Postdoc and Postgraduate Survey Results

The BSDB postoc and postgrad representatives, Alex Ashcroft and Michelle Ware , undertook a survey with BSDB junior members to find out how our society could better serve their needs. The results are in! Read below the message from Michelle and Alex explainng the outcome and the conclusions and measures that will be taken.

Thank you so much to everyone who participated. We had a tremendous response of over 100 participants. We have collated the results which can be found here. Some clear trends emerged from the survey, namely a desire for more (transferable) professional development at the annual Spring Meetings and beyond. We are extremely excited to have now a basis on which to make changes that we hope will benefit the future generation of developmental biologists.

The survey results were discussed in detail at the most recent committee meeting, and we will be making the following changes:

  1. The 2016 Spring Meeting will now include a Sunday afternoon careers session. This will include sessions on non-academic career paths and transferable skills. We are liaising with the BSCB reps to invite a number of guests.
  2. We are liaising with the BSCB reps to revamp the graduate student and postdoc social.
  3. We will be investigating introducing science breakfasts/dinners so students and postdocs can have an informal group discussion with prominent leaders in the field and/or science clinics to get one-on-one training.
  4. The graduate student seminar will now include talks from transitioning graduate students and postdocs.
  5. Away from the Spring Meetings, we are investigating the logistics of introducing sustainable postdoc and graduate student training days.
  6. We will be working with the communications officer, Andreas Prokop, to create a graduate student and postdoc area on the BSDB website.
  7. We will be working with the 2017 Spring Meeting organising committee to bring other exciting changes that you have asked for.

As announced, there was a prize draw where parcipants could win a number of Kindles and £30 Amazon vouchers. Congratulations to the winners:

  • Maria Kotini (University College London) – Kindle
  • Harriet Knafler (University of Sheffield) – Kindle
  • Nestor Saiz (Sloan Kettering Institute, New York) – Kindle
  • Federica Berti, (University of Portsmouth) – Kindle
  • Monica Tambalo (Crick Institute, London) – voucher
  • Wendy Gu (University of Zurich) – vouncher

Please, feel free to contact Alex (student@bsdb.org) or Michelle (postdoc@bsdb.org) with any further suggestions or comments. We would really love to hear from you. And don’t forget to join us on the BSDB Facebook site.

Thank you again for everyone who participated in the survey.

Best wishes,

Alex and Michelle

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