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

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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.

14 Sep 2023 • 6 min read

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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

Life as a scientist comes with many personal and professional challenges. Thankfully, we do not need to face them alone, as there are many others like us out there. In this post, Yu-Fang Yang shares how she found the best communities for her and how being together lifts everyone up.

14 Jul 2023 • 6 min read

Academic unions - Rectifying myths based on frontline experiences

Academic unions - Rectifying myths based on frontline experiences

Early Career Scientists often find themselves in vulnerable situations, so it's important to put systems in place for their voices to be heard. Danny Doucette explains how academic unions provide such a platform, but also how unionization is at times hindered by bureaucracy or lack of confidence.

1 May 2023 • 5 min read

Baby steps toward uprooting toxicity from academia

Baby steps toward uprooting toxicity from academia

Passion for science leads ECRs to embark on the adventure of graduate studies. However, this passion is sometimes met with unfair obstacles and biases that hinder their career paths. Here, we discuss how we can all contribute to making academia a welcoming environment where everyone can thrive.

Multiple authors

9 Feb 2023 • 6 min read

The Many Languages of Science

The Many Languages of Science

There are more than 7000 languages in the world. So how do you make sure science communication, which typically happens in English, is accessible to everyone? In this blog post, Kanika Khanna tells us how to engage in and feel comfortable talking about science in a non-English language.

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

Getting to know our editorial team: Angel Cisneros

Getting to know our editorial team: Angel Cisneros

Angel is the latest addition to our editorial team, and we are so happy to have him! He is the glue to our editorial team, making sure that we e-meet regularly to catch up and to plan for ecrLife's next steps. Keep an eye on this one, because he will go places!

ecrLife editors

14 Apr 2022 • 5 min read

Building a Technology-Savvy Workforce to Drive the Future of Research

Building a Technology-Savvy Workforce to Drive the Future of Research

The pandemic forced scientists to change how they do research. While some of these changes have improved the scientific method, others further increase pre-existing inequities in the research environment. In this post, Adriana Bankston outlines how she envisions the future of the research workforce.

Adriana Bankston

17 Feb 2022 • 5 min read

Paying it forward: bringing innovation to academic funding

Paying it forward: bringing innovation to academic funding

Not every postdoc has the same salary, supportive environment, or benefits. These factors vary greatly among institutions, creating an inequitable environment. Amanda Hurley introduces a new funding mechanism that better supports postdocs to successfully transition into independent positions.

10 Feb 2022 • 5 min read

How to avoid overcommitting in grad school

How to avoid overcommitting in grad school

Karishma Gangwani, Aishwarya Kothari

3 Feb 2022 • 5 min read

How to get what you want out of graduate school: lessons from the business world

How to get what you want out of graduate school: lessons from the business world

13 Jan 2022 • 6 min read

How volunteering can support you and your research

How volunteering can support you and your research

Katherine MacInnes

16 Dec 2021 • 5 min read

Getting to know “Sciety”

Getting to know “Sciety”

Sciety team, Carolina Paz Quezada

23 Sep 2021 • 3 min read

Mental health of early career researchers: COVID-19 brings the community together (virtually)

Mental health of early career researchers: COVID-19 brings the community together (virtually)

COVID-19 has restructured the way we produce and share science, producing an unparallelled increase in stress and anxiety-levels among early career researchers. Here, members of the Berlin research community highlight key findings from their virtual brainstorming event to cope with this stress.

Berlin Institute of Health Research Community

9 Sep 2021 • 4 min read

Higher education re-imagined: goals, societal impacts, and pandemic effects

Higher education re-imagined: goals, societal impacts, and pandemic effects

Higher education will never be the same again post-pandemic, as hybrid learning is likely here to stay. In this post, Adriana invites us to review and implement today the changes needed in higher education to ensure sustainable training environments for the next generation.

Adriana Bankston

10 Jun 2021 • 5 min read

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