Anuj Bhatt, of the Economic and Social Research Council, explains the best practises when applying for a fellowship at the Naturejobs Career Expo, London, 2016.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2olf8ojUhXU
Category Archives: Funding
Keep the lights on
Energy entrepreneurs, take note – you have an opportunity to compete for a cash prize and the chance to network with investors. 
The Deutsche Energie-Agentur (dena), or German Energy Agency, has launched ‘Start Up Energy Transition’, a global business competition open to start-ups and early-stage companies in the energy sector. Continue reading
Science and social mobility
David Payne examines the links between socioeconomic status and a career in science.
“Congrats on the new job David, good to see a ‘Stabbo’ lad doing so well…”
So said Richard, a Facebook friend and former schoolmate in a reference to my status change last month, posted the night before I started working at Nature, and to our home town.
Stabbo — AKA Stapleford — lies on the Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire border. One of its local authority wards has the highest percentage of lone parent householders in the borough, some of the highest rates of overcrowding, domestic abuse, and alcohol related hospital admissions and emergency asthma admissions. The latest news I heard about my home town was that its only supermarket is set to close. Its replacement? A discount store. Continue reading
Why you need to collaborate
Collaborating, formally or otherwise, is a huge component of your future (and current) success – even if you’re in the early stages of your career as a graduate student or postdoc.
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Why? It’s how science works today – even in academia. You can’t do it all on your own — you need to work with others who have expertise in different areas to identify the right research questions, to ensure that your experiments answer the questions properly and that your data are robust, to fully interpret results and understand their broader implications and ramifications (as well as potential commercial application in some cases).
US research centres create opportunities
Training and mentoring opportunities for junior researchers in particle physics, cell biology, mechanobiology and materials science will be created in connection with four partnerships that are funded by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) in Arlington, Virginia.
NSF on 26 September announced US$94 million to support four new Science and Technology Centers (STCs). Each awardee will receive up to $24 million over a 5-year period, with the possibility of a continuation for 5 more years. In addition to these latest awards, NSF supports eight active STCs across the United States. Each STC involves partnerships across universities, federal labs, industry and other organizations.
New hope for EU researchers?
Pursuing a research career is tough in any nation, maybe especially so for junior scientists who are facing a difficult path and have far fewer traditional metrics to ease their way: grants and funding, publications, collaborations.
Bratislava Castle, Slovakia
Teaching as an academic
We asked Elizabeth Joyce’s opinion on teaching as an academic at the Naturejobs career expo, San Francisco.
https://youtu.be/PwXGjUBtSrY
The Naturejobs career expo journalism competition, London, 2016!
Enter for a chance to work as a Nature journalist for the day!
Here we go again!
Following the success of the Boston and San Francisco Naturejobs career expo journalism competitions this year, we’re launching the competition for our tenth career expo in London, to be held on September 16th.
The London Naturejobs career expo is our flagship event, so we are looking for five budding science writers to help us with our coverage of the conference sessions, workshops and general ambience of the event for those who cannot make it. The conference will explore career paths in industry, academia and science communication, finding funding, and much more.
The five winners will have the opportunity to attend the expo and write up at least two of the sessions or workshops for our readers, sharing the advice and expertise of the speakers with our worldwide audience. Winners will also have the opportunity to work closely with Nature editors, and their articles will be published on the Naturejobs blog. Continue reading
Team science and the early career researcher
The current trend towards increased research collaboration and larger groups is fuelled by the need to answer bigger questions, but this approach puts individual contributions at risk.
Guest contributor Lucia Possamai
Research ventures where several researchers, groups or institutions work together to answer a research question is becoming known as ‘team science.’ It can be seen at work today in large genetics studies, such as the 100,000 genomes project, in multi-centre clinical trials, or in rare disease consortia. Even on a smaller scale, it is becoming more common for publications to arise from collaborative projects.
As an early career researcher I can appreciate that team science is not just good for science: it gives those of us embarking on our scientific careers the opportunity to take part in research with high impact that would otherwise not be accessible to us. It can remove the pressure to obtain independent funding – in many cases, all funding will have been obtained as part of the larger project’s grant.
The art of negotiating a better salary
Andy Tay picked up some tips on negotiation at the Naturejobs Career Expo, San Francisco. Here they are.
Naturejobs career expo journalism competition winner Andy Tay
Negotiation is a powerful skill. And, whilst graduate education arms you with technical credentials for a career, it often misses out training for soft skills like negotiation. An ability to negotiate effectively can convince your counterparts to care for your interests, allowing you to maximise personal gains such as pay or career development.
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At the recent Naturejobs Career Expo, San Francisco, Doug Kalish shared some pieces of advice with the participants on the art of negotiating for one’s interests. Here’s some of his tips on negotiating job offers and salary. Continue reading