Developing Leadership in and Beyond the Lab as a Postdoc in Plant Science
What do quinoa, jackfruit and the Andean tuber Mashua have in common? They are all so-called orphan crops, plant species that are cultivated in some regions of the world but largely overlooked in international research and agricultural development. At the same time, they are increasingly discussed for their potential contributions to diversified food systems, as they are often more resilient to changing environmental conditions and can offer nutritional advantages compared to widely used crops.
Mashua is the focus of a KT Boost Fund project led by Pascal Hunziker at the University of Heidelberg’s Centre for Organismal Studies. His work connects plant biology, development, and future food systems.
Pascal is one of the fellows featured in the second season of “Keeping up with the Boost Fellows”. In this series, GSO’s Birte Seffert travels across Germany to visit 15 researchers who started their projects in 2025, offering a closer look at their research, their environments, and the realities of building a research career.
Pascal Hunziker
Working on complex questions means taking ownership early
Pascal focuses on Mashua as a test case for developing next generation crops. He studies traits such as flavor and environmental adaptation, with the aim of improving them.
What draws him to orphan crops is both curiosity and societal relevance. These crops are often well adapted to challenging environments and can be more nutritious than widely used species. At the same time, their broader use is limited by missing data, infrastructure, and sometimes by flavor or cultivation constraints. Mashua reflects this tension and turns it into a complex research question. It is high yielding, nutritious, and resilient, but its flavor profile and its sensitivity to light conditions make adaptation difficult.
Working on such a system requires more than technical expertise. It means working with limited data and addressing gaps as they arise, while moving between different types of work, from microscopy and genome editing to data analysis and greenhouse experiments.
For Pascal, one of these gaps was methodological: he had to learn genome sequencing and downstream analyses.
“I had no experience with it. Through collaborations and a course, I tried to teach myself.”
In early 2026, he published the first reference genome assembly for Mashua as corresponding author, creating a first genome-scale resource for this species.
Leadership in the lab
Beyond his own experiments, Pascal took on responsibility for organizing joint lab meetings across multiple research groups at his institute.
This role required coordination, moderation, and balancing different expectations and communication styles across research groups. It came with a learning curve, especially when balancing structure and flexibility. At the same time, it increased his visibility and helped him connect with colleagues and their work.
As his project developed, he also took on responsibility for supervising student assistants and assigning tasks:
„I have to delegate and trust, skills that I got to learn in the career development workshops that are part of the Boost Fund program.“
Related reading: Making (virtual) meetings more inclusive
Pascal’s 3 tips for coordinating larger research discussions
Through organizing joint meetings across multiple research groups, Pascal learned how much meeting dynamics depend on moderation style, group composition, and creating space for discussion.
Prepare a backup question
“If you moderate a meeting, I would always prepare a backup question.” This helps initiate discussion, especially in larger or interdisciplinary groups where people may hesitate initially.
Learn to handle silence
Silence can feel uncomfortable, but giving people time often leads to more thoughtful contributions.
Stay flexible in your role as meeting coordinator
Different groups and personalities engage differently, especially in cross-group meetings. Being able to adapt helps the meeting work for the group.
Collaborations and coordination beyond the lab
Working on Mashua required skills beyond plant biology.
Pascal had to identify sources for crop material, connect with botanical gardens, and explore collaborations with researchers in Mashua cultivating countries such as Peru, Colombia, and Ecuador. The project also involved tasting different types of Mashua to better understand its flavor, often a mix of spiciness and sweetness, and its potential use. He also learned to work across legal frameworks, languages and institutional contexts.
These activities are often not visible in the final research outputs, but essential for moving projects forward:
- building collaborations
- sourcing material
- navigating legal and institutional frameworks
They require taking responsibility beyond one’s own experiments and connecting the project to a broader context.
How research work shapes your role
Pascal’s project shows how responsibility grows as part of the work itself. Progress does not come from results alone, but from how researchers deal with uncertainty, take initiative, and move a project forward step by step.
Many of these responsibilities are not visible in publications or final outputs, but they shape how researchers develop independence, collaborations and leadership over time. Paying attention to them can help make your own development more deliberate, and give more clarity on how you work with others and develop as a researcher.
About the KT Boost Fund
The Boost Fund supports postdoctoral researchers and early group leaders in Germany with flexible funding for independent, often higher-risk and interdisciplinary projects, combined with career development opportunities and access to a strong peer network.
The program addresses a critical phase after the PhD, where researchers are expected to develop independence, but often lack the resources and flexibility to do so. It creates space to explore new directions, build collaborations, and take responsibility early on.
