Why scientific societies should involve more early-career researchers

Adriana Bankston; Stephanie M Davis; Elisabeth Moore; Caroline A Niziolek; Vincent Boudreau

doi:10.7554/eLife.60829

Why scientific societies should involve more early-career researchers

Elife. 2020 Sep 23:9:e60829. doi: 10.7554/eLife.60829.

Authors

Adriana Bankston¹, Stephanie M Davis^{1

2}, Elisabeth Moore^{1

3}, Caroline A Niziolek^{1

4}, Vincent Boudreau^{1

5

6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Board of Directors, Future of Research, Pittsfield, United States.
² ECR leader, American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Rockville, United States.
³ Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation (CISCRP), Boston, United States.
⁴ Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, United States.
⁵ Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, United States.
⁶ Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, United States.
⁷ Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States.

Abstract

Early-career researchers (ECRs) make up a large portion of the academic workforce. Yet, most leadership positions in scientific societies are held by senior scientists, and ECRs have little to no say over the decisions that will shape the future of research. This article looks at the level of influence ECRs have in 20 scientific societies based in the US and UK, and provides guidelines on how societies can successfully include ECRs in leadership roles.

Keywords: early-career researchers; none; research culture; scientific societies.

MeSH terms

Humans
Leadership*
Mentoring*
Research Personnel / organization & administration*
Societies, Scientific / organization & administration*

Grants and funding

Future of Research is a non-profit, volunteer-run organization and is currently not supported by any major funding mechanisms beyond the generous contributions of individual donors and sponsors.