who's on board

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Who’s on Board

The leadership of many scientific organizations is not representative of working scientists. Our goal is to normalize the presence of ECRs, particularly postdocs, in meaningful leadership positions in all quarters of the research enterprise, beginning with scientific societies. Their participation is not only desirable but necessary to create a research enterprise that is more supportive of ECRs and attractive to diverse talent. In taking on leadership positions in scientific societies, ECRs will build their leadership experience, and professional networks and reinvigorate institutions with their perspectives.

Outcomes

To get an idea of the involvement of ECRs in leadership positions within scientific societies, we surveyed societies based in the UK and the US, and performed several case studies by interviewing senior society leaders and ECR leaders from nine societies with ECR involvement.

Highlighting Ecr’s in leadership roles

From the advice provided by society executives, we compiled a list of guidelines for how scientific societies can successfully establish leadership roles for ECRs. With these guidelines, scientific societies should feel empowered to engage more with ECRs and create leadership positions for this group of researchers.