The growth and experience of a doctor lies in every bit of the whole process of doctoral study. After several years of long-term accumulation, it forms the upgrading and transformation from quantitative change to qualitative change. This process is mixed with excitement, tension, happiness, busyness, confusion and even temporary loss. This is a systematic and detailed record of my experience in my doctoral years.

How to establish and develop scientific research cooperation, most people think it doesn't seem to have anything to do with doctoral students, because scientific research cooperation is basically led by professors and mentors. However, this does not mean that in all cases, when the scientific research atmosphere is free enough, doctoral students can also seize the opportunity to develop and lead scientific research cooperation. This time, let's talk about a specific example during my doctoral period.

1. Meet collaborators at academic conferences

It all started with an academic conference that my doctor attended at the end of the first year. I remember clearly that the conference was on an island in the south of France. In summer, there were beautiful scenery and many tourists went on vacation. But whether it was for meetings or holidays, most of them were European faces, so an Asian face Professor with several students soon attracted my attention after finishing his report. More importantly, his research field is also very related to mine.

So after the report, I went to talk with him and learned that he was Korean, but he was an assistant professor at a university in Tokyo. What he did was pure numerical simulation, and most of what I did was experimental research plus a small amount of numerical simulation, so our research methods overlapped and overlapped. After further understanding, he learned that he had studied as a doctoral student under a Japanese professor at another university in Tokyo. The Japanese professor was older, and he was lucky to become the closed disciple of the professor. Therefore, the Japanese professor gave him a set of complex numerical calculation methods and codes developed in his life. After he became independent in another university, every article published by him will bring the name of his mentor to show his gratitude and respect.

During that meeting, we just had a brief exchange and shared each other's experiences. We didn't think about the possibility of scientific research cooperation. After the meeting, I gradually forgot about it, but when I attended another academic conference in Italy the next year, I saw him take his students all the way to attend a small conference in this field, which made me sigh that he must really love this research field. With the foundation of last year, we talked more deeply this time, and also led to the topic of the possibility of cooperation. It can be seen that he is very interested in my experimental research. After the meeting, I had a strong driving force in my heart, so I went to talk about it with my tutor. The tutor always held an open and encouraging attitude, so I continued to move forward in this direction and began to have some e-mail exchanges and discussions with the professor from time to time.

2. Window to understand Japanese academic culture

Six months later, my tutor and I went to Japan to attend a larger academic conference in the field. Naturally, the professor passed by and brought more students. With the previous foundation, we were basically old acquaintances during the meeting. Every night after the meeting, he took us to a very distinctive local restaurant to taste all kinds of Japanese food, and sometimes tried Japanese roadside stalls after the meeting. During eating and drinking, we talked about all kinds of past experiences. He worshipped and respected his mentor very much, which is very similar to the relationship between teachers and students in China.

Some of the things he talked about made me understand the academic culture of Japan. One is that during his doctor's period, all students in the research room must leave after the professor leaves. Although there is no explicit provision, Japanese professors are very diligent in scientific research and often leave late at night. Therefore, a large number of students stay in the research room to spend time, even if they have no energy to do scientific research. One night, the tutor discussed a problem with him before leaving. As a result, the discussion lasted for a long time. He was very anxious because he was about to miss the last subway he went home, but he was very patient on the surface until he finished the discussion with the tutor. So that night, he missed the subway and couldn't go home, so he had to spend the night in the research room.

This is in sharp contrast to my own experience. I usually come to the laboratory early and leave early. Once, when I was about to pack up and leave, my tutor came to discuss specific experimental problems with me. As a result, I discussed for more than an hour and there was no sign of stopping. At that time, I was so hungry that my brain was a little broken, my brain was drowsy and my reaction lagged behind. I directly told my mentor about my situation. As a result, the mentor was very sorry and asked me to go home and eat.

The question goes back to the Korean professor in Japan. Shortly after attending the academic conference in Japan, I went to kit in Germany according to the training plan. As a result, the professor asked me my address in Germany and said that during our meeting in Japan, his students took a lot of photos of our exchange activities together. He carved these photos into CDs and sent them to me. I was immediately moved. I thought he was very human and did a good job in details. Our academic cooperation has become more and more in-depth, and we have sent several articles together. As usual, he added the names of his doctoral tutors to these articles. Once I got stuck in several equations for numerical calculation, which was his mentor's specialty. I dared to write an email to his mentor for advice. As a result, the old man was very serious and timely. He worked on three or four pages of paper to deduce the relevant equations by hand, and then scanned them and sent them to me. My heart was full of gratitude.

3. Laboratory visit and exchange

In the last year of my doctor's degree, there was still a few months after my graduation thesis was written. My tutor asked me to take advantage of the scholarships in these months to sort out the data that had not been published before. That year, I also planned to go to Japan to attend another academic conference. I thought I could visit the professor's Laboratory for some time while going to Japan for a conference. At that time, the professor had changed his job and went to a university in southern Japan from Tokyo. But this means that there will be an additional cost. I bravely told my tutor the idea, and the tutor agreed, so I immediately talked to the professor about what to do during the communication.

Because I was slowly familiar with the professor's japanese tutor, I asked if I could visit his tutor's laboratory after the meeting in Japan. His tutor readily agreed and recommended me a hotel near the school. So that summer, I held a meeting in Sapporo for a few days. After that, I came to Tokyo alone, one is to visit the laboratory, the other is to travel. The old man was very serious and responsible. When I came out of the hotel the next morning, I found that he was already waiting to pick me up in front of the hotel. After picking me up, he took the subway to his laboratory with me and explained his experimental device to me in detail. After that, he had lunch together.

Then I went all the way south to the University and laboratory where the professor had just moved in. He and the students had prepared the test conditions early. I stayed there for more than a month, but I measured a lot of effective research data, and later wrote an article, which became the most efficient cooperation I had ever experienced. In addition, when he is free at the weekend, he will take me around the nearby scenic spots and invite me to his house for dinner. On the basis of cooperation, we slowly developed friendship. After my doctor graduated, we still had contact.