The Doc Report - January 2017

The OPA is excited to announce that event materials and recordings are now available on its website via the following link: Past Events

Event materials and recordings will be posted the week following events for which they are available.

By Leah Colvin │ Office of Postdoctoral Affairs

Employers are increasingly taking advantage of the convenience and low cost of technology during the hiring process. Where hiring managers in past decades may have used in-person conference or first-round interviews, today’s job hunt is likely to involve an online interview to narrow down the field of candidates for just a handful of in-person interviews.

Online interviews can take a variety of forms, from individual or panel Skype interviews to video interviews where candidates answer written questions without the involvement of an interviewer (for example, CU Boulder uses HireVue). Because of their ubiquity, it is important to become familiar with and practice for your virtual interviews.

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By Maggie Kuo │ Science Careers

We know that postdoc career anxiety is very real. There are many more Ph.D. holders seeking tenure-track faculty jobs than available positions. Other trainees, realizing that academia isn’t the right fit for them, are grappling with tough questions such as, “What do I do now?” and “How do I get there?” Making a big career shift can seem daunting, but it’s possible—and it can lead to satisfaction and success. Here, five former postdocs now working in nonresearch careers describe how they used their postdoc time to figure out where they wanted to go, and to build the requisite skills and connections to make the move.

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Science is a process best shared. But often in biomedical research, the colleagues we want to work with or the equipment we want to train on are spread out around the country or around the world ? and funding isn?t always flexible to allow for these exploratory, enriching collaborations.

The Burroughs Wellcome Fund can help you make that trip: we are once again offering our Collaborative Research Travel Grants (CRTG) for biomedical researchers. The grant provides up to $15,000 for domestic or international travel to visit labs at other institutions to learn new research techniques, or to begin or continue research collaboration.

CTRG funds can be applied towards airfare, accommodations, meals, ground transportation, and other travel expenses ? as well as lab supplies and other material expenses required for the visit.

The grant is open to faculty members, researchers, and trainees - including postdocs and fellows - in biomedical sciences, who are citizens or permanent residents of the United States or Canada, and are hosted at a degree-granting institution in the United States or Canada. Researchers with doctorate-level training in the physical, mathematical, or engineering sciences are especially encouraged to apply. Applications are due on February 1, 2017.

The Burroughs Wellcome Fund understands that the best brainstorms and innovations happen when researchers can collaborate and share ideas in person. We want you to go visit a colleague - and grow your skills, your collaboration, and your career. Meet up and make science happen.

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The Dan David Prize awards scholarships to doctoral and post-doctoral researchers, carrying out research in one of the selected fields for the current year. Registered doctoral and post-doctoral researchers who study at recognized universities throughout the world, and whose research has been approved, are eligible to apply.

The Dan David Prize laureates annually donate twenty scholarships of US$15,000 each to outstanding doctoral students and post-doctoral researchers of exceptional promise in the chosen fields for the current year. Ten scholarships are awarded to students at universities throughout the world and ten scholarships to students at Tel Aviv University .

The Dan David Prize scholarships are granted according to merit, without discrimination based on gender, race, religion, nationality, or political affiliation.

The deadline for receipt of scholarship applications is March 10, 2017. 

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