One of the tricky things about switching fields, yet being interdisciplinary, is figuring out how much involvement you want to keep in your old field. My research still incorporates a lot from my old field, and I still identify as more of an Old Field-ologist. Yet, I want to make inroads into New Field since that's the direction I've chosen for my budding research program.
This identity crisis isn't much of an issue except when choosing journals for papers and picking which meetings to attend. There are two Old Field meetings this year that I really wanted to go to, but I think I'm going to miss them both in favor of New Field travel. To be clear, it would have been completely relevant to take my current postdoc research to the Old Field meetings. I say I switched fields, but they are not completely alien to each other.
Ultimately I'd like to work right on the border of the two areas. My goal for my postdoc was to learn as much as I could about New Field(s), and then be able to assimilate that with my old stuff into something really cool and unique and interdisciplinary and, I think, hot right now. So while it's disappointing that I'll miss my favorite meetings and the old friends and colleagues I'd see at them, I think it's better for my progress to go to the New Field events. I'll be on a steeper learning curve, so I'll probably get more out of them, and I'll probably be expanding my network faster. But it will be a little sad to tell my science friends, "no, I'm not going to Favorite Meeting again this year. But I swear I'll be back someday soon".
2 comments:
Interesting consideration, I think I'll be in a similar situation from next year on. And it is a bit sad, because of the science friends and because I finally had the impression of having "arrived" in that field. But, like you, I want to learn as much as possible from my new field so that I can join it with what I've learned during my PhD for some new, unique directions.
So true about the feeling of having "arrived" and being reluctant to give that up. I guess the only way to overcome that is to go to more New Field meetings. In the end we'll be so much better for it.
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