1. The 3 – 5 Year plan: Having a plan is a good plan
Piush Mandhane MD PhD FRCPC
Interim Divisional Director and Associate Professor
Pediatric Respiratory Medicine
University of Alberta

2. Objectives Conflicts of interest Why do you need a 5 year plan
A fantasy trip for your career
What goes into a 5 year plan
Conflicts of interest
None to report

3. Sources of Data Little data on how to develop a 5 year plan
Writing a research plan: Science; July 26, 2002
Planning your research program
SERC Carleton University
Blogs
The professor is in
Hook and eye
Personal Experience
Advice from mentors
Learning from my many mistakes
Career 5 – year plan
AHSA Lessons for Success 5 – year plan (pdf)

4. Be Proactive not Reactive
A 5-year plan is a map for your career as a research science professional
provides a framework for your short term career with consideration of your long term goals
demonstrate your intellectual vision and aspirations
creative and independent thinking
Not having a plan means that you are:
Responding to what others want
Not doing what you actually need to do or can achieve

5. Control what you can control
A research plan means controlling what you can.
Control: Submit a grant or paper
Not controllable: Peer review
Not written in stone: Look up, evaluate, and adjust
You’ll miss critical opportunities to publish, get funding, attend meetings, make connections if you spend too much time on the minutiae of your project

6. Creating a 5-year plan for research
What is the overarching theme of all of your research?
What are the major topics that you will pursue over the next 3 years? 5 years?
Pick a particular topic within your theme to which you plan to devote significant effort now or in the near future.
List the “products” that you want to produce that fall within the topic of item
Lather, rinse and repeat steps 3 and 4

7. Creating a Strategic Plan for Research
Stage 1: Development
Creating a Strategic Plan for Research
Research theme:______________________
Topic A:
New or Continuing
Plans for obtaining facilities or instruments
Available Resources:
Needed Resources:
Plans for recruiting students and collaborators
Stage 2: Implementation
What to do if not funded?
Beginning Field Work or
Setting Up Laboratory
Conducting Research
Writing Proposals
Stage 3: Dissemination
Formal Publications
Web Sites
Initial Presentations
Ph.D. Dissertations
Student Projects
New Research Ideas?
Honors & M.S. Theses
Independent Studies

8. Picking a research theme
Choose an important subject that you are passionate about
Science requires passion.
If you aren't passionate about your work, find work you are passionate about.
Passion is necessary, but insufficient for research success
The work must be important.
Believing in the importance of your own work, and
Persuading others that your work is important.
Consider both your own aspirations, expectations of your institution, expertise of your institution.
Be specific. 
Need an important goal with interesting, feasible approaches.
Being specific is not the same thing as including loads of detail.
Being specific means including only as much detail as the job requires
But not too much detail that it confuses or bores the reader
Writing a research plan: Science; July 26, 2002

9. Creating a 5-year plan for research
Theme
Major topics
Differentiate graduate or post graduate research topics from ‘new’ areas of investigation.
Products

10. Identifying your major topics
What you would like your research program to look like 5 years from now
What will be the main focus of your research? What will be your subsidiary interests?
What will your lab space be like?
What equipment will you have, or have access to?
How will you fund your research?
Will your research program be integrated with your teaching / clinical?
Planning a research program involves both identifying the research question(s) you want to pursue, and deciding what you want to accomplish in your pursuit of those questions. This worksheet is designed to help you focus on the latter – specific, measurable outcomes of your research program, and the timetable you will follow to achieve those outcomes.

11. Consider the challenges and opportunities
What support is available to you to help you achieve your major topics?
What impediments stand in the way?
Are they insurmountable?
How much of your time and energy will they consume?
What strategies will you try first to overcome any impediments?
Do your major topics take advantage of opportunities that exist and appeal to you?
Writing a research plan: Science; July 26, 2002

12. Carefully examine your major topics.
Are they appropriately ambitious, considering your challenges and opportunities?
Do they appeal to you?
Can you see yourself happily working toward them?
If not, go back to step one and revise them as necessary.
You want a research program that motivates and excites you.
Writing a research plan: Science; July 26, 2002

13. Creating a 5-year plan for research
Theme
Major topics
Products
Manuscripts, conference presentations, reports, field guides, books
Networking goals: emerging new research or writing projects

14. For each product, identify the following:
Who will create these products
Undergrad, MS, PhD, post doc, or you?
Are the products of correct scope for your students or do you need to break them down into smaller pieces?
What resources do you need to accomplish each of these projects?
Equipment, supplies, funding, collaborations, space or field access
List possible sources of funding, equipment
Deadlines for completion, submission, and revision
How is this ‘product’ related to the others?
Do they naturally fall into a sequence that builds upon itself, or do they form a cluster around the central topic?

15. http://serc. carleton. edu/NAGTWorkshops/earlycareer/research/plan
Project
Role
Partners
Funders
Dates
CCHCSP

16. Intermediate goals
Where will you need to be, a year from now, to accomplish your long-term goals?
What do you need to accomplish this semester to get on track toward your long-term research program goals?
What deadlines do you have /anticipate

17. Short-term goals
What will you do this month to make progress toward your research program goals?
What will you do this week to make progress toward your research program goals?
What deadlines do you have /anticipate

18. Need, Nice, No Does your plan fit in with what you are doing already?
What are you doing currently?
Do they fit with your goals.
Assigned priorities for your projects in light of your goals.
Need: This is stuff you need to do
Nice: This is stuff you want to do
No: This is stuff you need to remove off your plate.
Tobi Kollman; UBC

19. Plot it out over time
You have a list of your major topics and projects
Assign priorities and timelines
You have your list of “needs” and “nices”
Put them together and find your busy and less busy periods
Can you move things/projects around to make for more even work flow?

21. Consider a Gantt Diagram

22. Use an APP – e.g. Anydo
No affiliation

23. Stick to the plan Doing a plan shouldn’t be an occasion for guilt.
We are all going to be surprised by opportunities in our work lives
It’s a good idea to go back and review goals, shuffle priorities and revise the plan from time to time.
From “The Professor is in”:
“In sifting through the many reactions to the 5-year plan idea on facebook and twitter and in the comment stream to the post, I have gotten the impression that for many readers, the 5-year plan feels like a large, epic, “major life goals” kind of endeavor.
But its really more of a “stay on top of deadlines” kind of endeavor.
Staying on top of deadlines is exactly what allows a person to achieve huge life goals.”
Success is 10% inspiration, and 90% perspiration
Thomas Edison

24. Thanks Dr. Mark Inman: Mentor Dr. Norm Rosenblum: Mentor
Pick an important topic that you can own
Dr. Norm Rosenblum: Mentor
“Fire in the belly”
Dr. Tobi Kollman: Collaborator
Need/Nice/No
Dr. Dean Befus: Mentor
Gantt diagrams

25. Creating a 5-year plan for research
What is the overarching theme of all of your research?
Consider both your own aspirations and the expectations of your institution.
What are the major topics that you will pursue over the next 3 years? 5 years?
Differentiate graduate or post graduate research topics from ‘new’ areas of investigation.
Name a particular topic within your theme to which you plan to devote significant effort now or in the near future.
List the “products” that you want to produce that fall within the topic of item
Manuscripts, conference presentations, reports, field guides, books
Networking goals: emerging new research or writing projects
For each product, identify the following:
Who will create these products (undergrad, MS, PhD, post doc, or you)?
Are the products of correct scope for your students or do you need to break them down into smaller pieces?
What resources (equipment, supplies, funding, collaborations, space or field access) do you need to accomplish each of these projects? List possible sources of funding, equipment
Deadlines for completion, submission, and revision
How is this ‘product’ related to the others? Do they naturally fall into a sequence that builds upon itself, or do they form a cluster around the central topic?
Lather, Rinse, Repeat

26. When we are successful, it feels great
When we are successful, it feels great. When we’re not, at least planning means that we can choose another path and learn from what happened. Our sense of self-worth does not have to be keyed to how successful we are, but to how we are working to realize our goals. And no matter what, the decisions we make can be in line with what our values are, and what kind of people we want to be, at work and in the other parts of our lives.