Send us a link
How to Use Twitter to Further Your Research Career
The social-media platform is often a tool for procrastination, says Jet-Sing M. Lee. But what else can it be?
Where Do Our Graduates Go? A Toolkit for Retrospective and Ongoing Career Outcomes Data Collection for Biomedical PhD Students and Postdoctoral Scholars
Where Do Our Graduates Go? A Toolkit for Retrospective and Ongoing Career Outcomes Data Collection for Biomedical PhD Students and Postdoctoral Scholars
Universities are at long last undertaking efforts to collect and disseminate information about student career outcomes, after decades of calls to action. Organizations such as Rescuing Biomedical Research and Future of Research brought this issue to the forefront of graduate education, and the second Future of Biomedical Graduate and Postdoctoral Training conference (FOBGAPT2) featured the collection of career outcomes data in its final recommendations, published in this journal (Hitchcock et al., 2017). More recently, 26 institutions assembled as the Coalition for Next Generation Life Science, committing to ongoing collection and dissemination of career data for both graduate and postdoc alumni. A few individual institutions have shared snapshots of the data in peer-reviewed publications (Mathur et al., 2018; Silva, des Jarlais, Lindstaedt, Rotman, Watkins, 2016) and on websites. As more and more institutions take up this call to action, they will now be looking for tools, protocols, and best practices for ongoing career outcomes data collection, management, and dissemination. Here, we describe UCSF's experiences in conducting a retrospective study, and in institutionalizing a methodology for annual data collection and dissemination. We describe and share all tools we have developed, and we provide calculations of the time and resources required to accomplish both retrospective studies and annual updates. We also include broader recommendations for implementation at your own institutions, increasing the feasibility of this endeavor.
Scientists Don't Stay for Long in Their Jobs Anymore: Study
Plus, more scientists nowadays spend their entire careers in supporting roles, rather than leading their own research programs.
Responding to the Call of Home
Why some scientists choose to forgo promising careers abroad to return to their countries of birth.
Black Female Professors Must Deal with Bullying to Win Promotion, Report Finds
Profiles Not Metrics
Clarivate Analytics' Institute for Scientific Information Launches Global Research Report titled Profiles Not Metrics.
Website Offers 'complete PhD Service' for £36K
Seemingly owned by an Oxbridge Essays shareholder, company offers up to 100,000 words of 'model writing assistance'.
Tenure Denial, and How Early-career Researchers Can Survive It
Scientists with first-hand experience of rejection offer their advice.
New Research on Graduate Student Mental Well-being Says Departments Have Important Roles to Play in Fostering Healthy Environments
The Costs of Reproducibility
The potential costs for early-career researchers in adopting practices to improve reproducibility as well as ways in which they can nontheless achieve their career goals.
US Postdoc Survey Results and the Interaction of Gender, Career Choice and Mentor Impact
US Postdoc Survey Results and the Interaction of Gender, Career Choice and Mentor Impact
The postdoctoral community is an essential component of the academic and scientific workforce, but a lack of data about this community has made it difficult to develop policies to address concerns about salaries, working conditions, diversity and career development, and to evaluate the impact of existing policies. A recent study aims to address this gap.
Seven Steps to Boost Your Research Career in 2019
If you're looking to move labs, countries or sectors this year, or seeking general career inspiration, here's some advice from five researchers who featured in Nature Careers in 2018.
Changing Demographics of Scientific Careers: The Rise of the Temporary Workforce
Contemporary science has been characterized by an exponential growth in publications and a rise of team science. At the same time, there has been an increase in the number of awarded PhD degrees, which has not been accompanied by a similar expansion in the number of academic positions.
Undergraduate Students Can Be a Boon to Your Lab
Many undergraduates in the natural sciences will never take part in research, despite a willingness to learn. But their presence can teach others how to lead.
Postdocs Trying to Transition to Non-academic Careers Should Be Offered More Support by Their Supervisors and Universities
Postdocs Trying to Transition to Non-academic Careers Should Be Offered More Support by Their Supervisors and Universities
Despite the position being billed as a stepping stone on the way to tenure-track academic employment, many postdocs, discouraged by their poor prospects, are questioning their career choices and instead looking to non-academic jobs as an alternative. However, as Chris Hayter and Marla A. Parker reveal, making this transition is not as easy as it might first appear.
Career Barriers, Part 1: "I Can't"
When you look ahead on your career path, do you see nothing but open road to be traveled, or is there a big brick wall in your way that feels insurmountable?
Stop Exploitation of Foreign Postdocs in the United States
A survey reveals some lab heads are using the need for visas to create unacceptable conditions for junior researchers.
Time to Get ECRs Involved
It is a great challenge to get Early Career Researchers (ECRs) involved in peer review and to get them the necessary training to be confident reviewers.
New Report Shows Colleges How to Bridge the Gap Between the Liberal Arts and the Work Force
New Report Shows Colleges How to Bridge the Gap Between the Liberal Arts and the Work Force
New study says the evolving economy creates a greater need for their skills, but that many colleges could do better at thinking about what graduates can do and helping them translate that into jobs.
Why a European Agency Post Can Be an Excellent Destination for Researchers
Competitive agency positions offer balanced and rewarding science careers.
Jeff Havig Explaining the Timeline for a Typical Academic Tenure Track Hire to Someone Not in Academia
Jeff Havig Explaining the Timeline for a Typical Academic Tenure Track Hire to Someone Not in Academia
Jeff Havig was explaining the timeline for a typical academic tenure track hire to someone not in academia the other day, and they were completely flabbergasted, so here it is for those that are unfamiliar. This is specifically for an R1 institution. Others may deviate significantly.
US Suspends Program Allowing Graduate Fellows to Study Abroad
US Suspends Program Allowing Graduate Fellows to Study Abroad
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has halted a program that each year allows hundreds of the nation’s best graduate students to work with experts in another country.
×