scholarly journals Striving for societal impact as an early-career researcher: Reflections on five common concerns

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sascha Friesike ◽  
Leonhard Dobusch ◽  
Maximilian Heimstädt
Keyword(s):  
Academic Community ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Opportunity Costs ◽  
Societal Impact ◽  
Impact Measurement ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Early Career Researcher ◽  
Current Impact ◽  
Research Facilities

Many early-career researchers are motivated by the prospect of creating knowledge that is useful, not just within but also beyond the academic community. Although research facilities, funders and academic journals praise this eagerness for societal impact, the path towards such contributions is by no means straightforward. In this article, we address five common concerns faced by early-career researchers when they strive for societal impact. We discuss the opportunity costs associated with impact work, the fuzziness of current impact measurement, the challenge of incremental results, the actionability of research findings, and the risk of saying something wrong in public. We reflect on these concerns in light of our own experience with impact work and conclude by suggesting a ‘post-heroic’ perspective on impact, whereby seemingly mundane activities are linked in a meaningful way.

scholarly journals Open Access: what's in it for me as an early career researcher?

2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (04) ◽  
pp. C04 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy Pontika
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Societal Impact ◽  
Online Research ◽  
Research Results ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Good Reputation ◽  
Early Career Researcher ◽  
Research World

When entering the research world, Early Career Researchers (ECRs) may encounter difficulties building a good reputation for their research, its quality and the research results. Open access is the movement that could assist ECRs to: (a) widely disseminate their scholarly outputs, (b) demonstrate the research and societal impact of their work and, (c) organise online research portfolios that can be accessed by all researchers, as well as prospective employers.

scholarly journals Inspiring and ethical mentorship in STEM: A meeting highlighting need for engagement, incentives, and accountability

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Pablo Ruiz ◽  
Pinar Gurel ◽  
William H Olds ◽  
Adriana Bankston ◽  
Gary S McDowell
Keyword(s):  
Academic Research ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Underrepresented Minorities ◽  
Attrition Rates ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Mentoring Practices ◽  
Academic Mentoring ◽  
College Park ◽  
Worrying Trend

Academic research institutes have a responsibility to train the next generation of scientists in safe, inclusive environments. However, recent data has shown an increasingly worrying trend of early career researchers (ECRs), particularly underrepresented minorities (URMs), struggling to gain academic independence in STEM fields. While hypercompetition, lack of research funds, and scarce independent research opportunities are systemic sources of this problem, research shows that inadequate mentoring and toxic cultures are major contributors to attrition rates. To address the state of mentoring in STEM, and to discuss further actions to take to improve STEM mentoring, early-career researchers organized a meeting at UMD-College Park on academic mentoring. The talks and workshops, which included students, postdocs, and experts in both STEM and mentoring fields, focused on culturally aware mentoring, hypercompetition, mental health, ethical behavior, and advocacy. Here, we provide an overview of the mentoring landscape experienced by ECRs and describe available resources and further actions for the academic community to join with to improve mentoring practices.

scholarly journals Early Career Researchers’ Experiences of Post-Maternity and Parental Leave Provision in UK Politics and International Studies Departments: A Heads of Department and Early Career Researcher Survey

2020 ◽  
pp. 147892992091036
Author(s):  
Sadiya Akram ◽  
Zoe Pflaeger Young
Keyword(s):  
Parental Leave ◽  
Job Insecurity ◽  
Early Career ◽  
International Studies ◽  
Career Trajectory ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Early Career Researcher ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

Supporting increasing equality and diversity in the recruitment and retention of Early Career Researchers from the widest pool of talent available is high on the agenda of universities and policy makers. Notwithstanding this, the demanding nature of academic careers has a disproportionate effect on Early Career Researchers, who may face indirect obstacles in their career development particularly following a period of maternity or parental leave. Our research seeks to expose the nexus of challenges, from job insecurity to the pressures of raising new families that Early Career Researchers face during this critical juncture in their career trajectory. Focusing on Politics and International Studies Departments in the United Kingdom, we document the institutional mechanisms that exist to support Early Career Researchers returning from maternity and parental leave through a Heads of Department and an Early Career Researcher survey to gain an understanding of needs and the impact of institutional measures. Adopting a feminist institutionalist analysis, we map gendered outcomes in the university, through formal and informal rules, which mitigate against those Early Career Researchers taking maternity and parental leave. We end by identifying specific measures which would help to ensure that the university is more supportive of Early Career Researchers taking maternity and parental leave.

Mentorship in computer ethics

2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 326-345
Author(s):  
Catherine Flick
Keyword(s):  
Significant Role ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Computer Ethics ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Academic Careers ◽  
Practical Application ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Early Career Researcher ◽  
Ethnographic Methodology

Purpose – This paper aims to introduce the concept of ETHICOMP as “community mentor” – the role that the ETHICOMP conference plays outside the standard conference fare, in which it nurtures and supports up-and-coming researchers in the field of computer ethics. Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses an auto-ethnographic methodology to reflexively explore the author’s career from PhD student to early career researcher spanning the years 2005-2013, and how the ETHICOMP community has played a significant role as a mentor in her life. The literature on mentorship is discussed, particularly focussing on the importance of mentorship for women in philosophy-related academic careers, and criteria for successful mentorship are measured against the ETHICOMP “community mentorship”. Additionally, some key philosophical concepts are introduced and reflected upon. Findings – The paper produces recommendations for other philosophical communities wishing to grow their mentorship capabilities through communities around conferences. Originality/value – This paper sheds new light on the concepts of mentorship and the practical application of mentorship within an academic community. It also provides an account of the value of the ETHICOMP conference series that is beyond the usual academic output.

scholarly journals On the value of preprints: an early career researcher perspective

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarvenaz Sarabipour ◽  
Humberto J Debat ◽  
Edward Emmott ◽  
Steven Burgess ◽  
Benjamin Schwessinger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Peer Review ◽  
Peer Review Process ◽  
Life Sciences ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Journal Publication ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Brand Recognition ◽  
Public Record ◽  
Rapid Dissemination ◽  
Early Career Researcher

Peer-reviewed journal publication is the main means for academic researchers in the life sciences to create a permanent, public record of their work. These publications are also the de facto currency for career progress, with a strong link between journal brand recognition and perceived value. The current peer-review process can lead to long delays between submission and publication, with cycles of rejection, revision and resubmission causing redundant peer review. This situation creates unique challenges for early career researchers (ECRs), who rely heavily on timely publication of their work to gain recognition for their efforts. ECRs face changes in the academic landscape including the increased interdisciplinarity of life sciences research, expansion of the researcher population and consequent shifts in employer and funding demands. The publication of preprints, publicly available scientific manuscripts posted on dedicated preprint servers prior to journal managed peer-review, can play a key role in addressing these ECR challenges. Preprinting benefits include rapid dissemination of academic work, open access, establishing priority or concurrence, receiving feedback and facilitating collaborations. While there is a growing appreciation for and adoption of preprints, a minority of all articles in life sciences and medicine are preprinted. The current low rate of preprint submissions in life sciences and ECR concerns regarding preprinting needs to be addressed. We provide a perspective from an interdisciplinary group of early career researchers on the value of preprints and advocate the wide adoption of preprints to advance knowledge and facilitate career development.

scholarly journals I won’t be #BulliedIntoBadScience

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corina Logan
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Public ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Research Administrators ◽  
Central Resource ◽  
Peer Community ◽  
The Individual

Watch the VIDEO.The #BulliedIntoBadScience (BIBS) campaign consists of early career researchers leading individuals and institutions in adopting open practices to improve research rigor (from all fields, not only the sciences). I will share how BIBS started and discuss what we as researchers are doing to stop exploiting ourselves and the public when sharing our research with each other and the public. We are developing best practices for facilitating higher quality research and tackling biases in this rapidly changing world of scholarly publishing. I will share case studies at the individual level (e.g., how a PI can run an open and transparent lab), at the level of the academic community (e.g., changing editorial practices via efforts such as Editors4BetterResearch and Peer Community in Ecology), and at the level of institutions (e.g., serving as Data Champions and advising governments). We at BIBS aim to be a central resource for people to share and organize best practices, thus it is useful for researchers, librarians and research administrators.

scholarly journals Citation analysis of Ph.D. theses with data from Scopus and Google Books

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Donner
Keyword(s):  
Citation Analysis ◽  
Citation Impact ◽  
Early Career ◽  
University Departments ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Quantitative Estimates ◽  
Departmental Level ◽  
Google Books ◽  
Early Career Researcher ◽  
Career Performance

AbstractThis study investigates the potential of citation analysis of Ph.D. theses to obtain valid and useful early career performance indicators at the level of university departments. For German theses from 1996 to 2018 the suitability of citation data from Scopus and Google Books is studied and found to be sufficient to obtain quantitative estimates of early career researchers’ performance at departmental level in terms of scientific recognition and use of their dissertations as reflected in citations. Scopus and Google Books citations complement each other and have little overlap. Individual theses’ citation counts are much higher for those awarded a dissertation award than others. Departmental level estimates of citation impact agree reasonably well with panel committee peer review ratings of early career researcher support.

scholarly journals “Wait for a permanent contract”: The temporal politics of (in)fertility as an early career researcher

2021 ◽  
pp. 239965442199485
Author(s):  
Sarah M Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Early Career ◽  
Rational Decision ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
The Future ◽  
Embodied Experiences ◽  
Early Career Researcher

The impetus for this intervention comes from my own experiences of advice to ‘wait for a permanent contract’ before trying to conceive a child. I contend that this considerate guidance, frequently given to Early Career Researchers, nonetheless re-inscribes a linear capitalist temporality, and that there is a need to resist this binding of the temporalities of (in)fertility to the metrics of the neoliberal academy. I suggest that to promote ‘waiting’ negates the nonlinear, everyday and intimate politics of our varied, embodied experiences of (in)fertility. It is also grounded within problematic assumptions: first, that waiting is linear; that we will arrive at a permanent job in the future, if we persist with the present; and second, that our (in)fertility is known to us, that we are able to, and will, make a rational decision to conceive a child. These are pervasive assumptions with deeply personal implications. Moreover, they are compounded by the short-term contracts, and expectations of institutional mobility that characterise many experiences of UK academia. My hope for this piece is that it invites geographers to further explore embodied politics of (in)fertility.

scholarly journals “What Should I Do Now?”: Navigating Relational Ethics in Practice as an Early Career Researcher as Illustrated by a Qualitative Interview Study About Women’s Drinking Practices

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 160940692098604
Author(s):  
Katherine Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Qualitative Interview ◽  
Relational Ethics ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Qualitative Interview Study ◽  
Early Career Researcher ◽  
Research Relationships ◽  
Interview Studies

Qualitative interview studies on sensitive topics often draw on principles of feminist methodologies which focus on developing and maintaining non-exploitative, caring relationships with participants. For early career researchers, who may have less research experience, managing relational ethical issues that arise in research relationships can be difficult. Additionally, they could experience further pressures because of their junior roles and precarious employment. In the context of health research, early career researchers working on qualitative studies may experience specific challenges because of the predominance of the biomedical paradigm in this discipline. In this article, I explore some of the relational ethical issues I deliberated as an early career researcher when working in a medical faculty on a semi-structured qualitative interview study about women’s alcohol drinking practices. I focus on two overlapping themes from my experience of ethics in practice “Trying to building and maintain relationships” and “Trying to stabilize inequalities in research relationships.” With a primary focus on how I negotiated differing responsibilities, I draw on examples from the community-based face-to-face and virtual recruitment, the fast-paced face-to-face interviews, and the process of returning interview transcripts to women to review. With this analysis, I contribute to existing literature about ethics in practice for early career researchers by indicating the types of relational ethics that will need to be navigated and the resources needed to support them. These resources include having adequate time, opportunities for reflection, and good supervisory support. I also contribute to scholarship which critiques the wider health research context by considering the challenges it can pose for early career researchers when managing relational ethical spaces in qualitative interview studies. This article will be of relevance to novice researchers and those who supervise and manage them.

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