News & Comment

To write this article, we spoke to members of the supramolecular chemistry community, including the International Women in Supramolecular Chemistry network. We are not attributing anyone’s name to their story to protect their anonymity.

#MentorFirst (mentorfirst.org) is an initiative aimed at dispelling negative practices all-too-often still seen in academia, promoting best mentoring practices, and building a community of proactive mentors.

Our remodelled research agenda suggests setting priorities that outline a clear framework for making decisions on current and future research activities. We propose collaborative and collective global approaches to maximize our joint efforts, especially among early career researchers (ECRs), to remodel research agendas for the ultimate benefit of humanity.

A student-designed, student–faculty partnership was piloted to increase representation from diverse voices in the faculty hiring process while also rebuilding trust between faculty and students.

Numerous studies show that gender-based bias affects the distribution of research funding, with researcher-focused assessments being particularly prone to bias. Considering the negative impact on science when bias intrudes on funding decisions, granting agencies need to improve their efforts to document, monitor and reduce it.

Virtually all prospective medical students are required to take courses in general and organic chemistry, but are they really necessary? We discuss the relevance of chemistry to modern medicine and the arguments for and against its use as an essential prerequisite.

No matter your career stage, pregnancy in the lab raises complex questions — and definitive answers are hard to come by. In conversation with members of Women in Supramolecular Chemistry (WISC), we share our experience, discuss research into the challenges and move the conversation to the support needed by people who are pregnant. We conclude that community is critical to improve experiences.