ECS Weekly: Guidelines for research and fieldwork; Dros23 abstract, GSA election deadlines extended; a confidential support group for women PhDs

This week’s newsletter focuses on guidelines for conducting fieldwork and research more equitably, and it was written by Rebecca Tarvin of the Equity and Inclusion Subcommittee.

Be Collaborative, Be Respectful, Be Legal, and Be Safe

Many geneticists oversee field research programs in which they collect and study wild organisms through collaborative teams that can span multiple regions or countries. Such field programs, like most aspects of science, are shaped by imbalances in power and resources that are compounded by global inequities arising from colonialism, racism, and discrimination.

Recently, I was part of a diverse group of field biologists that published a perspective on how to more equitably conduct fieldwork and research based on field-collected data. Through discussion and review of scientific literature, we propose four guidelines and a set of associated resources. The following text is pulled from Box 1 of the article originally published in PNAS.

Be collaborative: We embrace collaborative science and fieldwork practices with our partners, field teams, and the communities with whom we work. Inequitable involvement of local collaborators can perpetuate historical power imbalances, erode trust in the scientific enterprise, and limit the sense of co-ownership of the knowledge being produced.

Be respectful: We prioritize local sovereignty and long-term benefits for the community, and we invest time and effort in learning about and respecting local history and cultures. Long-lasting and reciprocal relationships founded on mutual respect are often crucial for fieldwork.

Be legal: We commit to obtaining all necessary permits, authorizations, and land permissions, and to following all legal guidelines and requirements. Legislation helps circumvent some aspects of biopiracy and exploitation and functions to systematically track and regulate biological material.

Be safe: We work proactively to promote a physically and emotionally safe working environment for all members of research teams and local communities with clear guidance and communication. Field safety takes many forms, and risk is not evenly distributed across team members.

Additional resources include:

- Questions and scenarios for discussion (Boxes S1, S3)

- Suggestions for giving back to local communities (Box S2)

- Articles documenting fieldwork issues (Table S1)

- A guide to permits required for vertebrate research in the USA

- A Field Safety Plan template

Ethics codes are common in research involving human subjects, but few exist for collaborative science or field research programs that don’t directly involve human-subject research. The resources and guidelines listed above can serve as a starting point for training programs, forming codes of conduct, or discussing collaboration dynamics and expectations. Overall, our team proposes that proactive planning, transparent communication, and self-reflection can help build more equitable field research programs.

GSA Early Career Leadership Program Resources

Deadline extended! The 2022 GSA Elections ballot asks you to vote on the next GSA Vice President, GSA Treasurer, and three members of the Board of Directors. Use the instructions below to cast your vote before 11:59 p.m. EST on November 21, 2022. To cast your vote, you will need to log in using your GSA membership email address and password.

NEW! Communication and Outreach Subcommittee alumna Carla Bautista Rodriguez recaps the Spanish Multilingual Seminar held on September 3, 2021. The seminar addressed the challenges of communicating science as a Spanish speaker. Read the blog on Genes to Genomes.

GSA has launched the Career Dev Toolkit in conjunction with the Early Career Leadership Program. The toolkit is designed for early career scientists interested in career development, and it features curated professional development resources in the shape of blogs, a YouTube playlist of our past workshops, and more information on future workshops run by the Career Development Subcommittee.

Deadline extended! Submit your abstracts for the Annual Drosophila Research Conference by November 25, 2022. The conference will take place in Chicago, IL on March 1, 2023 through March 5. There is something for every Drosophila researcher at the conference which will cover topics including developmental and cell biology, physiology, genomics, and more, as well as meta-research topics like Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and techniques.

Assistant/Associate Professor | Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington| Arlington, TX, United States

Assistant Professor | Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto, Scarborough | Toronto, Canada

Assistant Professor | Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center | Dallas, TX, United States

Bioinformatician | Harris Lab, University of Texas Health San Antonio | San Antonio, TX, United States

Lab Manager | Faculty of Medicine, University Hospital of Tübingen | Tübingen, Germany

Postdoctoral Researcher | Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Biology, Michigan State University’s (MSU) College of Human Medicine and Department of Epigenetics, Van Andel Institute | Grand Rapids, MI, United States

Postdoctoral Researcher | Jackson Lab, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory | Cold Spring Harbor, NY, United States

Postdoctoral Researcher | National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health | Bethesda, MD, United States

Tenure-Track Assistant Professor | Department of Biological Science, Florida State University | Tallahassee, FL, United States

Postdoctoral Fellow | Pediatric and Rare Diseases Group, Sanford Research | Sioux Falls, SD, United States

Is your lab hiring? GSA members qualify for a discounted rate to post job openings and can post student and postdoc positions at no cost on the GSA Job Board!

The National Institute on Drug Abuse Early Career Workshop Fall 2022 will be held on Monday, November 21, 2022 from 12:00 to 2:40 p.m. EST. This Zoom webinar symposium will focus on strategies to secure NIH funding through successful grant writing and planning for the early investigators on different career trajectories. This workshop is developed to address issues identified in recent surveys of graduate and postdoctoral fellows, early-stage investigators, and newly established faculty. We look forward to your participation and welcome your questions/comments during the panel discussion section of this workshop. Registration is free.

Apply for the SLAS Graduate Education Fellowship. This SLAS grant facilitates educational opportunities for outstanding students pursuing graduate degrees related to life sciences R&D. This program helps to realize a fundamental tenet of SLAS’s mission: to advance the fields of laboratory science and technology by nurturing the next generation of professional scientists. SLAS will award one grant (up to $50,000) per year, for a maximum of two years, to qualified educational institutions on behalf of deserving students enrolled in a graduate program at that institution. Apply by November 29, 2022.

Current professional development and training opportunities

FASEB is seeking nominations for the Animals in Research and Education Subcommittee. This subcommittee’s mission is to review, respond to, and develop policies and advocacy resources regarding the humane use and care of animals in biomedical research. Junior faculty and early career researchers are encouraged to apply. Submit a letter describing why you want to serve FASEB in this role and attributes and experiences that have prepared you for this position (maximum one page) and your resume or CV focused on relevant activities and appointments (maximum two pages) to engagement@genetics-gsa.org by November 28, 2022.

NEW! Friends of Sarah is a confidential support group for women who are PhD candidates or postdocs experiencing difficult work environments that are negatively impacting their lives and careers. Monthly sessions occur virtually. Sessions are a safe and confidential space open to anyone with a desire for change, with the purpose of providing support, skills, and resources to women in STEM.

NEW! The New York Academy of Sciences is hosting an interactive, four session online course upcoming from January 19–February 9. The title of the course is: "How to Effectively Communicate Your Science to Any Audience." The goals of the course are to help you advance your career, get funding for your research, feel understood and effective, and gain lifetime access to an online community of mentors and peers. It will teach you a proven system that course graduates have used to achieve these actual results: aced job interview, leading to a job offer; successful lay abstract, unlocking three years of grant funding; compliments on describing research "instead of the usual glazed looks". Learn more and register today!

NEW! ProPhounD is offering their next seminar on November 22, 2022 on networking effectively. Most people have heard about informal interviews, but do you know how impactful they can be? This type of networking, which we will teach in this critical workshop, is the kind that helps you find the most optimal place to start your career in a field you are interested in. Register today!

The National Science Foundation’s Division of Biological Infrastructure in partnership with the Division of Undergraduate Education is pleased to continue their support of the Research Coordination Networks in Undergraduate Biology (RCN-UBE) program NSF 22-522. The goal of the RCN-UBE program is to link biological research discoveries with innovations in biology education to improve the learning environment in undergraduate biology classrooms. The program seeks to improve undergraduate education by leveraging the power of a collaborative network recognizing that new educational materials and pedagogies can simultaneously teach biological concepts while creating a supportive and engaging learning environment for all. Proposals are due January 24, 2023.

The next round of Jane Coffin Childs Postdoctoral Fellowships opens on October 10, 2022 with a deadline of 12 p.m. EST on February 1, 2023. The Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research was established by the Childs Family in 1937, to honor the memory of Jane Coffin Childs who died of cancer in 1936. Inspired by the founding purpose to support research into the causes and treatment of cancer, the Fund’s mission has broadened to support fundamental scientific research that advances understanding of the causes, treatments, and cures for human disease. Visit the fund website to view eligibility criteria and application guidelines.

The Science Policy Mentorship Program from the National Science Policy Network is accepting applications for mentors and mentees. Interested in being paired with a mentor to support you as you work towards, or try to identify your science policy goals? Apply to our mentorship program to be matched with a mentor based on a multiplicity of factors beyond basic career interest. View the program goals and expectations, and submit your application here.

The University of Wyoming is offering a free Science Communication Certification. This self-directed certification and badge program enables participants to complete a core certification in the best practices and science of science communication. Additional badge levels can be obtained by participants as they specialize in emphasis areas such as Sharing Science on Social Media, Designing and Implementing Outreach Programs, Assessing Science Communication Efforts, Science and the Media, and Art-Science Integration, Teaching as Science Communication, the Science of Science Communication, and more. Learn more about program offerings and enroll today!

The Air Force Science & Technology Fellowship Program offers nationally competitive fellowship awards to postdoctoral and senior scientists to perform collaborative research at USAF research facilities across the country. Since 1966, the Air Force S&T Enterprise has hosted over 1,000 fellows under the NRC Research Associateship Programs and many of these researchers have gone on to successful careers in government laboratories.

Are you a grad student or postdoc excited to expand your science communication skills? Do you want to learn how to give better presentations & up your data visualization skills? Then sign up for the free, online scicomm training course SCOPE! SCOPE (Science Communication Online Programme) is an introduction to effective science communication designed for STEM graduate students. This NSF-funded resource is free and created for those who don’t have access to live, in-person science communication training. The course is offered every quarter.