Early-career advisory group

Mayank Chugh

Harvard Medical School, United States

As a postdoc with intersectional identities, I am committed to reforming practices, protocols, and policies that hinder equitable advancement and retention of early-career researchers from marginalised backgrounds. I look forward to working with diverse ECAG members and eLife leadership to launch new initiatives, experiments, and collaborations that reflect our shared values of accountable and transparent research and communication.

Mariana De Niz

Northwestern University, Chicago, United States

I can contribute towards increasing openness and integrity in the way science is done and shared by working on a model that breaks down language barriers for science, and as a microscopist, integrating open science into the pipeline of publications that include imaging.

Laura Han

University of Melbourne, Australia

During my time as a member I’m hoping to listen to others so I can be an echo box for early-career researchers: grabbing attention for challenges they face, facilitating opportunities that boost our career prospects, and propagating ideas that give joy to an academic career.

Sarah Marei

American University of Beirut, Lebanon

“As an ECAG member, I want to work on providing early-career scientists with the learning opportunities that are missing in the research community. This is through building and promoting a transparent and comprehensive outlook into the scientific process, especially for third-world countries that lack direct access to these processes.”

Regina Mencia

Instituto de Agrobiotecnología del Litoral, Argentina

As a new member I'm hoping to discuss topics that worry the early-career scientists and work together with editors towards a more inclusive and transparent planning system that can boost young scientists’ work.

Divyansh Mittal

Center for Integrative Genomics, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Switzerland

I want to provide early-career researchers a global platform to present their work to much-wider audiences and open up new collaborative opportunities to take science forward.

Elizabeth Ochola

Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kenya

Elizabeth is passionate about equity and diversity, which she has been pursuing with organizations such as the Ontario Pharmacy Evidence Network (OPEN) Citizens’ Council, the Canadian Pharmacists Scope, and the Journal of Health Care, where she serves on the editorial board. As a new ECAG member, she is primarily interested in supporting eLife to set up ambitious diversity objectives with regard to the gender and ethnic diversity of the editorial board and review committees by encouraging the journal to be responsive to the needs of the communities they serve. Elizabeth’s research examines the impact of Neglected Tropical Diseases on the health and wellbeing of marginalized communities in sub-Saharan Africa.

Facundo Romani

University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

As a Latino working in his home country (Argentina), Facundo knows well the limitations and difficulties of pursuing science and publishing it in developing countries. He is interested in exploring more inclusive criteria to increase the visibility of scientific works made around the globe without compromising the perception of “quality” or “originality”, and offer scientists from developing countries more feasible opportunities to publish. Facundo is a plant molecular biologist and works on the evolution of transcription factors.

Lynn Yap

Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Singapore

“I am extremely excited to join the dynamic and diverse ECAG community in contributing to the improvement of science culture and communication. I have the aspiration of transforming science publications and visibility for young scientists. As a new member, I would like to champion topics such as open and timely research communication, collaboration, and gender equality. I am really excited about working with the other ECAG members and editors to create a positive impact on the scientific community.”