Скачать или смотреть Gaia essay 60: Scientific project management (Michael Perryman, 21 February 2022)

The source provides a personal reflection on the complexities of scientific project management, specifically within the context of large-scale space missions like Hipparcos and Gaia at the European Space Agency (ESA). The author, having served as a Project Scientist, discusses the distinct roles and responsibilities of the Project Manager and the Project Scientist, highlighting the challenges inherent in the Project Scientist's position which involves balancing scientific goals with technical and budgetary constraints. The text also emphasises the lack of formal training for scientists in project management and offers practical advice based on experience, including establishing clear structures, managing actions, defining goals, and treating the project as an interconnected system. Ultimately, the author reflects on the necessary attributes for successful scientific project leadership and acknowledges the difficulty in finding all these qualities in one individual.

This audio conversation has been created from the original essay (www.michaelperryman.co.uk) using the AI conversion provided by Google NotebookLM, April 2025. Animation: artist impression of our Galaxy, the Milky Way, based on data from ESA’s Gaia space telescope (ESA/Gaia/DPAC, Stefan Payne-Wardenaar, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO)