ii) Academia needs more transparency.<\/strong> (iii) Writing is how I think.<\/strong> Most posts will be short and structured: I\u2019ll start with a question, summarize what I tried, share what surprised me and what I think it means, add one or two practical takeaways, and finish with a few references. My goal isn\u2019t to be right on the first try but to be honest and to make progress and <\/em>failure visible. Research is a process that can bring you down sometimes. By writing about my research process I will hopefully improve my ability to trust the process<\/a><\/em> (great book by Shaun McNiff btw!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lampkemeyer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_6404-edited-1024x576.jpg\")
That claim is backed by evidence<\/a>: modern science increasingly depends on collaboration, and team structure shapes what kind of work gets produced. But your team should not only be the immediate people you work with. It\u2019s the whole scientific community. Sharing successes, practical know-how, and mistakes can save others time, money, and frustration. And sometimes it prevents avoidable harm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is a large and growing body of work on perverse incentives<\/a>, reproducibility issues<\/a>, and unhealthy power dynamics. And while a blog won\u2019t solve systemic problems like power imbalance<\/a>, bullying<\/a>, mobbing, or sexual harassment, it can still contribute to a culture shift: more openness about processes, clearer norms, and a lower tolerance for \u201cthat\u2019s just how it is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is something I really developed during my studies. I went from staring at blank pages to becoming a productive writer. Writing and research are mutually reinforcing: starting to write about a project often immediately improves it. Lab work and reading generate ideas. Not always good ones, but often worth capturing before they vanish. Writing adds structure, and that structure helps you see which ideas are worth pursuing – and which are better discarded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n