#ECRWednesday, a programme of free, online events, which takes place on the last Wednesday of every month, resumes this autumn with discussions on developing connections and research in sub-Saharan Africa, addressing the funding crisis for early-career scientists, and reproducible research. If you have questions in advance you would like to discuss please send them to events@elifesciences.org.
The community behind eLife – including the research funders that support the journal, our editors, and our Early-Career Advisory Group – are keenly aware of the pressures faced by junior investigators. We want eLife to be a place where the most responsible behaviours in science are encouraged and recognised, such as: sharing data, tools, and resources; reporting objectively and comprehensively; cooperating and collaborating; providing constructive feedback and encouragement; and helping careers to thrive. #ECRWednesday is a showcase for success stories and experiences related to career-building and responsible research behaviours within and in support of the early-career community.
We hope you can join us for the next three eLife #ECRWednesday webinars, detailed below.
Building connections and developing research in Sub-Saharan Africa
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
11:00am in New York | 4:00pm in London
Working outside wealthy nations with a strong R&D infrastructure can provide a unique set of challenges and opportunities for scientists. In this webinar we will investigate opportunities to support research in low and middle income countries (LIMICs) including building connections with and between researchers as well as sources of funding for global health and development projects.
Join us to explore wider issues around developing connections, funding sources and supporting R&D in Africa.
Addressing the early-career funding crisis
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
11:00am in New York | 4:00pm in London
“The long-held but erroneous assumption of never-ending rapid growth in biomedical science has created an unsustainable hypercompetitive system that is discouraging even the most outstanding students from entering our profession... This is a recipe for long-term decline...” Alberts B et al. PNAS. 2014;111:5773-7
Research funding has become increasingly concentrated in the hands of senior investigators. This is problematic as analysis indicates the situation is detrimental to productivity, and, as junior leaders struggle to progress, bad for the long term health of the research community. Various efforts are being taken to address this challenge. In Australia a funding cap has been introduced, meaning there is a limit on the number of grants any one investigator can hold simultaneously. However, efforts to implement similar measures in the US have met with strong resistance with critics arguing it would be detrimental to progress.
Join us in October to discuss the pros and cons of funding caps, the wider issues involved and what can be done to move forward.
Making Science Reproducible
Wednesday, November 29, 2017
11:00am in New York | 4:00pm in London
Over the past five years, there has been a dramatic increase in attention to the issues of reproducibility of published life science research. Editorials, research papers, mainstream media, and countless conferences and symposiums have raised concerns over the current state of research communication.
Fortunately, we have now reached a point where many organisations have developed tools and resources that can significantly help scientists to work and publish in a more efficient and reproducible fashion. The challenge is to increase the awareness of the new resources in the research community and to facilitate adoption in a way that leads to a long-lasting cultural change and increases the transparency and reproducibility of research.
Join us Wednesday, November 29th for a discussion on that is reproducible science and how we can work to make it happen.
All webinars offer a Q&A session with the panellists and continued discussion on Twitter hosted by @eLifeCommunity and accessible at #ECRWednesday.
You can view recordings of previous events on our YouTube Channel and a complete list of upcoming activities is available on our events page.
Interested in finding out more about opportunities, events and issues that are important for early-career researchers? Sign up to the eLife Early-Career Community newsletter or follow @eLifeCommunity on Twitter.
