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

Why scientific societies should involve more early-career researchers

Adriana Bankston  1 , Stephanie M Davis  1   2 , Elisabeth Moore  1   3 , Caroline A Niziolek  1   4 , Vincent Boudreau  1   5   6   7
Affiliations

Why scientific societies should involve more early-career researchers

Adriana Bankston et al. Elife. .

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.

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Conflict of interest statement

AB, EM, CN, VB No competing interests declared, SD Stephanie Davis also provided an interview on behalf of ASPET as an ECR leader in addition to her work as an author.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. The amount ECRs contribute to a society varies depending on their leadership role.
Out of the 20 societies studied, some include ECRs on their Board of Directors, whereas others encourage ECRs to participate in working groups that are specifically for ECRs. Leadership roles that have the most impact on the society, such as being a voting member on the Board of Directors, are less commonly held by ECRs compared to positions that have a lower impact, such as being a member of an ECR specific committee.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.. Examples of ECRs in leadership roles in scientific societies.
This table highlights societies that have successfully included ECRs in their leadership by giving ECRs voting rights on society boards, including ECRs in their diversity and inclusion initiatives, and more broadly engaging ECRs in different levels of the society. AAA – American Association for Anatomy; ASM – American Society for Microbiology; GSA – Genetics Society of America; APS – American Physiological Society; ASPB – American Society of Plant Biologists.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.. Benefits of ECR leadership positions within scientific societies for both ECRs and societies.
The benefits listed in this figure are based on answers given by ECRs and senior society leaders who were interviewed for this article. The interview questions are listed in Supplementary file 2.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.. Guidelines for involving ECRs in the leadership and running of scientific societies.
Recommendations for establishing leadership positions for ECRs within scientific societies, as recommended by successful programs.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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    1. American Association for Anatomy Diversity, equity, and inclusion - American Association for Anatomy. [September 3, 2020];2020 https://www.anatomy.org/diversity
    1. American Physiological Society Women in physiology committee. [September 3, 2020];2020 https://www.physiology.org/community/aps-communities/committees/Women-in...
    1. American Society for Cell Biology COMPASS: who are we? The committee for postdocs and students. [September 3, 2020];2020 https://www.ascb.org/member-news/compass-who-are-we/
    1. American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics ASPET committees. [September 3, 2020];2020a https://www.aspet.org/aspet/about-us/aspet-committees

MeSH terms