Meetings and Symposiums

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Plan Meetings and Symposium

We encourage early career researchers to plan their own FOR symposium. This is a great opportunity to identify the needs of local ECRs, brainstorm solutions, identify interested leadership and supportive allies, and coordinate efforts. Use the form to get in touch with us and provide more information on your timeline and interests so that we can help you plan a symposium.

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Past Meetings

Below you can find a list of all past FoR meetings, with a short of summary of each meeting, other organizations that supported us in organizing the meeting, and important achievements and outcomes. Below you will also find a form to reach out to us if you’re interested in organizing your own FoR meeting

20XX meetings

2015 Meetings

Map of Boston

Hack day boston

A national Hack/Activism Day with ASBMB on Saturday 24th, where projects were proposed and attendees contributed to data collection and survey design as well as repositories for data and design of media to raise awareness.

Map of Boston

Boston

The theme for the 2015 Boston meeting was “How many grads/postdocs?”, focusing on the labor market surrounding the biomedical workforce. The goal was to have a discussion on collecting data – what data should be collected, who by, and what for – about the academic workforce. Discussions also heard differing opinions on whether/how the structure of the academic workforce should be reformed:

  • Are there too many/too few postdocs/grad students/STEM undergraduates?
  • What barriers exist to making these/any reforms at administrative/faculty/funding agency levels?
Map of New York City

New York PoIntS

NYU postdocs hosted the 1st NYU PoIntS (Postdocs Interdisciplinary Symposium) on May 21, 2015 to build synergy in the postdoc community. The symposium included talks from members of the postdoctoral NYU community as well as keynote speakers and panels focusing on postdoctoral life and careers outside of academia.

Chicago

FoR Chicago 2015 was a one-day series of panel discussions and participant-led workshops that aimed to:

  • Illuminate the fundamental challenges in training scientists in today’s research climate
  • Propose solutions to equip the STEM postdoctorate to be leaders in diverse paths of the future career landscape
  • Initiate a dialogue with key stakeholders in the Chicago area about embracing the rich community of PhD-trained talent as drivers of innovation

See the FoRChicago summary paper in F1000 Research.

map of San Francisco

Bay Area

The San Fransisco meeting focused on addressing the future of academic research through facilitated discussions of the biggest challenges to the research enterprise, including funding, training, diversity, and research transparency. Talks and panel discussions were followed by interactive workshops focused on identifying actionable items directly within the power of trainees to effect change.

2014 Meetings

Map of Boston

Boston

The inaugural meeting of the Future of Research, the 2014 Boston symposium aimed to engage early career scientists who wanted to change academia for the better: more inclusiveness, more opennes, better communication, better training, and better mentoring. See the summary paper in F1000 Research.