How early-career researchers are shaping eLife

Lapses in scientific integrity, such as plagiarism, persist in the scientific realm. To be successful and contributory, early-career researchers (ECRs), including graduate students, need to be able to effectively navigate the literature, peer-review process, and scientific research with integrity. Here we discuss different aspects of scientific integrity related to ECRs. Our discussion centres on the concepts of plagiarism and intellectual property, predatory journals, aspects of peer review, transparency in publishing, and false advanced accreditations. Negative elements within these topics may be especially damaging to ECRs, who may be less familiar with the research landscape. We highlight the need for ECRs to approach scientific investigation cautiously and thoughtfully to promote integrity through critical thinking.

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Data from a survey on the impact of the pandemic on early-stage academics

Open Research Europe ◽

10.12688/openreseurope.13935.1 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 1 ◽

pp. 138

Author(s):

Edyta Swider-Cios ◽

Katalin Solymosi ◽

Mangala Srinivas

Keyword(s):

Young Children ◽

Online Survey ◽

Early Stage ◽

Family Members ◽

Early Career ◽

Group Leaders ◽

Early Career Researchers ◽

Link Type ◽

Share Data ◽

The Impact

We would like to share data from a survey run by the Young Academy of Europe (YAE) from June to October 2020, with questions aiming to unravel the situation of early-career researchers (including early stage group leaders) working in Europe, during the COVID-19 pandemic. We were particularly interested in the impact of care activities (related to young children or other family members), and the impact of gender. We include the online survey and collected data, without identifying information. The survey is published in Nature Career Column (July, 2021) (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01952-6).

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Field Research: A Graduate Student's Guide

International Studies Review ◽

10.1093/isr/viab023 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ezgi Irgil ◽

Anne-Kathrin Kreft ◽

Myunghee Lee ◽

Charmaine N Willis ◽

Kelebogile Zvobgo

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Graduate Students ◽

Health Research ◽

Field Research ◽

Mental Health Research ◽

Crisis Response ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Early Career ◽

Sampling Strategies ◽

Early Career Researchers

Abstract What is field research? Is it just for qualitative scholars? Must it be done in a foreign country? How much time in the field is “enough”? A lack of disciplinary consensus on what constitutes “field research” or “fieldwork” has left graduate students in political science underinformed and thus underequipped to leverage site-intensive research to address issues of interest and urgency across the subfields. Uneven training in Ph.D. programs has also left early-career researchers underprepared for the logistics of fieldwork, from developing networks and effective sampling strategies to building respondents’ trust, and related issues of funding, physical safety, mental health, research ethics, and crisis response. Based on the experience of five junior scholars, this paper offers answers to questions that graduate students puzzle over, often without the benefit of others’ “lessons learned.” This practical guide engages theory and praxis, in support of an epistemologically and methodologically pluralistic discipline.

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A Vertical Peer Mentorship Model to Promote Early Career Development: Implementation and Initial Outcomes

10.31234/osf.io/8ch6k ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ann Frances Haynos ◽

Kathryn Coniglio ◽

Helen Burton Murray ◽

Linsey Utzinger ◽

Andrea B. Goldschmidt

Keyword(s):

Graduate Students ◽

Iterative Process ◽

Opportunity To Learn ◽

Early Career ◽

Potential Solution ◽

Mentorship Program ◽

Peer Mentorship ◽

Early Career Researchers ◽

Initial Program

Mentorship is critical for career enhancement and professional development among early career researchers in the behavioral sciences. However, many barriers exist to securing appropriate mentorship, including inadequate supply of advanced mentors, inconsistent quality of mentorship, and diverse mentorship needs. Additionally, there are few training experiences that provide an opportunity to learn effective mentorship approaches and techniques. Vertical peer mentorship programs can provide one potential solution to these common mentorship pitfalls. In this approach, slightly more advanced early career professionals (e.g., post-doctoral fellows) provide mentorship to more junior colleagues (e.g., graduate students), permitting opportunities for both mentorship and mentorship training within the same dyad. Here, we detail one such early career vertical peer mentorship program developed within a subspecialty of psychology (eating disorders). We provide details about the iterative process of developing and refining this program to support mentor and mentee goals. We also provide initial program evaluation data from a subsample of participants completing post-program assessments (n = 109) that indicates that the program was highly acceptable (M = 8.22, SD = 4.25 acceptability on a 10-point Likert scale) and generative of early career productivity (producing > 25 manuscripts published or under review and > 21 conference abstracts) in its initial four years. This manuscript serves to provide a model for developing a successful vertical peer mentorship program and to encourage research in the under-investigated area of efficacious mentorship practices.

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Science shines in a new virtual SY-Stem

Development ◽

10.1242/dev.188367 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 148 (12) ◽

Author(s):

Christa Buecker ◽

Florian T. Merkle

Keyword(s):

Stem Cell ◽

Cell Biology ◽

Young Group ◽

Early Career ◽

Stem Cell Biology ◽

Group Leaders ◽

Postgraduate Students ◽

Early Career Researchers ◽

Excellent Work ◽

Species Specific

ABSTRACT The third ‘Symposium for the Next Generation of Stem Cell Research’ (SY-Stem) was held virtually on 3-5 March 2021, having been cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As in previous years, the meeting highlighted the work of early career researchers, ranging from postgraduate students to young group leaders working in developmental and stem cell biology. Here, we summarize the excellent work presented at the Symposium, which covered topics ranging from pluripotency, species-specific aspects of development and emerging technologies, through to organoids, single-cell technology and clinical applications.

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Writing and Research Across the Globe: An Innovative North-North-South-South Collaboration

Canadian Journal for Studies in Discourse and Writing/Rédactologie ◽

10.31468/cjsdwr.809 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 ◽

pp. 200-222

Author(s):

Katie Bryant ◽

Codie Fortin Lalonde ◽

Rachel Robinson ◽

Trixie G Smith

Keyword(s):

Graduate Students ◽

North America ◽

Capacity Building ◽

Program Development ◽

Southern Africa ◽

Writing Studies ◽

Early Career ◽

Collaborative Project ◽

Early Career Researchers ◽

Global North

This article is based on various versions of a panel presented at multiple writing centre and writing studies conferences as well as conversations across partners. Our perspectives come from discussions between our four universities before, during, and after an initial global North/global South writing support partnership meeting in the summer of 2018. During that summer, four universities (two in southern Africa and two in North America) partnered to begin a collaborative project of capacity building in the areas of writing centres and writing support across all levels of these universities, offering writing support to undergraduate and graduate students as well as early-career researchers/faculty. In this article, we share some of our ongoing concerns and considerations for ensuring this partnership moves forward in a collaborative, egalitarian, decolonial way that avoids both Western colonial and neo-colonial approaches to capacity building and program development. Reflections in this article can perhaps inform others working in the field of writing centre scholarship wanting to build similar global collaborations.

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Becoming Researchers: Making Academic Kin in the Chthulucene

Australian Journal of Environmental Education ◽

10.1017/aee.2017.24 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 33 (3) ◽

pp. 145-159 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

◽

Blanche Verlie ◽

Sherridan Emery ◽

Maia Osborn ◽

Kim Beasy ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Graduate Students ◽

Environmental Education ◽

Graduate Student ◽

Early Career ◽

Student Wellbeing ◽

Early Career Researchers ◽

Australian Association ◽

Positive Experiences

AbstractGraduate students are often plagued by stress and anxiety in their journeys of becoming researchers. Concerned by the prevalence of poor graduate student wellbeing in Australia, we share our experiences of kin-making and collaboration within #aaeeer (Australasian Association for Environmental Education Emerging Researchers), a collective of graduate students and early career researchers formed in response to the Australian Association for Environmental Education (AAEE) conference in Hobart, Tasmania, in 2014. In this article, we begin to address the shortage of research into graduate student wellbeing, led by graduate students. Inspired by Donna Haraway's work on making kin in the Chthulucene, we present an exploration that draws together stories from the authors about the positive experiences our kin-making collective enables, and how it has supported our wellbeing and allowed us to work collaboratively. Specifically, we find that #aaeeer offers us a form of refuge from academic stressors, creating spaces for ‘composting together’ through processes of ‘decomposing’ and ‘recomposing’. Our rejection of neoliberal norms has gifted us experiences of joyful collective pleasures. We share our experiences here in the hope of supporting and inspiring other emerging and established researchers to ‘make kin’ and challenge the potentially isolating processes of becoming researchers.

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