Damien has extensive experience of academia with more than 20 years of academic experience and leadership. Because I have a direct experience, not only of what is required to be a successful academic, but also because I have gone through first-hand emotions of the ups and downs of the profession, I have decided to share my experience with others and give you tools that are useful in your day to day work and also to ensure a better work-life balance.
Damien Lacroix
Founder
Damien is currently Professor of Biomedical Engineering in the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Sheffield in UK since 2012. Damien is Co-Director of the Insigneo Institute and has more than 20 years of academic experience and leadership.
More about Damien
I did my mechanical engineering training at the INSA engineering school in Lyon, France, where I was greatly influenced by foreign students friends who showed me the benefits of living abroad. This led me to be an Erasmus student in my final year at Trinity College Dublin. This is where I met my first mentor, Prof Patrick Prendergast who was the President of Trinity College Dublin, with whom I did my final year project, my MSc Research, and my PhD. After Dublin, I moved to Toulouse for a short stay in the lab of Prof Pascal Swider working for Smith & Nephew, before I was offered a Marie-Curie postdoctoral fellowship at the Technical University of Catalonia in Barcelona, Spain.
There, I met my second mentor, Prof Josep Planell who is currently the President of the Online Catalan University, who gave me the opportunities to become an independent scientist and lead my own group at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia. During that time, I learned how to lead a group, how to do collaborative research, how to write research proposals and how to lead large projects. I also got very much involved with my own scientific community and became the President of the European Society of Biomechanics.
In 2011, I decided to follow my third mentor, Prof Marco Viceconti, and work and live in Sheffield where the new Institute for in silico Medicine was created. The move to UK was transformational, not so much in terms of science but in terms of responsibility. I thrived in a much more professional and competitive national environment, while having the chance to have an excellent local collaborative environment.
As Director of Research of the new Institute, I learned a lot from Marco and others. I was the Principal Investigator of large projects and my responsibilities grew within the Institute while I led a group of academics to form a collaborative group with about 20-30 PhD students and post-docs. This was enjoyable but also tiring.
In 2018 my wife and I decided to take a break and reverse our role: I would be taking care of our two kids (our daughter was not even 2 year-old) while she would start her business. The University of Sheffield offered me an unpaid leave of absence for 2 years. That period was rich in emotions, adventures and dreams with the family.
During that time, I realised that I had been very close to a burn-out and decided to work a lot on my own personal development. I read many books, listened to many postcasts and videos on YouTube on leadership and stress management. This is how I realised how the academic world can be challenging, that most of us are affected, and yet are not well prepared for this.
That is what motivated me to create Success in Academia so that others do not go as far or beyond the mental stress that I suffered. I also realised that I could share a lot more my experience with early-career researchers, junior academics and senior academics so that they keep enjoying doing what brought them to academia in the first place.