This time Scientific Bangladesh has interviewed Dr. Najmul Haider. He obtained PhD in Epidemiology (on modeling Vector-borne diseases). Here he has shared his experiences and insights of PhD life in Denmark.
1.Scientific Bangladesh: Tell us about your education- from primary to PhD. Don’t miss this opportunity to express gratitude for your great supports in this journey.
Dr. Najmul Haider: I am originally from Noakhali, studied at Manik Pur Primary and High School, at Companigong, Noakhali. Then I moved to Chittagong and passed the HSC exam from Chittagong College. I studied “Doctor of Veterinary Medicine” at ‘Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (CVASU)’. I did my first master’s degree in Veterinary Theriogenology from Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, and my second master’s in public health (MPH) from American International University-Bangladesh. I started my research career as a Research Investigator at ICDDRB, Dhaka, Bangladesh. I moved to Denmark in Feb/2015 to start My PhD in Epidemiology (on modeling Vector-borne diseases).
2.Scientific Bangladesh: What was your PhD research area? What are the results of your vigorous research, including publications, patents, awards?
Dr. Najmul Haider: I have studied the role of microclimatic temperature on vector-borne disease transmission in Scandinavian climates. The Danish climate was previously predicted to be too cold for the transmission of vector-borne diseases, yet the country experienced a large bluetongue virus outbreak in 2007 and 2008. Bluetongue virus is transmitted by some species of Culicloides, the small mosquitoes. Biological parameters of insects such as biting rate, vector survival rate, and extrinsic incubation period are highly dependent on temperature. Most current models use temperature recorded by meteorological weather stations. We recorded the microclimatic temperature from several insect resting habitats, including dry meadows, wet meadows, hedges, and forests using microchip temperature data-loggers mounted at varying heights. Our data demonstrate that microclimatic temperatures are generally warmer than the temperature recorded by meteorological weather stations, and this temperature disparity has a significant impact on vector-borne disease transmission that was not previously recognized by models using traditional meteorological temperature monitoring. I published four articles in my PhD: 2 in “Scientific Reports” and 2 in “Parasites & Vectors”.
3.Scientific Bangladesh: What was your motivation to go for PhD? What do you think about your decision to go for PhD?
Dr. Najmul Haider: I was working as a Research Investigator at ICDDRB. As a junior researcher, I had the freedom to frame research questions, design studies, and field implement those. However, we have little capacity to analyze the data. I was good at summarizing the data using summary statistics but there was very little opportunity to learn modeling: both statistical and mathematical modeling. I realized that Epidemiology without good skills in data analysis (especially in modeling) cannot move forward. Thus I was desperately looking for a PhD to improve my skills in data analysis.
4.Scientific Bangladesh: Why should someone pursue PhD? Should anyone go for PhD as friends are going for it, parents, parents-in-laws want it?
Dr. Najmul Haider: I have a different opinion. I do not believe that PhD is an essential degree. I would suggest someone pursue a PhD if s/he is highly motivated to build a career in research. Academic institutions around the world are facing some difficulties to meet the demand of industries. In many instances, PhD students cannot return to the industry as the nature of work/research is different in both settings. Industry, on the other hand, is much more rewarding than Academia in terms of salary, and job security (an exception exists). Look, we (Bangladeshi students) usually get opportunities to do PhD in western countries (including Australia, New Zealand, and advanced Asian countries), the key reason is that those countries do not have enough students to pursue PhD. They usually enter into the job market/ industry/ entrepreneurship just after a master’s degree. The second reason is that PhD students are cheap academic labor (sorry for the word, but this is what the reality is) in many countries. I did PhD, as I was keen to become a successful independent scientist. If anyone has a similar fashion, I strongly suggest him go for a PhD. But if someone wants to make money, PhD probably is not the right career choice (an exception exists).
5.Scientific Bangladesh: How would you like to describe your PhD life?
Dr. Najmul Haider: I have enjoyed my PhD life. I believe my PhD life in Denmark was one of the best periods of my life. Yes, there was stress, there were difficulties, there was a hardship but in the end, obtaining a PhD degree from a top university in Denmark [Technical University of Denmark] is one of the best achievements in my life. The PhD in Denmark is very structured. One must need 30 ECTS of course works, six months of external stay, at least 3 articles (as the first author) published in an international peer-review journal (an exception exists), and to defend the thesis in an open exam (lead by one foreign external, one local external and one local subject experts usually form the same university [exception exists]. There is ample scope to learn techniques, methods, and software related to the subject. Finally, PhD in Denmark is really well funded and I had a good economic life with my family (my wife and 2 kids) there. The only difficulty was the language — the Danish language is really tough to learn.
6.Scientific Bangladesh: PhD is stressful – how did you manage stress?
Dr. Najmul Haider: Yes, PhD is a test of mental strength as well. One had to know his/her weakness very well in order to avoid unnecessary stress. I believe, every person is different and everyone has their own way of overcoming stress. I had my family with me, my second daughter born in Denmark — I enjoyed my work and family life, and it helped me avoid any academic stress. I suggest every PhD student pass quality time with family (if you have a family with you), spent weekends on nonacademic works, keep good communications with friends and family back home, and try to adapt or adjust to the academic culture of your institution. Building good relationships with academic colleagues, participating in social activities will also help reducing stress.
Overall, do not overthink about the future and outcome of the PhD, just try to do your best to complete your daily tasks and enjoy all small achievements (e.g. acceptance of poster/oral presentation, publication, etc).
7.Scientific Bangladesh: Looking back to your PhD life, what mistakes you would advise future PhD students to avoid?
Dr. Najmul Haider: Growing up in Bangladeshi culture, we have a tendency to rely on our seniors (e.g. Professors), which is different in western countries. The PhD student had to take his own decision — and the PhD supervisor helps in the process but does not give a ready-made decision. I had waited for almost a year to obtain my PhD data from Danish Meteorological Institute. I guess there would be some mechanism to obtain those data. But later (fortunately it was not too late), I came to know that “this is your PhD, you have to do all those activities by yourself”. Then, I took initiative to meet the Danish Meteorological institute physically and obtained the data in 2-3 months. Had I took the initiative from the very beginning, I could obtain those data 4-6 months earlier.
8. Scientific Bangladesh: How did you manage relationships with your i) supervisor(s) and ii) labmates? How important to maintain a good relationship with them?
Dr. Najmul Haider: We had a weekly meeting with my supervisor and lab/group mates. We had to update our progress in every meeting: whatever advancement occurred from last week, we needed to inform in the meeting. Many meetings ended up in less than 30 minutes because we had no update — but we continued to meet each week and in the end, it helped us to become as a team. I am fortunate that I have very easy access to my boss, and I could arrange meeting with him by 1-2 days of notification.
9.Scientific Bangladesh: Did you change supervisor? If yes, when and why? What are your suggestions if a PhD student needs to change supervisor?
Dr. Najmul Haider: No I didn’t change my supervisor. I had a lovely supervisory team.
10.Scientific Bangladesh: What are your overall suggestions for future PhD students from your PhD life experiences?
Dr. Najmul Haider: I suggest future PhD students to be humble and be keen on learning methodologies and techniques during the doctoral journey. PhD is a long journey but try to do the daily works as much as you can. Do not file-up works and do not be over ambitious. Please and please do not try to achieve something in sort-cut. Spend your time to learn modern techniques in your subject and try to think out of the box which will reward you later.
11.Scientific Bangladesh: What are your suggestions for those who are about to finish PhD and entering to Post-doctoral phase?
Dr. Najmul Haider: If you would like to stay in Academia, do apply for opening positions. Do not spend time emailing Professors, no one can hire you without an advertisement. So, apply for a position, locally, regionally, and globally. Also, before starting a Postdoc, please explore the situation in the industry. The more time we spent in academia after PhD, the harder it becomes to get a job in the industry.
12.Scientific Bangladesh: What is your Postdoctoral research area? Is it the same or different from PhD? If different, then why?
Dr. Najmul Haider: I have 50% of works on modeling vector-borne diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa, and My PhD was exactly in the same area. However, I was hired on the basis of my skill in conducting epidemiological studies and data analysis not purely on modeling vector-borne diseases. As a Postdoc at Royal Veterinary College, my primary responsibilities were to conduct Epidemiological studies on the Lassa fever virus in West Africa. Unfortunately, we had to stop our field work because of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, we started to working on Covid-19, especially to help our colleagues and research partners in Sub-Saharan Africa. So far, I am authored to 10 articles on Covid-19 including five as first author. I am leveraging the epidemiological skills that I have learned during my PhD and pre-PhD period to work on this new pandemic. You can view my Postdoc profile at: https://www.rvc.ac.uk/about/our-people/najmul-haider
13.Scientific Bangladesh: Scientific Bangladesh: What is your future destination? Academia or Industry or Entrepreneurship? Why?
Dr. Najmul Haider: Academia (an exception might occur). I would like to do research and bring change at mass population level. Conducting research and teaching in academia might help me achieve my goal.
14.Scientific Bangladesh: Did you have family (husband/wife and children) with you during PhD? Do you see any advantage and/or disadvantage of having a family during PhD?
Dr. Najmul Haider: I had my family (my wife and my daughter) with me during my PhD. My second daughter was born in Denmark during my PhD period. I see no disadvantage of having family during PhD period.
15.Scientific Bangladesh: Would you like to share your knowledge and experiences with the readers of Scientific Bangladesh by writing a regular column in Scientific Bangladesh. You can register for authorship https://scientificbangladesh.com/registration-2/
Dr. Najmul Haider: Yes. Thank you for the opportunity.
Scientific Bangladesh: Thank you for sharing your insights and experiences. Our readers will be waiting to read your regular writings. Pls, register to the above link for access as an author.