ISEH 2022 Junior Faculty Session Highlights

 Junior PI Networking Event – Raging Bull, Edinburgh, Scotland (Friday Sept. 2, 20:00-23:00)

The newly formed Junior PI committee is following on from its successful webinar series highlighting the “Journey and Lessons Learned” by hosting a dedicated Junior PI Networking Event at this year’s ISEH Annual Meeting to build a strong, supportive community of junior faculty worldwide

Starting out as a new PI can be a daunting proposition with challenges including moving to an entirely new institute, reducing hands-on time in the laboratory, securing competitive grant funding and the need to recruit new staff and students. All whilst sustaining scientific productivity and maintaining a work/life balance. It pays to remember that science at its core is a ‘human business’, with building meaningful relationships, a sense of community and learning through shared experience all being essential to the progress of science.  

Whilst the sharing of knowledge has been accelerated and democratized through the exponential growth of online lab meetings and conferences courtesy of COVID-19, it has done little to build these meaningful relationships especially for new PIs. Indeed, it is often the free flow of people and ‘corridor conversations’ in between the science together with organised mixers and networking events that fertilizes new ideas, innovation and new collaborations. 

The goal of our event is to create a venue for these valuable interactions at our Annual Meeting. At the Networking Event, attendees will be able to:

1) Create networks of mutual support for junior faculty through shared experience in establishing an independent research group. e.g., Career journeys and lessons learned on the way to independence.

2) Facilitate and foster new scientific collaborations between junior faculty, and provide opportunities for ‘corridor conversations’ between junior faculty who may not otherwise be able to meet in person.

3) Meet with selected senior faculty from the ISEH community, the Editorial Board of Experimental Hematology, and the Blood Cancer UK funding agency.

If you already identify as a Junior PI or are about to embark on the journey to independence, please register your interest for this FREE event at the Raging Bull Function Room, just a short 0.2 mile walk from the conference center. 

 

Junior PI Career Session ‘Meet the Editors: Insights from Behind the Scenes’ – Edinburgh International Conference Centre Venue (Friday Sept. 2, 13:00-14:00)

As scientists, we are all under pressure to publish papers; the stress can be greater for junior PIs preparing to submit papers generated in their own lab. During this year’s ISEH Annual Meeting, the Junior PI committee will host a discussion forum in which junior faculty will have the opportunity to learn and discuss editorial processes with academic scientists who also have experience as journal editors. 

The event aims to help junior PIs with manuscript preparation by getting to know editorial processes in depth from the people making the decisions. As panellists, we will welcome senior PIs, Bertie Göttgens (Blood), Louise Purton (Experimental Hematology), Emmanuelle Passegué (Journal of Experimental Medicine) and Toshio Suda (Editor-in-Chief, Experimental Hematology) who serve on editorial board of prestigious journals in the hematology field. 

Some potential topics which may be addressed in the session will be:

1) When and how to appeal an editorial decision?
2) How important is the cover letter and how to maximize its effectiveness?
3) How are pre-submission enquiries handled and how effective are they really?
4) When and how can a junior PI become a member on an editorial board of a journal?
5) Does anonymous review affect editorial decisions?
6) How do editors weigh reviewer comments and their own instincts in making a decision?

This event will be an in-person, panel format + Q&A event with a brief introduction from each editor on their journal and the editorial process. Our panellists can answer your questions about their journals, discuss the submission and review processes, and provide attendees with behind-the-scenes advice on how to increase the likelihood of publication.

If you identify as a Junior PI or are struggling to prepare and submit your paper as corresponding author, please join us for this exciting and interactive session on Friday, 2nd September, 13:00-14:00. No pre-registration or ticket is required to attend!