Can I go please? No.

Should postdocs go to conferences and symposiums? Should they have collaborations? Or should they be bench-bound?

The Old Big Boss seems to prefer to have me bench-bound. I have first asked him before joining his lab if I can go to the conference in Italy in December. Well, I have not actually asked if I could go, I have asked if he has travel money that could pay for it. He said he would not pay, because I am not presenting his results there. The PI from my previous postdoc paid for it regardless of me presenting the results. I guess there are different philosophies about postdocs and their role - the bench-bound philosophy and career-development philosophy.

Recently I have met a Former Postdoc of the Old Big Boss who is now an Assistant Professor at another private university about three hours away from here. He is potentially the best source of knowledge and technical expertise on the Method for me. And he is very interested in the technical expertise from my PhD. We would like to meet for discussions and maybe developing collaboration. He invited me to visit his university, where he has the instrumentation that I am very interested to use. We had emails going back and forth discussing this visit and the possible dates.

I have discussed this with the Old Big Boss. He is unwilling to let me go. He thinks that I will be wasting my time and that the collaboration would dilute my focus on work here. He does not forbid me from going, in Japan you cannot communicate directly like that, but he suggests that he will be unhappy about it and I understand that suggestion. Now what do I do? I really want to develop this collaboration. Should I be free to do this or should I be asking my PI for permission?

I was going to visit the Former Postdoc at the end of the month, but it turned out that we have a visiting professor here on the same date and I had to cancel. However the Former Postdoc suggested another way to meet - one-day symposium on the Method in Nagoya. I looked at the speakers and there were some people that I would really like to meet and some talks and techniques that I am interested in. And Nagoya is only three hours away from here.

So I asked the Old Big Boss if I could go. His answer was that the topics are "rather advanced" and that I will not benefit, because they are "too difficult for me to understand". I should start learning the basics of the Method. Is he aware that I already know the basics? He does not seem to be. He told me that I should really focus on the experiments in the lab to learn the basics and, "besides, you have just been in Italy".

I have decided that this is basically just one day away so that I can work on Saturday to make up for it. I told that to the Boss and basically decided to go myself. But later the Former Postdoc suggested that I should ask the Boss for the travel money. I did and again he said no. "You are not presenting. I would only pay if you go to present something".

Oh well, I will pay for the visit from my own "career development fund" i.e. my own pocket. I am definitely not taking "No" for an answer - I am going there this afternoon,