Conferences to engage and build communities

Postdocs need to organize in order to make the future of research more efficient and productive, and organizing a conference is an ideal way to build the necessary community.

Name: Jessica Polka, PhD, Harvard Medical School

Date: October 2-3 2014

Location: Boston MA, USA

Website: http://futureofresearch.org

Last year, I was part of a group of postdocs in Boston (including Gary) who came together to organize a conference (Future of Research) on the current issues regarding the state of the biomedical research ecosystem: contracting funding, old models of publishing and evaluating research, and a trainee workforce. We had several goals: first, to raise awareness of these issues among researchers (who are otherwise incentivized to keep their noses to the bench); second, to ensure that early career scientists have a voice in determining the future of the research landscape; and third, to build connectivity among postdocs.

This connectivity is important because postdocs are otherwise almost completely isolated from peers in other labs (much less in other institutions). Unlike students who enter graduate school with a cohort, postdocs often uproot their lives to move to their new labs alone. This leaves them without a network for social support and intellectual cross-pollination. Crucially, this feeling of isolation also means that individual postdocs have little power to change the system.

In an ideal world, postdocs with similar concerns could exercise collective bargaining power to come to agreements with universities, funding agencies, and regulatory bodies. But given that postdocs are temporary workers under intense pressure to focus exclusively on their research, how can individuals willing to devote some of their energy to structural change find one another?

In our experience, having a concrete goal (ie, organizing a conference) was an effective way to connect to like-minded postdocs we might not otherwise meet. That said, the deck was stacked in our favor: Boston boasts a high density of research institutions, and the postdoc associations in the area already met quarterly at "pan-PDA" meetings (and have since formed the Boston Postdoc Association). We were able to use these meetings as a springboard to identify organizers from varied universities and departments.

Why a conference and not some other action? While few of us may see a clear path to changing the research enterprise, it's easy to understand how to organize a conference to talk about it. As a result of the event, however, we can define a path together. The Future of Research group is now incorporating as a non-profit to set this agenda. In addition to planning another meeting in Boston for 2015, we're also happy to offer support to other postdoc groups - currently in New York, Chicago, and the Bay Area.

For tips on organizing a similar meeting, please see Sarah Mazilli's previous Nature ConferenceCast post and our how-to organizing guide in The Winnower.

References

Mazzilli, S. A. et al. Logistics of Organizing the FOR symposium. The Winnower 1:e141697.77958 (2014).

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