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 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.

It takes a village to raise an ECR

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 192-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynette Browning ◽  
Kirrilly Thompson ◽  
Drew Dawson
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Performance Management ◽  
Research Performance ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Research Career ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Track Record

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe organisational strategies that support early career researchers in building a successful track record which can lead to a successful academic research career. Design/methodology/approach This paper draws on more than a decade of experience designing, implementing and evaluating professional development programmes for early career researchers in universities. Findings If an early career researcher is to achieve long-term success, the first five years after graduating with a doctorate are critical in establishing long-term career success. Professional development programmes for early career researchers are more successful if they are supported by organisational strategies around workload, performance management and accountability. Originality/value If implemented, these organisational strategies can assist early career researchers to build a successful track record, which can lead to a successful research career and contribute towards increasing aggregate institutional research performance for universities.

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 Challenges that Early Career Researchers Face in Academic Research and Publishing

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-106
Author(s):  
Jaime Teixeira da Silva
Keyword(s):  
Career Path ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Open Science ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Structural Constraints ◽  
Initial Stage ◽  
Multiple Challenges ◽  
Key Aspects

the academic community. Yet, in some respects, they occupy a selectively inferior niche due to structural constraints, as well as personal and professional limitations. ECRs, who are at an initial stage of their careers, face multiple challenges in research and publishing due to a relative lack of experience. These may make them vulnerable to abuse and cause stress and anxiety. Those challenges may have been amplified in the COVID-19 era. ECRs' efforts may unfairly boost the reputation of their mentors and/or supervisors (Matthew Effect), so greater credit equity is needed in research and publishing. This opinion paper provides a broad appreciation of the struggles that ECRs face in research and publishing. This paper also attempts to identify extraneous factors that might make ECRs professionally more vulnerable in the COVID-19 era than their established seniors. ECRs may find it difficult to establish a unique career path that embraces creativity and accommodates their personal or professional desires. This is because they may encounter a rigid research and publishing environment that is dominated by a structurally determined status quo. The role of ECRs' supervisors is essential in guiding ECRs in a scholarly volatile environment, allowing them to adapt to it. ECRs also need to be conscientious of the constantly evolving research and publishing landscape, the importance of open science and reproducibility, and the risks posed by spam and predatory publishing. Flexibility, sensitivity, creativity, adaptability, courage, good observational skills, and a focus on research and publishing integrity are key aspects that will hold ECRs in good stead on their scientific career path in a post-COVID-19 era.

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 Academic publishing and open access: Costs, benefits and options for publishing research

Politics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher May
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Publishing Research ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Academic Publishing ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Social

This article briefly sets out a political economy of academic publishing, exploring what the costs and benefits of this model are/were for the academic community. It then moves to explore forms of open access publication available to the social science (politics and international relations) community in the United Kingdom and beyond. The article concludes by asking why (given its likely advantages), the open access model is not ubiquitous and suggests that the future of publication lies in the hands of early career researchers.

scholarly journals Psychiatric Genomics Research During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Survey of Psychiatric Genomics Consortium Researchers

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerry Guintivano ◽  
Danielle Dick ◽  
Cynthia M Bulik
Keyword(s):  
Academic Medicine ◽  
Career Progression ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Full Professor ◽  
Underrepresented Minorities ◽  
Free Text ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Genomics Research ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Considerable Concern

AbstractBetween April 20, 2020 and June 19, 2020 we conducted a survey of the membership of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC) to explore the impact of COVID-19 on their research and academic careers. A total of 123 individuals responded representing academic ranks from trainee to full professor, tenured and fixed-term appointments, and all genders. The survey included both quantitative and free text responses. Results revealed considerable concern about the impact of COVID-19 on research with the greatest concern reported by individuals in non-permanent positions and female researchers. Concerns about the availability of funding and the impact of the pandemic on career progression were commonly reported by early career researchers. We provide recommendations for institutions, organizations such as the PGC, as well as individual senior investigators to ensure that the futures of early career investigators, especially those underrepresented in academic medicine such as women and underrepresented minorities, are not disproportionately disadvantaged by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Support early-career researchers for post-pandemic prospects

Nature ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 580 (7802) ◽  
pp. 185-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arild Husby ◽  
Gemma Modinos
Keyword(s):  
Early Career ◽  
Early Career Researchers
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