Organizing short-term lab research visits (Japan)
Hey,
I'm a PhD student (hopefully finishing some time next year) in bioinformatics from Germany and I have the chance to do a month-long trip to Japan this fall.
Since I’m considering doing a post-doc or industry job in Japan later on, I was wondering whether I could combine the trip with visiting some related labs. My idea would be something informal, like giving a short talk about my research and discussing research topics with some lab members.
I got the idea, because we had a couple short-term visitors in our lab and even though our research didn't quite fit with their expertise in the end, my supervisor was still able to suggest some more relevant labs. But I am still wondering whether:
- It is even realistic to arrange short visits (a few days to ~1 week) at labs just to get a sense of the environment? Maybe specifically in Japan with still poor Japanese skills?
- Do you have suggestions on how to best "cold email" PIs (of interesting labs), and whether that is worth the effort at all? Or whether I should maybe "target" post-docs instead?
- Do you have any alternative ideas for networking in this situation? (For example I am considering visiting the BioJapan conference/expo.)
The trip is already funded and approved, so no concerns there. Worst case I can still travel a little and work remotely/write on my thesis. Unfortunately my Japanese is still only around JLPT N4 level.
Thanks