Virtual Networking Between Editors and Early Career Scientists: Benefits, Silver Linings, and Lessons Learned

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 141-144
Author(s):  
Bridget R. Deemer ◽  
Scott Hotaling ◽  
Kelsey Poulson‐Ellestad ◽  
Laura J. Falkenberg ◽  
James E. Cloern
Keyword(s):  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Virtual Networking

scholarly journals How to connect academics around the globe by organizing an asynchronous virtual unconference

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 156
Author(s):  
Constance Holman ◽  
Brianne A. Kent ◽  
Tracey L. Weissgerber
Keyword(s):  
Open Space ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Scientific Publishing ◽  
Research Culture ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Virtual Networking ◽  
Main Components ◽  
New Strategies

Many conferences and in-person meetings have transitioned to virtual platforms in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, we share strategies and lessons learned from organizing an international virtual unconventional conference, or ‘unconference’. The event focused on how early career researchers can advocate for systemic improvements in scientific publishing and research culture. The virtual unconference had three main components: (1) a virtual networking event, (2) asynchronous virtual brainstorming, and (3) a virtual open space, where participants could join or lead in-depth discussions. The unconference format was participant-driven and encouraged dialogue and collaboration between 54 attendees from 20 countries on six continents. Virtual brainstorming allowed participants to contribute to discussions at times that were convenient for them. Activity was consistently high throughout the 48 hours of virtual brainstorming and continued into the next day. The results of these discussions are collaboratively summarized in a paper entitled Empowering Early Career Researchers to Improve Science, co-authored by the unconference participants. We hope that this method report will help others to organize asynchronous virtual unconferences, while also providing new strategies for participant-driven activities that could be integrated into conventional virtual conferences.

scholarly journals How to connect academics around the globe by organizing an asynchronous virtual unconference

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 156
Author(s):  
Constance Holman ◽  
Brianne A. Kent ◽  
Tracey L. Weissgerber
Keyword(s):  
Open Space ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Scientific Publishing ◽  
Research Culture ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Virtual Networking ◽  
Main Components ◽  
New Strategies

Many conferences and in-person meetings have transitioned to virtual platforms in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, we share strategies and lessons learned from organizing an international virtual unconventional conference, or ‘unconference’. The event focused on how early career researchers can advocate for systemic improvements in scientific publishing and research culture. The virtual unconference had three main components: (1) a virtual networking event, (2) asynchronous virtual brainstorming, and (3) a virtual open space, where participants could join or lead in-depth discussions. The unconference format was participant-driven and encouraged dialogue and collaboration between 54 attendees from 20 countries on six continents. Virtual brainstorming allowed participants to contribute to discussions at times that were convenient for them. Activity was consistently high throughout the 48 hours of virtual brainstorming and continued into the next day. The results of these discussions are collaboratively summarized in a paper entitled Empowering Early Career Researchers to Improve Science, co-authored by the unconference participants. We hope that this method report will help others to organize asynchronous virtual unconferences, while also providing new strategies for participant-driven activities that could be integrated into conventional virtual conferences.

scholarly journals Developing an Effective Mentoring Program for Early-career STEM Faculty: Lessons Learned from the First Three Years of an ADVANCE PAID Program

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laila Guessous ◽  
Kathleen Moore ◽  
Julie Walters ◽  
Bradley Roth ◽  
Leanne DeVreugd ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Mentoring Program ◽  
Stem Faculty

Strengthening Noncommunicable Disease Research Capacity and Chronic Disease Outcomes in Low- and Middle-Income Countries in South Asia: Implementation and Evaluation of the ASCEND Program

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 536-547
Author(s):  
Allison Byrnes ◽  
Tilahun Nigatu Haregu ◽  
Naanki Pasricha ◽  
Kavita Singh ◽  
Sathish Thirunavukkarasu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Communicable Disease ◽  
Research Capacity ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Noncommunicable Disease ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Low And Middle Income

This article describes the design, outcomes, challenges, and lessons learned from the ASian Collaboration for Excellence in Non-Communicable Disease (ASCEND) program, implemented between 2011 and 2015 in India, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia. The program involved a blended-delivery model, incorporating online and face-to-face training, mentoring, and supervision of trainees’ research projects. Evaluation data were collected at baseline, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months. Intended outcomes, lessons, and challenges were summarized using a logic model. During the program period, 48 participants were trained over 2 cohorts in June 2011 and 2012. The trainees published 83 peer-reviewed articles between 2011 and 2015. Additionally, 154 presentations were given by trainees at national and international conferences. Underutilization of the online learning management system was an important challenge. Utilizing a combination of intensive face-to-face and online learning and mentoring of early career researchers in low- and middle-income countries has great potential to enhance the research capacity, performance, and outputs.

scholarly journals Flying solo in Myanmar: case study on challenges and important lessons learned by an early career psychiatrist in a district setting

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
Su Myat Yadanar ◽  
Nay Chi Htoo ◽  
Thant Zaw ◽  
Nicholas Tze Ping Pang ◽  
Sze Hung Chua ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Continuous Training ◽  
Distant Supervision ◽  
Creative Solutions ◽  
Academic Settings ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Independent Practitioner ◽  
Scarcity Of Resources ◽  
Difficult Times

The transition from trainee early career psychiatrist (ECP) to independent practitioner can be challenging. Upon completion of training in well-equipped academic settings, an ECP from Myanmar is required to serve in a divisional hospital for at least 3 years. Significant challenges are faced by ECPs practising solo in divisional hospitals, including inexperience in administrative aspects, lack of future-proof training, scarcity of resources and facilities, struggles in the provision of holistic biopsychosocial treatment, work–life imbalance, and limited career advancement and access to continuous training. The solutions tried thus far include the incorporation of information and communication technology in training, gathering support and distant supervision from both local and international settings, and task shifting. Bigger challenges are often rewarded by faster growth, and difficult times stimulate creative solutions. The sacrifice of these solo ECPs has significantly improved the mental health service of Myanmar district regions.

scholarly journals Data Collection Challenges and Recommendations for Early Career Researchers

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marylen Rimando ◽  
Andrea Brace ◽  
Apophia Namageyo-Funa ◽  
Tiffany Parr ◽  
Diadrey-Anne Sealy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Research Mentoring ◽  
Data Collection Process ◽  
The Social

Data collection is critical to the social research process. When implemented correctly, data collection enhances the quality of a social research study. However, doctoral students and early career researchers may encounter challenges with data collection. This article reports on the data collection challenges in dissertation research encountered by doctoral students enrolled in a public health program at a southeastern United States urban university. Each doctoral student shared at least one challenge and how it affected the data collection process. Additionally, the doctoral students shared how the identified challenges were addressed or suggested recommendations. Understanding these experiences of doctoral students is helpful for doctoral students and early career researchers conducting social research. The lessons learned may guide faculty in research mentoring and structuring research seminars for doctoral students.

scholarly journals Ten simple rules for creating a brand-new virtual academic meeting (even amid a pandemic)

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (12) ◽  
pp. e1008485
Author(s):  
Scott Rich ◽  
Andreea O. Diaconescu ◽  
John D. Griffiths ◽  
Milad Lankarany
Keyword(s):  
Computational Neuroscience ◽  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Institutional Support ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Virtual Tools ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Virtual Meeting ◽  
Simple Rules ◽  
Early Proof

The increased democratization of the creation, implementation, and attendance of academic conferences has been a serendipitous benefit of the movement toward virtual meetings. The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has accelerated the transition to online conferences and, in parallel, their democratization, by necessity. This manifests not just in the mitigation of barriers to attending traditional physical conferences but also in the presentation of new, and more importantly attainable, opportunities for young scientists to carve out a niche in the landscape of academic meetings. Here, we describe an early “proof of principle” of this democratizing power via our experience organizing the Canadian Computational Neuroscience Spotlight (CCNS; crowdcast.io/e/CCNS), a free 2-day virtual meeting that was built entirely amid the pandemic using only virtual tools. While our experience was unique considering the obstacles faced in creating a conference during a pandemic, this was not the only factor differentiating both our experience and the resulting meeting from other contemporary online conferences. Specifically, CCNS was crafted entirely by early career researchers (ECRs) without any sponsors or partners, advertised primarily using social media and “word of mouth,” and designed specifically to highlight and engage trainees. From this experience, we have distilled “10 simple rules” as a blueprint for the design of new virtual academic meetings, especially in the absence of institutional support or partnerships, in this unprecedented environment. By highlighting the lessons learned in implementing our meeting under these arduous circumstances, we hope to encourage other young scientists to embrace this challenge, which would serve as a critical next step in further democratizing academic meetings.

scholarly journals Crowdsourcing Global Perspectives in Ecology Using Social Media

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily B. Graham ◽  
A. Peyton Smith
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Collaborative Writing ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Open Science ◽  
Leadership Team ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Reproducible Research ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Scientific Model

Transparent, open, and reproducible research is still far from routine, and the full potential of open science has not yet been realized. Crowdsourcing–defined as the usage of a flexible open call to a heterogeneous group of individuals to recruit volunteers for a task –is an emerging scientific model that encourages larger and more outwardly transparent collaborations. While crowdsourcing, particularly through citizen- or community-based science, has been increasing over the last decade in ecological research, it remains infrequently used as a means of generating scientific knowledge in comparison to more traditional approaches. We explored a new implementation of crowdsourcing by using an open call on social media to assess its utility to address fundamental ecological questions. We specifically focused on pervasive challenges in predicting, mitigating, and understanding the consequences of disturbances. In this paper, we briefly review open science concepts and their benefits, and then focus on the new methods we used to generate a scientific publication. We share our approach, lessons learned, and potential pathways forward for expanding open science. Our model is based on the beliefs that social media can be a powerful tool for idea generation and that open collaborative writing processes can enhance scientific outcomes. We structured the project in five phases: (1) draft idea generation, (2) leadership team recruitment and project development, (3) open collaborator recruitment via social media, (4) iterative paper development, and (5) final editing, authorship assignment, and submission by the leadership team. We observed benefits including: facilitating connections between unusual networks of scientists, providing opportunities for early career and underrepresented groups of scientists, and rapid knowledge exchange that generated multidisciplinary ideas. We also identified areas for improvement, highlighting biases in the individuals that self-selected participation and acknowledging remaining barriers to contributing new or incompletely formed ideas into a public document. While shifting scientific paradigms to completely open science is a long-term process, our hope in publishing this work is to encourage others to build upon and improve our efforts in new and creative ways.

Redeployment of dental teams during the covid-19 pandemic: A review of experiences and lessons learned

Dental Update ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 152-155
Author(s):  
Christopher Platais ◽  
Francesca Siodlak ◽  
Ishpinder Toor ◽  
Louise Ormondroyd
Keyword(s):  
Dental Care ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Clinical Relevance ◽  
Healthcare Systems ◽  
Routine Care ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Healthcare Staff ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Medical Wards

The COVID-19 pandemic has spread across the globe, causing millions of cases and disrupting the lives of people worldwide. The increase in the number of critically unwell patients has put healthcare systems under immense strain, requiring them to adapt their service provision to cope with increased demand. At Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust (GSTFT) in London, redeployment of healthcare staff has been used to relieve pressure on the most overburdened hospital sectors, and this saw clinical dental teams involved in auxiliary medical roles throughout much of 2020. On the cusp of the New Year, COVID-19 cases continued to soar and GSTFT opted to cancel routine care and re-implement a second round of clinical redeployment. Here, we discuss our experiences and present positive feedback of early-career dentists being redeployed to medical wards during the UK's greatest health crisis of recent years. CPD/Clinical Relevance: Clinical dental teams can positively contribute to the national COVID-19 response through the provision of urgent dental care, inpatient mouthcare services and auxiliary medical roles.

Mentorship knows no distance: an online career mentorship programme by Women in Geospatial+

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabrina H. Szeto ◽  
Julia Wagemann ◽  
Aubin A. Douglas
Keyword(s):  
Professional Growth ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Career Goals ◽  
Safe Space ◽  
Career Stages ◽  
Peer Mentors ◽  
Media Campaign ◽  
Peer Mentorship ◽  
Professional Network

<p>Women in Geospatial+ is a professional network that promotes gender-equality in the geospatial industry and academia. In October 2019, Women in Geospatial+ launched an online career mentorship programme that attracted over 180 global applicants. The inaugural cohort featured 42 participants from 17 countries who were matched with mentors, mentees or peer mentors based on their career goals and time zones. </p><p>The programme enabled mentorship between mid-career and early career participants as well as peer mentorship between people with similar career stages. People of all genders were welcome to participate in this year-long programme. As a result, two men participated as mentors. Participants were provided with a mentorship programme guide with resources for a successful mentorship experience. They were also required to discuss goals and expectations as a group and submit an agreement form at the start of the programme. A safe space via a Slack channel was created where women could interact with other women participants in the mentorship programme. In addition, a social media campaign on Twitter and LinkedIn (#MentorshipMonday) also featured programme participants, their work and their achievements in the geospatial field.</p><p>This presentation will feature lessons learned from organising the mentorship programme as well as feedback from participants about how the mentorship programme has impacted their careers and professional growth.</p>

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