Junior Faculty at the Karolinska Institute

One of the toughest transitions that a scientist makes is from being a postdoc to becoming a junior faculty member. To ease this transition, the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, last year launched Junior Faculty, a programme targeted at junior researchers with a PhD. The aim is to provide the tools that will allow these scientists to succeed in their careers. To meet this goal, the programme offers mentoring, career counselling, courses and networking opportunities.

One of the big challenges is reaching the programme's target group — the Karolinska Institute's 28 departments are quite widely spread out, both physically and thematically. In addition, researchers in the target group are often reasonably ‘invisible’ as they have no formal positions and so aren't always on the personnel registers.

The solution to this was to create an information network with an ‘ambassador’ at each department. The ambassadors will identify the target group within their department, spread information about Junior Faculty activities and meet with the other ambassadors to plan events and raise issues.

At the Center for Surgical Sciences, for example, ambassador Olav Rooyackers is arranging a series of workshops on funding issues. Another ambassador, Zarina Kabir at the Neurotec Department, has brought junior researchers together to talk about career paths. So far these discussions have resulted in an initiative to create a structured career plan for the younger scientists in the department.

The Junior Faculty programme has also contributed to the restart of a passive network at the Karolinska Institute, WISE — Women In Science. More than 40 women took part in the first meeting and the activities within the network will include scientific meetings, seminars and lobbying.

Networks can provide a forum for the discussion of common interests and provide support to researchers for their everyday work. They also act as a forum for the exchange of ideas. Regular dialogue between researchers from different parts of the university can form the basis for constructive new thinking and favourable personal development. It could even result in you meeting your next collaborator or someone to publish with.

→ http://www.ki.se/juniorfaculty