Recommendations for empowering early career researchers to improve research culture and practice

Brianne A Kent, Constance Holman, Emmanuella Amoako, Alberto Antonietti, James M Azam, Hanne Ballhausen, Yaw Bediako, Anat M Belasen, Clarissa F D Carneiro, Yen-Chung Chen, Ewoud B Compeer, Chelsea A C Connor, Sophia Crüwell, Humberto Debat, Emma Dorris, Hedyeh Ebrahimi, Jeffrey C Erlich, Florencia Fernández-Chiappe, Felix Fischer, Małgorzata Anna Gazda, Toivo Glatz, Peter Grabitz, Verena Heise, David G Kent, Hung Lo, Gary McDowell, Devang Mehta, Wolf-Julian Neumann, Kleber Neves, Mark Patterson, Naomi C Penfold, Sophie K Piper, Iratxe Puebla, Peter K Quashie, Carolina Paz Quezada, Julia L Riley, Jessica L Rohmann, Shyam Saladi, Benjamin Schwessinger, Bob Siegerink, Paulina Stehlik, Alexandra Tzilivaki, Kate D L Umbers, Aalok Varma, Kaivalya Walavalkar, Charlotte M de Winde, Cecilia Zaza and Tracey L Weissgerber

PLOS Biology, 2022, vol. 20, issue 7, 1-19

Abstract: Early career researchers (ECRs) are important stakeholders leading efforts to catalyze systemic change in research culture and practice. Here, we summarize the outputs from a virtual unconventional conference (unconference), which brought together 54 invited experts from 20 countries with extensive experience in ECR initiatives designed to improve the culture and practice of science. Together, we drafted 2 sets of recommendations for (1) ECRs directly involved in initiatives or activities to change research culture and practice; and (2) stakeholders who wish to support ECRs in these efforts. Importantly, these points apply to ECRs working to promote change on a systemic level, not only those improving aspects of their own work. In both sets of recommendations, we underline the importance of incentivizing and providing time and resources for systems-level science improvement activities, including ECRs in organizational decision-making processes, and working to dismantle structural barriers to participation for marginalized groups. We further highlight obstacles that ECRs face when working to promote reform, as well as proposed solutions and examples of current best practices. The abstract and recommendations for stakeholders are available in Dutch, German, Greek (abstract only), Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, and Serbian.Around the world, early-career researchers are working to improve research culture and practice by addressing systemic challenges. This consensus statement provides expert guidance for individuals involved in these projects, and stakeholders who wish to empower the next generation of scientific leadership.

Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3001680 (text/html)
https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article/file ... 01680&type=printable (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pbio00:3001680

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001680

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in PLOS Biology from Public Library of Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by plosbiology ().