2/3/21

Facilitator: Emma

Notetaker: Spencer

general updates

• no women representing researchers attending research meeting
  • post about this on slack?
• no researchers in comms meetings
• new role – “consultant members”?
• post again about the group, how it works
  • “SWC Needs You!”
• PIs remind their groups that this exists, is worthwhile
• reminder that the group should not be a massive amount of work per person, but spread across its members and according to their personal interests, skillsets, etc.

subgroup updates

careers

• resumed post Athena SWAN – three actions:
  • jessica –> what accredited trainings would be useful for technical staff
    • how can we facilitate these trainings to be ongoing?
    • contact Amy or Jessica about these things
    • feedback about these from students, postdocs
    • these will be in-house
    • should be bottom-up driven for the students, postdocs
    • e.g. Open Science Certificate (Github, etc.)
  • synergize with athena swan sat members
    • make sure these teams are in alignment

community

• no update

comms

• working on policy document

research

• two proposals to discuss post-faculty meeting
• other proposals ready to be engaged with
• open science!

wellcome survey (joaquin)

• conducted by Shift Learning research agency
• all data is public – open science!
• “research is a vocation, not a job”
• values? “inclusive, supportive, creative, collaborative, transparent, open”
• “how sustainable is this culture in the wrong run?
• what is “real quality”?
  • discuss this in the research group
  • joaquin: to be really impactful, you need time
  • tom: reproducibility over time, intellectual insight
  • what is true “impact”?
• lack of career flexibility
  • have to optimize for a set of KPIs that may be misaligned
• lack of feedback from management ***
  • formal appraisals?
    • phd students don’t get appraisals
  • do PIs get feedback from their students? NO – discuss this ***
    • these meetings are purely research focused, need to be addressed! ***
• loneliness, anxiety, stress, isolation
  • 50% of researchers have experienced serious depression/anxiety, 30% have received help
  • has this affected your performance, influenced your science?
• suggestions
  • shift funding structures
  • training for mentorship and management ***
    • should this be mandatory *** – part of the job / assessment?
    • points system of continuing education as part of assessment
  • formalize an “advisor + committee + mentor?” structure?
• work on the “human environment”
  • diversity, interaction, support and well-being
  • what can we practically do to advance this?
• communication group?
  • can this group focus on HOW to communicate effectively, mediation, etc ***

romaine brette blogpost discussion

• comparing hodgkin huxley against “big science” is perhaps not a fair comparison
• flexible career paths might be the most important points to discuss? the most actionable thing to do…
  • survey: what career paths exist and what should exist?