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How to overcome your “academic midlife crisis” (Part 3 – Reshaping your skill sets to fit your career path(s))

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How to overcome your “academic midlife crisis” (Part 3 – Reshaping your skill sets to fit your career path(s))

Finding the perfect job after your PhD is not straightforward, but doing it takes experience. You might need to look at different fields, and your goals could change over time. In part 3 of her academic midlife crisis series, Nele Haelterman describes how to get closer to your perfect job.

15 Sep 2025 • 5 min read

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How to overcome your “academic midlife crisis” (Part 3 – Reshaping your skill sets to fit your career path(s))

How to overcome your “academic midlife crisis” (Part 3 – Reshaping your skill sets to fit your career path(s))

Finding the perfect job after your PhD is not straightforward, but doing it takes experience. You might need to look at different fields, and your goals could change over time. In part 3 of her academic midlife crisis series, Nele Haelterman describes how to get closer to your perfect job.

Nele Haelterman

15 Sep 2025 • 5 min read

Why desk rejections happen and how young researchers can avoid them: practical lessons from experience

Why desk rejections happen and how young researchers can avoid them: practical lessons from experience

Publishing our work is a critical part of an ECR’s journey. Papers are not always sent out for revision, and it can be discouraging for ECRs to face desk rejections. Here, Dr. Taddese Zerfu shares his insights on how to minimize the chances of facing a desk rejection.

17 Jul 2025 • 6 min read

Reaching Out to Senior Scientists: A Step Worth Taking

Reaching Out to Senior Scientists: A Step Worth Taking

When we start out as early career researchers, we often hesitate to reach out to senior scientists. However, they are often excited to help young scientists. Here, Owen Ouyang discusses how mentorship, collaborations, and encouragement can come from a simple email to a senior colleague.

3 Jul 2025 • 4 min read

Zigs Can Zag with Purpose: Finding My Calling in Science

Zigs Can Zag with Purpose: Finding My Calling in Science

Academic careers are full of surprises. Every step brings new questions that might involve navigating diverse fields. Here, Jonathan Tsay tells us how exploring multiple fields led him to the position where he is today.

17 Apr 2025 • 4 min read

How to overcome your “academic midlife crisis” (Part 2 - finding your path(s))

How to overcome your “academic midlife crisis” (Part 2 - finding your path(s))

The process of finding your ideal career path is not straightforward. Fortunately, there are many career options for PhDs. Here, Nele talks about how you can find career paths that excite you and learn from others' experiences.

Nele Haelterman

3 Apr 2025 • 5 min read

How to overcome your academic midlife crisis (Part 1 – navigating your feelings and establishing your goals)

How to overcome your academic midlife crisis (Part 1 – navigating your feelings and establishing your goals)

Academic training takes many twists and turns, and, over time, our passions and goals may evolve. This can be confusing, but it offers an opportunity to reflect upon what brings us joy. Here, Nele Haelterman shares how she faced this uncertainty and came out with a clearer view of her path forward.

Nele Haelterman

6 Mar 2025 • 5 min read

How to overcome writer’s block to share your ideas

How to overcome writer’s block to share your ideas

Writing plays a central role in the life of Early Career Researchers. It might seem daunting at first, but with time it becomes easier and even fun! Here, Angel shares some tips on how to set yourself up for success when writing.

30 Jan 2025 • 4 min read

Overcoming hardships for internationals in academia

Overcoming hardships for internationals in academia

Doing research abroad is a dream for many scientists. However, the road is not always smooth: it takes time to master the social and bureaucratic aspects. Here, Yseult, Ankita, and Ruchika explain some of these challenges and how to help our international colleagues feel at home.

Multiple authors

14 Mar 2024 • 5 min read

Things I wish I knew before entering the Academic Job Market

Things I wish I knew before entering the Academic Job Market

Looking for a job in academia can be a daunting task. Here, Meike van der Heijden talks about the highs and lows of her adventure looking for a job, as well as lessons she learnt at each stage of the process.

Meike van der Heijden

5 Oct 2023 • 11 min read

Let’s get rid of confidential ‘reference letters’ in academia — a tool misused by abusive supervisors

Let’s get rid of confidential ‘reference letters’ in academia — a tool misused by abusive supervisors

Reference letters hold a lot of power over an academic's career path and can make an ECR's life miserable if they are stuck in an abusive lab. Here, eLife community ambassadors Ruchika, Rio, and Suhaila advocate for alternative ways to get to know an applicant.

Multiple authors

14 Sep 2023 • 6 min read

Towards an increased awareness on the importance of Computational Reproducibility in Biological Sciences in Latin America

Towards an increased awareness on the importance of Computational Reproducibility in Biological Sciences in Latin America

Collaboration helps push science forward. However, its power depends on us sharing workflows, reagents, and results that our colleagues can reproduce. Here, a team of ECRs share how they came together with the mission of making science more reproducible and their upcoming projects.

Reprodutibilidade Computacional Bio

31 Aug 2023 • 7 min read

My Successful Mentoring Experiment

My Successful Mentoring Experiment

Throughout our scientific training process, many of us find ourselves asking if we have what it takes to become a successful mentor. In this blog post, Ruchika Bajaj shares her experience with designing a mentoring experiment to test the hypothesis that she can, and will be a great mentor.

3 Aug 2023 • 6 min read

From Lone Wolf to Pack Power: Empowering Early-Career Researchers through Scientific Communities

From Lone Wolf to Pack Power: Empowering Early-Career Researchers through Scientific Communities

14 Jul 2023 • 6 min read

Academic unions - Rectifying myths based on frontline experiences

Academic unions - Rectifying myths based on frontline experiences

1 May 2023 • 5 min read

Baby steps toward uprooting toxicity from academia

Baby steps toward uprooting toxicity from academia

Multiple authors

9 Feb 2023 • 6 min read

The Many Languages of Science

The Many Languages of Science

10 Nov 2022 • 4 min read

Learning how to change the research environment as an eLife Community Ambassador

Learning how to change the research environment as an eLife Community Ambassador

Research can be incredibly rewarding, but there are a lot of hurdles along the way. Some of these relate to our environments and are difficult to overcome. In this post, Maria Sol Ruiz and Nalaka Wijekoon explain how to take matters into our own hands and step up to induce global change.

ecrLife editors

4 Oct 2022 • 7 min read

Why and how to convince lab members to preprint

Why and how to convince lab members to preprint

We are entering a new science publishing era that is more open and available, and preprints are such an important factor making the difference! There are so many benefits of preprinting, but there are still some skepticals out there.. Learn how to convince them to join the preprint wonderland here!

28 Apr 2022 • 4 min read

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