How to track the “lost generation” of scientists

“We should not consider it a disaster that someone trained to a high level doesn’t remain in academia,” Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, president of the European Research Council, told a panel discussion about science’s “lost generation” last month.

In this podcast Bourguignon and two of his fellow panel members  tell Julie Gould how better career tracking data from universities and other institutions would show how few achieve staff positions, challenging the perception that academia is the only worthwhile career option.

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Women in science: patriarchy, leaky pipelines, and the “two body problem”

In the June 2018 Naturejobs podcast we focus on women in science. Aashima Dogra and Nandita Jayaraj tell Harini Barath about Life of Science, the website they created to celebrate female scientists in India and highlight some of the career barriers they face.  Also, stem cell researcher Cristina LoCelso describes the importance of mentoring, hobbies, work-life balance, and strong family networks after becoming the first woman to be awarded the prestigious Foulkes Foundation Medal by the UK Academy of Medical Sciences. And finally, Nana Lee, assistant professor in biochemistry at the University of Toronto, Canada, gives us her three top tips about career transitions between academia and industry, and how best to accommodate family life.

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Podcast: Science, sickness and dyslexia

Collin Diedrich

Collin Diedrich

Julia Hubbard, a research fellow at the Francis Crick Institute in London, has Type 1 diabetes and lupus. Collin Diedrich (pictured), postdoctoral research fellow in HIV/TB co-infection immunology at the University of Pittsburgh, US, has dyslexia. Listen to their top tips for successfully juggling scientific careers alongside illness and disability.

Also, Jack Leeming discusses Nature’s recently published comprehensive guide to scientific careers in China.

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Podcast: How to be a consummate networker

networkingThere’s nothing sleazy about networking and it’s not just something to do at conferences, according to careers consultant Alaina G Levine.

It is a two-way process, she adds, an “honourable” exchange that builds capacity and contributes value. Levine, author of Networking for Nerds, shares her top tips, including the all-important “art of the follow-up.”

Peter Fiske says solid networking skills helped him to return to academia after 16 years in industry, most recently as CEO of Pax Water Technologies.

Peter also describes how academia has changed. “The intensity has gone up. People in research work so hard. Oh my God, they work all the time,” he tells Julie Gould. Continue reading

Podcast: Stars of the yeast

breadandwine

 

If you’re not loving what you do, try something new. That’s the message both from Ricardo Wilches and Eyal Schwartz. The two researchers swapped academia for careers that combine their love of science with their love of bread (in Eyal’s case) and wine (for Ricardo).

Schwartz was undertaking a neuroscience PhD in Israel when he moved his family to London and started work at an artisan bakery in east London.

And Wilches was a postdoc at the Max Planck Society in Tübingen, Germany when he decided to return to his native Colombia to co-found a vinticulture company that imports and promotes wine.

Moving south from Colombia to Chile, Naturejobs editor Jack Leeming talks to Aleszu Bajak about his recent article on the South American country. Chile is the jewel in the crown for astronomers around the world. Why are other scientists working in Chile envious of their success?

 

Other podcasts

A fresh start

Family life, career life: making it work

Meaningful mentoring

 

Podcast: Family life, career life: making it work

scalesTransitioning from academia to industry is a common direction for a career move. But it is possible to move the other way, even as a mother of five children?

In this podcast we share Paula Littlejohn’s story. Paula started her microbiology PhD at the University of British Columbia, Canada, a year ago, after a decade in industry and having five children. We find out how she juggled the demands of an academic career alongside motherhood.

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Naturejobs podcast: A fresh start

Goldfish jumping to a bigger bowl

Adam Gault

Career adventures require a leap of faith and can be hard to navigate. Our first podcast of 2018 examines the impact of fresh starts and how having transferable skills can deliver career fulfilment for both science PhDs and retiring lab heads.

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Naturejobs podcast: Meaningful mentoring

d41586-017-07836-y_15264448To mark the 2017 Nature Awards for Mentoring in Science and the launch of our online mentoring resource at go.nature.com/mentoring, we’ve put together a podcast that reflects the importance of top quality mentoring and coaching to early career researchers.

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Naturejobs podcast: Life in the PhD lane

nj7677-549a-i1The Naturejobs team looks at  careers in sports science and life as a PhD student in 2017 following publication of Nature’s biennial PhD survey, which sought the views of 5700 students worldwide.

Jenny Kedros, research manager at Shift Learning, the educational research agency that helped analyse the data, talks about the survey’s main findings to chief careers editor David Payne.

You can read about the results in the article Graduate Survey: A love-hurt relationship. The underlying raw data available via this Figshare link.

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