But Iweka says that several other nearby laboratories shut down completely during lockdowns to manage the risk of transmission. Her advisor also got access to a nearby vacant laboratory, enabling staff to spread out and maintain adequate distance. This created issues for laboratories trying to manage access to facilities while still complying with public health orders during lockdowns.Ĭhinyere Iweka, a neurology postdoc at Stanford University, says the head of her lab set up a schedule that rotated members in and out of the lab at different times to minimize the risk of SARS-CoV-2 exposure. ![]() “What the pandemic has done is to reveal fissures that were already in the structure,” she says, describing postdocs as an “invisible part of the research enterprise.”ĭespite the pandemic, research continued, particularly where grant-associated deadlines had to be met. Having played a key role in the creation of the National Postdoctoral Association in 2002, Malcolm is well acquainted with the hardships encountered during this phase of one’s scientific career. The challenges that postdocs are now dealing with come as no surprise to Shirley Malcolm, senior advisor to the CEO of AAAS and director of the AAAS’s SEA Change initiative for equity and diversity in STEMM. International postdocs have struggled with visa difficulties and border closures parents juggled childcare and remote learning and anyone involved in research that could not be done remotely weighed their personal safety against the possible career consequences of staying home. No longer students yet not faculty either, they faced low pay, lack of job security and power, little dedicated institutional support, and a highly competitive career path.ĬOVID-19-associated public health measures have thrown further complications into the mix. One in ten had delayed their job search, one-third had changed their career plans because of the pandemic, and compared with previous survey results, many more postdocs reported being unemployed.Įven before COVID-19 emerged, postdocs were arguably a neglected group in the hierarchy of academia. The survey also showed nearly one-third of postdocs said the pandemic had greatly affected their mental health. “We all understand that we don’t make a lot of money as a postdoc, but I’ve always been able to live comfortably.” Just over one-third of survey respondents said they weren’t able to meet their basic needs in terms of childcare, healthcare-particularly mental health support-food, and transportation. ![]() “The thing that was most shocking was the number of postdocs who struggled with basic needs during this time,” says coauthor Britney Helling, previously a postdoc in human genetics at the University of Chicago and now a senior scientist at AbbVie. The results, which have not yet undergone peer review, were eye-opening, even to the postdocs who conducted the research and were familiar with how global spread of SARS-CoV-2 had upended many plans.
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