A national professional development program fills mentoring gaps for postdoctoral researchers

Sun, Tao; Drane, Denise; McGee, Richard; Campa, Henry; Goldberg, Bennett B.; Hokanson, Sarah Chobot

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0275767

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…The Postdoc Academy is available as a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on the edX platform as well as a separate website ( www.postdocacademy.org ). It was developed broadly to meet the needs of postdoctoral researchers in all fields [ 23 ]. Postdoc Academy is structured in two online asynchronous courses: (1) Succeeding as a Postdoc and (2) Building Skills for a Successful Career.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A structured curriculum supporting biomedical trainees’ transition into independent academic positions and early career success

Perez-Oquendo,

Romano,

Farris

et al. 2024

BMC Med Educ

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The United States government makes a substantial investment in biomedical training programs each year. However, for most trainees, these opportunities do not translate into career progression in academic research pathways. Only about one-fifth of postdoctoral fellows eventually secure a tenure-track faculty position, and even among these candidates, attrition is high. Although a number of factors govern career choices and career longevity, the transition from trainee to faculty is a challenging process and requires knowledge and skills that are not necessarily developed during a traditional university experience. Many postdoctoral fellows receive adequate training in research skills and scientific communication, but new faculty report not being sufficiently prepared for the job search process and for starting their labs. To address this critical training gap, the ITERT core (Interdisciplinary Translational Education and Research Training) and the Office of Postdoctoral Fellows at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center implemented a structured course for both postdoctoral fellows and senior PhD students to provide formalized training for successfully navigating academic positions in biomedical research. Here we report on the pilot Navigating Academic Careers course conducted in 2021–2022 for 30 PhD students and postdocs. The nine-module course was conducted over 13 weeks in 25.5 h instructional sessions. The key educational objectives included 1) navigating the job application and the interview/negotiation process, 2) hiring, leading, and mentoring lab personnel and program support staff, 3) project administration and financial stewardship, 4) managing time and work-life balance and 5) developing collaborations, branding, personalized niche, and networking. Survey-based analysis at the time of the course was used to capture the participants’ assessment of the course content, organization, and delivery, with a follow-up survey conducted approximately 2 years post-course (2024) to evaluate longer-term impacts of the training. Initial in-course assessment revealed that 89.9% of respondents found the scope and instructional content appropriate, and 91.1% found the course relevant and applicable to their career needs. Longer-term post-course evaluation indicated that 80% of respondents applied the learnings of the course, that 80% reported feeling more confident in navigating an academic job search, and that 66.6% continued to report agreement with the course preparing them for their current role/ongoing job search, with 46.7% already securing jobs in academic research, including as independent faculty. The outcomes of this pilot course suggest that integrating this into the broader postdoctoral training curriculum can enhance both the transition and early-career success of talented scientists-in-training into working professionals in biomedical careers, as faculty and science-trained staff.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A structured curriculum supporting biomedical trainees’ transition into independent academic positions and early career success

Perez-Oquendo,

Romano,

Farris

et al. 2024

BMC Med Educ

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“…Mentoring is a learned skill, developed through training, mutual discussions, practice and feedback ( Hokanson and Goldberg, 2018 ). Over the past decade, research mentor training has grown from an area of relative weakness ( Cole et al, 2016 ) to an area which has demonstrated more widespread implementation, changing both practice and perspectives ( Pfund et al, 2014 ; Gandhi et al, 2019 ; Hamer et al, 2019 ; Desai et al, 2021 ; Alidina et al, 2022 ; Sun, T., et al, 2023 ). Yet, mentorship in LMICs remains challenged by few training hubs and platforms, poor institutionalization, turnover and loss of expertise, and limited recognition and funding [ Hansoti et al, 2019 ; Oppong et al, 2021 ; Health research mentorship in low and middle-income countries (HERMES), 2022 ].…”

Section: Introduction: Background and Rationale For The Educational A...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Training in the art and science of facilitation to scale research mentor training in low and middle income countries

Goldberg,

Mbugi,

Kyari

et al. 2023

Front. Educ.

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Advancing biomedical research in low and middle income countries (LMICs) to expand the capacity for LMICs to integrate biomedical research into their health care systems and education has been the focus of many programs in global health over the past two decades. Central to the success of these programs is effective research mentoring, characterized by academic, career and psychosocial support through culturally appropriate practices. Research mentoring is a learned skill, developed through training, mutual discussions, practice and feedback. The majority of extant training programs are designed and delivered by US partners, so the next stage in building capacity is to train facilitators within the LMIC partner institutions to contextualize and advance mentoring specifically within their cultural and institutional norms by co-developing, delivering and evaluating semi-annual research mentoring training. To this end, we describe the development, delivery and outcome evaluation of a 5-week course in the art and skill of facilitation. Care was taken to explicitly distinguish between concepts of “teaching” and “facilitation,” since “teaching” is closely connected to a transmission or banking model of education, which is characterized by “top-down,” hierarchical relationship. The course discussed power and positionality, themes that resonate with partners in Nigeria and Tanzania. These themes provided unique entry into deeper conversations core to advancing mentoring practice away from the traditional dyadic power structure that remains from colonization. Evaluation findings indicate significant advances in awareness of differences between teaching and facilitating, increased confidence in facilitation skills, especially in the area of structured planning and organization, as well as improved communication and interpersonal skills. All respondents felt that students in Nigeria and Tanzania would respond well to the facilitation approach conveyed during the course and they found value in participating in the course as a cohort.

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(Mis)alignments between postdoctoral and supervisors' perceptions of mentorship competencies in engineering and computer science

Bahnson,

Ross,

Berdanier

2024

J of Engineering Edu

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BackgroundPostdoctoral training holds an increasingly important place in preparation for leading academic and research positions. While little empirical research has described postdoctoral training beyond the sciences, across all fields, “misaligned expectations” are often touted as a key source of postdoctoral strife.Purpose/HypothesisThis article describes mentorship competency beliefs within engineering and computer science fields, which increasingly engage in postdoctoral training.Design/MethodAn embedded mixed‐methods design was used to quantitatively identify mentorship profiles from survey data using latent profile analysis (LPA) from a sample of n = 118 postdoctoral scholars and n = 165 postdoctoral supervisors. Qualitative thematic analysis of interviews with n = 29 postdoctoral scholars and n = 20 postdoctoral supervisors was used to identify meaning in the differences between quantitative profiles. The combination of LPA with thematic analysis enabled the triangulation of distinct postdoctoral mentorship profile definitions.ResultsLPA identified six postdoctoral fellow profiles and four supervisor profiles, which became clearly definable through thematic analysis. Postdoc profiles included Technical Manager, Autonomy Focused Advisor, Stretched Mentor, Well‐Rounded Mentor, Exemplar Mentor, and Leader‐Mentor, while supervisor profiles included Autonomous Mentor, Reflective Mentor, Research Lab Mentor, and Confident Leader‐Mentor. Some of these are aligned, but several are not, giving insight into the phenomenon of “misaligned expectations” in postdoctoral literature.ConclusionsThe mentorship profiles illustrate the misalignment in expectations, which leads to negative mentorship experiences for many postdoctoral scholars.

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A national professional development program fills mentoring gaps for postdoctoral researchers

Cited by 4 publications

References 37 publications

A structured curriculum supporting biomedical trainees’ transition into independent academic positions and early career success

A structured curriculum supporting biomedical trainees’ transition into independent academic positions and early career success

Training in the art and science of facilitation to scale research mentor training in low and middle income countries

(Mis)alignments between postdoctoral and supervisors' perceptions of mentorship competencies in engineering and computer science

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