Unlocking the power of virtual networking for early-career researchers

Cellas A Hayes; Jordan T Moore; Colwyn A Headley; Almarely L Berrios-Negron; W Marcus Lambert

doi:10.7554/eLife.96381

Unlocking the power of virtual networking for early-career researchers

Elife. 2024 Mar 19:13:e96381. doi: 10.7554/eLife.96381.

Authors

Cellas A Hayes¹, Jordan T Moore^{2

3}, Colwyn A Headley⁴, Almarely L Berrios-Negron⁵, W Marcus Lambert⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, United States.
² Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, United States.
³ Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, United States.
⁴ Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, United States.
⁵ School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Ponce Health Sciences University, Ponce, United States.
⁶ School of Public Health, State University of New York Downstate Health Sciences University, Brooklyn, United States.

Abstract

Many successful researchers in the biomedical sciences have benefitted from mentors and networks earlier in their career. However, early-career researchers from minoritized and underrepresented groups do not have the same access to potential mentors and networks as many of their peers. In this article we describe how 'cold emails' and social media platforms - notably Twitter/X and LinkedIn - can be used to build virtual networks, and stress the need to invest in maintaining networks once they have been established.

Keywords: diversity; early-career researchers; equity; human; inclusion; mentoring; networking; none; professional development.

MeSH terms

Humans
Mentors*
Social Media
Social Networking*

Grants and funding

No external funding was received for this work.