Zaihao Tian

Zaihao Tian is a Research Assistant at the University of Southampton within the School of Mechanical Engineering, and was a member of the University's first Prosper cohort in 2025.

We interviewed Zaihao about his career journey and experience with Prosper - read more below.

Role

Research Assistant at the University of Southampton within the School of Mechanical Engineering

Case study conducted

August 2025

What is your background as a researcher?

I’m a Research Assistant at the University of Southampton within the School of Mechanical Engineering. I did my PhD here and started working here from April 2024 [NOTE: Zaihao took part in the Prosper cohort as a PGR employed as a Research Assistant, and is awaiting his viva at the time of writing].

My area of research is tribology (the study of friction, lubrication and wear phenomena for interacting surfaces in relative motion).

Specifically we work on condition monitoring for big, critical expensive machines such as wind or gas turbines – discovering better ways to process sensor data to tell how ‘healthy’ the machine is, and where problems may arise in the future.

Why did you join the Prosper cohort?

I first heard about the cohort in December of 2024. At the time I was quite uncertain about my future – my contract was up in April 2025 (it was later extended) and I was unsure whether to look for another role within academia, or to consider a move to industry.

The Prosper cohort seemed ideal for figuring this out and developing skills related to careers and job seeking.

How did you find the Prosper cohort?

Curie [Dr Curie Scott, who runs Prosper at Southampton] said at the start ‘this might feel a little bit like being in kindergarten’. And it does – but that’s a really positive thing in many ways. When we’re young and in school we have conversations about what we want to be when we grow up… but then often we stop having these discussions and thoughts in adulthood… but we shouldn’t.

The cohort format, with the community, is really relaxed and positive – it’s a great escape for a few hours from your office or lab. It was a good mix of younger ECRs like myself and some more senior members further along in their careers, which meant we could draw on their experience. I was able to develop a number of skills.

Which aspects of Prosper did you find most useful?

There were quite a few things!

Curie encouraged us to map our skills and experience across the timelines of our careers-to-date. This is a good habit to get into because these things are easily forgotten, and getting it down in a structured way makes it more tangible.

The work around informational interviews was another highlight. We were prompted to have open conversations with more senior people who, e.g. worked for companies in sectors we might be interested in – just to learn more about their work, how they got there, what their advice might be etc.

This is not something researchers necessarily have to do as part of the day-to-day of their jobs, so it’s good to be prompted to have these kinds of conversations.

It's the sort of thing that you can put to immediate good use. Myself and some colleagues are currently planning to start our own spin-out company, and so we’re talking to others have successfully gone through this process to learn as much as we can.

It can easy to be shy, and not believe that senior people will want to talk to you. But this isn’t the case – people like to be asked for advice, and are usually very open to a discussion.

It’s not just useful for your own development – the same skills are crucial to making something like a spin-out work from a business point of view.

We know of another startup within the University that achieved success precisely because they took the time to have conversations on LinkedIn and elsewhere, to get to know their market and what is needed. When you talk to people, they might tell you something you’d have never thought of on your own, which is really, really helpful.

Connected with this, the exercises around maintaining your LinkedIn profile were very useful – making sure to flag your skills etc. This is another thing I was able to put to immediate good use myself.

What are your future career plans?

As I mentioned myself and some colleagues are planning to start our own spin-out business, taking our innovative condition monitoring system to market.

Before the Prosper cohort, I was still very unsure about whether this was something I truly wanted to pursue. But my time with Prosper reflecting on what we want from a job, from a career – has made me realise it’s the right direction for me, that it’ll suit me more than a traditional academic career. That even though it’s a high risk move, it’s worth giving it a go.

We’re currently in the planning stage. We’ve started doing market research and talking to companies that might be interested in our machine. We’re working on a prototype and soon we’ll be looking to do IP protection and preparing for investment. It’s very exciting!

If there’s one bit of advice you could give to a researcher that was in the position you were in before you joined Prosper, what would it be?

Firstly, be open to different job opportunities. I think most PhD students, when they’re coming to the end of their PhD, automatically look for a postdoc role as it’s the most obvious next step. But there’s a lot of different things you can potentially do, and it’s worth taking stock or you might miss out on an opportunity elsewhere.

Second bit of advice: talk to people. I know I’ve said this a few times but it’s so important.

Thirdly, I think it’s good to set objectives early, and get clarity on how to get from point A to point B.

If you want to eventually get a certain fellowship – find out specifically what the gap you need to cross is. How many papers do you need to publish, is there a conference you need to present at – this sort of thing. Get clarity on where you want to go, and on what you need to do to get there - then break it down into sub-tasks, don’t just float on.

I didn’t do this enough while I was studying for my PhD, and I wish I had. Prosper is great for acquiring this mindset.