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Supporting early-career researchers

Whether you’re a student, a postdoc or a new PI, the early stages of a research career often present a pressure to publish papers, grow your connections and engage in informal scientific activities to continuously promote yourself and your work.

We’re a publishing company made up of scientists, so we understand the intricacies of life as an early-career researcher (ECR). We believe that, as our future leaders in biology, it is vital to provide you with the right support during these early stages of your academic career.

Alongside our five journals, we offer a number of practical ways to help you meet the unique needs and challenges you may encounter as an ECR.

Grow your network

Apply for one of our grants to help you make new connections within the scientific community.

  • Receive up to £3,000 to make a collaborative visit to another lab with a Travelling Fellowship.
  • Apply for a DMM Conference Travel Grant to receive up to £600 to attend in-person and virtual events that relate to the scope of the journal.
  • Apply for financial support as an organiser of a large, small, in-person or virtual event in the fields covered by our journals.
  • Attend conferences around the world thanks to funded grants that we offer through our affiliated scientific societies.
  • Apply for a funded early-career place to sit side-by-side with leading experts in a given field at one of our Workshops. These offer the chance to interact with leaders in your field, on an equal footing. Some of our past Workshops have even been proposed and hosted by ECRs.
  • Attend our Journal Meetings to discuss relevant and challenging topics that go on to shape the field and our journals.

Join the community

Online communities are a powerful way to keep the conversation going no matter where you are. They offer an opportunity to promote your work and expand your network globally, allowing interactions with people you might not usually meet face-to-face.

  • Join 200+ ECRs over on preLights to highlight the latest preprints in your field, build confidence in your scientific writing and interact with preprint authors.
  • Freely contribute to the Node and FocalPlane, our community sites that serve developmental biologists and microscopists with discussion threads, jobs, event listings, resources and beautiful images.
  • Follow us on WeChat where we are building a community of Chinese researchers.
  • If you’re a new PI, or looking to make the transition to independence soon, check out Development’s Transitions in Development series.
  • Hear from new PIs as they share their personal experiences of setting up their own lab in Journal of Cell Science’s Cell Scientists to Watch series.

Maximise your impact

Let us help you spread the word about your exciting research.

Raise your profile

We understand that the published paper is just part of your research journey and we want to help you tell the whole story.

Stories from the community

Find company news, stories from grants recipients and plenty more over on our Stories.

Engaging Chinese biologists with WeChat

Scan the QR code to find us on WeChat and find out how we’re using the channel to engage Chinese researchers.

Can you benefit from our Read & Publish initiative?

With over 250 institutions in more than 20 countries and six library consortia now participating, find out if you can benefit from our Read & Publishing initiative.

Mole

Have you recently set up your own lab? About to take the plunge? Read the cartoon series full of tips,  advice and wise words, in typical Mole style.

What ECRs say

“I would like to praise Biology Open for featuring ‘First Person’ interviews in their journal. This is a great way to foster early-career scientists.”

Roberta Azzarelli, a first author in Biology Open.

 

Why apply for a funded place at one of our Workshops?


Visit our journal websites

Development Journal of Cell Science The Journal of Experimental Biology Disease Models & Mechanisms Biology Open

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