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M. Majid Butt
Bionote
M. Majid Butt is a senior staff research specialist at Nokia Standards, USA, and an adjunct Research Professor at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. He has authored nearly 100 articles, contributed to more than 150 filed/granted patents and was declared the outstanding Nokia inventor of the year for the years 2021 and 2022. Majid has won several awards for his research and innovation.
How does it feel to win the award?
Of course, it is a great feeling to win this award in a large community of very talented scientists and engineers who have won prestigious Marie Curie doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships in their careers. Any recognition is great, but this award is close to my heart as the value of a reward is measured by the weight of the community awarding it, and I cannot ask for a better recognition than the one linked with the prestigious Marie Curie programme.
What journey led you to this award?
I spent quite a few years in academia (nearly eight years after my PhD) and then moved to industry at Nokia. Blue sky research and publications are the bread and butter for academics, and this is what I was doing in the first phase of my career, including the period as a Marie Curie postdoc fellow. But, I always felt that I could do better in industrial research as I had the ability to apply my skills to solve problems of a practical nature. I took a chance to switch to the industry. Now, about six years after I moved to industry, with a portfolio of more than 150 filed patents, nearly 100 articles, as well as other industry- relevant initiatives and accolades, I can proudly say that I was right, and my innovative patents are helping telecom industry to move forward in 6G wireless communications.
How will this award propel you in your future endeavours?
I believe recognitions, good or small, are quite important for a researcher, but this is not what you work for. I would take this award as a validation of my innovative work in my career, and this motivates me further to invest all my energies in creating innovative solutions for the technologies of the future.
Majid Butt at the IEEE WCNC 2024 Conference, where he was organising a panel discussion with his colleagues.
What are your future goals?
This is an exciting time for the telecommunications industry, with industrial efforts just starting in 2025 for 6G. 6G will be the first generation of communication with so-called native AI solutions, where AI solutions will not replace individual functionalities of the system, but the system will be built with AI-based solutions in mind. My ultimate goal is to play a key role in technology advancement and build AI-based telecom solutions that will transform our lives.
What advice do you have for the MCAA?
The MCAA is doing great in supporting the career growth of Marie Curie fellows through several initiatives. One suggestion I have is to do more activities that make researchers more industry-ready, as academia will never be able to consume that many PhDs. Postdocs tend to become research managers right after their PhDs, which is great for an academic career, but this is not what the industry wants. The industry wants more hands-on, experienced researchers who can produce innovative solutions, not research managers. The MCAA can help to organise more activities where industry speakers can organise training on industry-ready skills, which include patent filings as well as other industrial tools. We need to remove the myth that Marie Curie researchers are just fit for academic research.
Is there anything else you wish to share with the community?
I am too often asked this question by young PhD researchers: “How hard is it to switch from academia to industry?” My response is that it is not as tough as academic researchers think as long as your role is linked to research, and I don’t mean just writing publications, research is a much broader term. All the traits that you learn in a PhD are valuable; you just need to be ready to adapt and be able to use them to solve a practical problem.
Eliška Koňaříková
Bluesky
LinkedIn
MCAA Newsletter Editor-in-Chief
newsletter.editor@mariecuriealumni.eu
Polat Goktas
Orcid
X
LinkedIn
MCAA Newsletter Managing Editor
polat.goktas@ucd.ie