Ten questions with Dr Konrad Rawlik

 

Dr Konrad Rawlik is Research Fellow and Data Curation Project Analyst at The Roslin Institute. This extraordinary person is contributing to worldwide research to understand the host genetics of severe COVID-19, to rapidly inform treatment decisions. He is also co-founder of Omecu, a disruptive commercial platform which will change how genomic, and other medical data are accessed. 

Ten questions with Dr Konrad Rawlik

 

1. What does innovation mean to you?

The opportunity to develop exciting ideas for the benefit of all.   

 

2. What has been your biggest success? 

On a personal level, my family. In research, my contributions to the worldwide scientific efforts to understand the host genetics of severe COVID-19, to rapidly inform treatment decisions.

 

3. What failure has helped shape you? 

By traditional standards of academia, my career is likely to be considered a failure, as I should be leading my own group by now. I think the early recognition that traditional measures of success often poorly reflect actual contributions and personal fulfilment shaped my approach to research.

 

4. What is most important to you? 

Work-(family) life balance is hugely important. Also doing research that you yourself find interesting, even if no one else cares much for it (although it is obviously nice if they do).   

 

5. What book do you recommend to others? 

I would recommend ‘On the Origin of Species’ by Charles Darwin to people of any background. It is, I think, a perfect example of how complex science and profound ideas can be made accessible to anyone. 

 

6. What would your friends say your greatest strengths and weaknesses are? 

I’m not known for suffering fools gladly, or for small talk. On the other hand, my wife tells me I’m generous, kind, and work well under pressure. Personally, I think my biggest strength is my capacity for generalisation and abstract thinking.

 

7. What scares you?

Humankind’s seemingly unbounded capacity to ignore problems and focus on trivialities. 

 

8. What piece of advice has stuck with you? 

‘Be bold, start cold’, although that is very niche advice for winter climbers. ‘Perfect is the enemy of good’ (Voltaire) is a piece of advice I keep reminding myself of regularly.

 

9. What future innovation would you like to see happen in your lifetime?  

Truly open and truly collaborative science, which places scientific progress over individual accolades.

 

10. What gives you hope?  

Very little. Although the curiosity, capacity for wonder and open-mindedness of the next generation does give some hope.