How Support of Early Career Researchers Can Reset Science in the Post-COVID19 World

Abstract

The COVID19 crisis has magnified the issues plaguing academic science, but it has also provided the scientific establishment with an unprecedented opportunity to reset. Shoring up the foundation of academic science will require a concerted effort between funding agencies, universities, and the public to rethink how we support scientists, with a special emphasis on early career researchers.

COVID-19: the impact of a global crisis on sustainable development research

“…In terms of gender issues, almost two-thirds of the respondents were female, and 14% of them were students or researcher fellows. Such results are consistent with the reflections of the impact of COVID-19: (1) on academic mothers (Staniscuaski et al 2020 ; Gibson et al 2020 ) and how this pandemic is exacerbating the gender inequalities in science; and (2) on students and research fellows and how the interruption of scientific activities will be reflected in their research work, which is typically based on insecure contracts (Inouye et al 2020 ; Gibson et al 2020 ).…”

Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on animal behaviour and welfare researchers

“…PhD students and ECR (those up to seven years after obtaining their PhD degree), had a lower perceived productivity than senior researchers and the highest levels of perceived stress. The high PSS scores emphasize the vulnerability of this group to stress-related mental and physical problems ( Gibson et al, 2020 ). However, younger researchers did receive more social support, which is an important factor in reducing the risk of a burnout ( Jacobs & Dodd 2003 ).…”

“…mental distress, teaching load) or that are expected to appear in the future (e.g. career gaps; Corbera et al, 2020 ; Gibson et al, 2020 ). For example, a substantial part of the curriculum is now adapted to online teaching which makes it likely that online teaching will be more widespread in future ( Corbera et al, 2020 ), although this will vary widely among countries ( Crawford et al, 2020 ).…”

“…For those with a lot of teaching hours this may have come at the cost of their other professional tasks and their private life ( Rapanta et al, 2020 ). These groups require extra attention in current COVID-19 response strategies and in the development of the post-pandemic research landscape ( Corbera et al, 2020 ; Gibson et al, 2020 ).…”

Synthesis and Assembly of Virtual Collaborations

“…The COVID-19 pandemic is causing a global reevaluation of collective human behaviors and is significantly remodeling the scientific research landscape [ 1 , 2 ]. The pandemic is limiting in-person laboratory activities and constraining research operations, but scientists are adapting to this new model of research and are safely continuing what remains of their research programs.…”