Journal Club

A perspective

by Ashima Dua (Ph.D.Scholar) and Meenu Saini (Ph.D.Scholar)

In an interactive meeting between students and faculty members almost two years ago one of the Ph.D. scholars Ms. Udita suggested the start of a Journal Club in the Microbiology Department. The idea was  enthusiastically taken up by all of us. The Journal Club is a monthly event wherein one of the Ph.D. scholars chooses a recent research article of his/ her interest (other than his/her own lab’s publications!) and presents it before the other members (student and faculty) of the department. Since the presenters are rotated, every Ph.D. student gets a chance to present and therefore learn how to present in front of a crowd, a necessity for a Ph.D. scholar. Typically, the presentation begins with an introduction to the research group whose paper is being discussed that day: its arena of work, and previous publications. During the presentation the data in the paper are analyzed critically and questions that come to mind are freely discussed. We have found the benefits of attending and participating in the Journal Club to be manifold. Apart from gaining confidence in presenting papers outside of our immediate area of work, it is an opportunity for us to learn about the latest research in other fields of biology and gets us acquainted to new techniques and technologies. The flow of knowledge is not unidirectional (from presenter to audience). At the end of the presentation, there is a healthy discussion about the methodology and relevance of the study wherein both flaws and strengths of the study are debated. Since diverse types of research areas exist in the department a very wide range of topics are covered in the papers we select, and thus one major benefit of this departmental event is that we are exposed to areas of research other than their own. This in turn ignites our interest in the pre-Ph.D. and viva-voce presentations of students from other labs. Our exposure to other areas of research and diverse technologies has sharpened our thinking and broadened our outlook, leading to the floating of new ideas that contribute to our research work. Thus, overall, the Journal Club has helped in developing interest in diverse areas of research and boosted our confidence in presenting any research article with a thorough understanding of the work.

A Ph.D. scholar presenting a research paper in Journal club

The Journal Club schedule for year 2023 is here: