Biophysical Society Bulletin | September 2021

Career Development

ScientistsWorking Abroad and Research in a New Era

NAS Award in Molecular Biology This award recognizes a recent notable discovery by a young scientist. It is presented with a medal and a $25,000 prize. Who can apply: The award is limited to young scientists, which is defined as those who are no older than 45 years old. Only citizens of the United States are eligible. Na- tional Academy of Sciences membership is not required. Self-nominations are not accepted. Deadline: October 4 Website: http:/www.nasonline.org/programs/awards/ molecular-biology.html With the ongoing dynamic pandemic landscape, here are some suggestions and resources for getting back on track, staying motivated, and being productive. • Communicate with other scientists: if you are a young investigator, postdoc, or graduate student, communicate with colleagues and others in your department frequently. • Join a journal club: if a journal club in your area of research does not exist, why not create one either virtually or in-person in accordance with your local governance safety guidelines? This will allow you and others to keep up to date with the latest research in your field. • “Research in progress” chalk talks: regularly presenting your research is great practice for future interviews and communicating your research. It also allows you to con- nect with others regularly. • Scientific society blogs and online events: the Biophysical Society (BPS) and other societies have blogs for connect- ing scientists from around the world. View the BPS Blog at www.biophysics.org/blog. BPS also has a database of recorded webinars for career advice and education at www.biophysics.org/webinars. • Conferences: many societies, including BPS, have announced remote and in-person conferences in 2022. Another change is that employers, institutions, and govern- ments have adopted a hybrid working environment to ensure safe working conditions. Check with your local government agencies for the latest guidelines as these are updated fre- quently. — Molly Cule

According to one survey conducted in 2018, more than 80% of European re- searchers have lived and worked abroad at some time during their careers (Pain, Elisabeth. 2018. “Considering going abroad for work? Recent research can help you weight the pros and cons.” Science , November 30. doi:10.1126/ science.caredit.aaw2382). Researchers who took the survey expressed the pos-

Grants & Opportunities Alexander Hollaender Award in Biophysics This award is presented every three years and carries with it a $20,000 prize to recognize outstanding contribu- tions made to the field of biophysics. Who can apply: International nominees are eligible, and National Academy of Sciences membership is not re- quired. Self-nominations are not accepted. Deadline: October 4 Website: http:/www.nasonline.org/programs/awards/ alexander-hollaender-award.html itive impact and productivity their experiences created. Among the benefits of working abroad were new collaborations, the inspiration of new ideas, and developing skills. Researchers reported publishing more papers and making discoveries that they continued studying well beyond their time abroad. Fur- thermore, roughly 40% reported finding a new job as a result of their experience. Despite the many benefits to working abroad, the recent pandemic gave reason to pause and reconsider. The COVID pandemic not only impacted teaching paradigms, it also affected scientific research and experiments. While the internet allowed a somewhat seamless transition of commu- nication for mentoring and collaborations, the practicality of running certain experiments and collecting data was abruptly interrupted. This posed an opportunity to carefully reassess research aims and experiments to determine whether alterna- tive approaches could be used such as in silico or model-based platforms. While some research was amenable to a more im- mediate shift away from the bench, certain research required ongoing experiments in the laboratory.

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