Biophysical Society Bulletin | July/August 2020

Public Affairs

As most universities closed their research and teaching facili- ties in March, with staff transitioning to work from home and classes moving to on-line formats, BSC had to postpone its Annual Meeting until 2021. In the meantime, members of the BSC have used this down time to focus additional efforts on science advocacy. Many Canadian biophysicists do not feel that biophysics is appro- priately represented among the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) review panels, and that biophysics-related research is undervalued. In comparison, the NIH has two biophysics-related study sections: the Biochemistry and Biophysics of Membranes Study Section (BBM) and the Bio- physics of Neural Systems Study Section (BPNS), as well as a biophysics panel under the National Institute of General Med- ical Sciences. Members of the BSC have initiated a process to lobby the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to create a biophysics-focused review panel at CIHR, possibly with a mandate similar to a combination of the two noted above. As a first step, we are asking biophysics-focused researchers in Canada who are interested in such a review panel to fill out the form found at https:/ tinyurl.com/cihrreviewpanel. The collected information will be used to gage interest and to define the mandate of a putative review panel. If there is sufficient interest, members of the BSC will recruit support from other Canadian scientific societies and will then initiate contact with CIHR representatives. On a more positive note, as a result of the steady decline in the number of COVID-19 cases in Canada, universities are be- ginning to open up their research facilities leading to a gradual restart of research activities. With effective social distancing policies in place at each university and research institute, our members hope that they will be able to return to full research activities in the coming months, and that the annual BSC meeting will take place in person one year from now. Samrat Mukhopadhyay , BPS Ambassador, India Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Mohali The still-unfolding COVID-19 pandemic is changing our lives in a very big way during these unusual, unprecedented, and topsy-turvy times. The challenges in career transition of young researchers during the COVID-19 pandemic is extraor- dinary and I have been asking how we can best address this issue. Hopefully, this is just a blip and something we can move past soon. When I last wrote in the March BPS Blog, the number of confirmed cases was 150 in India, and now the number of cases is more than 330,000. The total number is now over 8 million worldwide according to the data from Johns Hopkins University. The silver lining is that the worst of the crisis is now behind some of the countries and regions. This pandemic has caused widespread distress and damage in nearly every aspect of our lives and has led some sections of our society to reach an ominous cliff. While it is an arduous task to recuperate the losses, and some of these can possibly never be recovered, the world has come together reconciling differences to fight this battle that will need to be fought continuously for the months and years to come.

Here, I would like to address a specific problem that is of the utmost importance to our scientific enterprise. As I men- tioned in my Blog post, this is a very challenging period for the younger researchers who are in transition. Their career transition is currently gridlocked, especially when the timeline for rolling back the restrictions is uncertain. Some of them are stuck in between their transition from (graduating) PhD to postdoctoral position and from postdoctoral position to their independent faculty jobs or other jobs, especially when there is a hiring freeze at many institutions, organizations, and companies across the globe. It is undoubtedly very frustrat- ing for the young, talented, productive researchers to wait for several months to a year to start in their new positions, change their geographical locations often involving overseas travel, and in some cases, waiting to apply for their visas. This serious issue of career calamity and its potential impact has recently been described by Chris Woolston in his Nature article “Junior Researchers Hit by Coronavirus-triggered Hiring Freezes.” During these unusual times, the established aca- demics and close-knit scientific communities perhaps have a lot to contribute. There is a pressing need to recalibrate our expectations, tamp down our academic aspirations, reset out priorities, and support the junior researchers at their existing institutions during the pandemic period. This can be achieved through a coordinated effort at various levels. Below I summarize some of my thoughts on how we can help junior scientists during this pandemic period. Advisors and mentors: As advisors, we can consider extend- ing our support to the graduating and graduated students and postdocs. If possible, the researchers can be reappointed for the next few months to a year until they are able to find their new positions and travel to their new job locations. Of course, this is possible if the PIs have their grants. Institutions: In case the PIs grants have phased out, univer- sities, institutes, and organizations can extend their support in reappointing the students and postdocs for the next few months. Nearly all institutions have their endowment and corpus funds, and maybe this is the time when the institu- tions can use a part of these funds for supporting the junior researchers perhaps by cutting down other recurring costs. In all likelihood, these bridging fellowships may not be very significant in the grand scheme of their annual budgets. Professional societies: Normally, the professional societies do not support research fellowships, with some exceptions. Some of these societies can now try and help junior research- ers during the pandemic period. The societies can consider providing the subsistence cost that is commensurate with the cost of living in the researcher’s country or region. This can be achieved through competition and by using a set of selection criteria. This support will immensely help the young research- ers who are currently stuck at their current institutions. If necessary, the societies can reach out to their members, who have permanent faculty appointments, for voluntary dona- tions towards these bridging fellowships. The junior research- ers are our next-generation scientists and academic leaders, and therefore, we must get together to support them during these unusual times.

July/August 2020

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