YOUNG RESEARCHERS. You have received your PhD but you don’t have a permanent position as a researcher yet – join Future Faculty. It is completely free and there are no requirements for membership, and at the same time Future Faculty can do a lot for you and other young researchers.
Future Faculty has been at Sahlgrenska Academy since 2006. Although the organization has approximately 250 members, they know there are many young researchers that they do not reach.
Marie Kalm, who is one of the two chairpersons of Future Faculty, explained how they were recently commissioned by the Dean to examine the prerequisites for a new program that could make it easier for young scientists to qualify for associate professorships.
“There are no central mailing list that we can use, but we must find ways to reach people ourselves. In this case, we went beyond our own list of members and turned to more senior researchers to get a picture of the interests of young scholars regarding the proposed associate professor program. It would be much better if we could contact the young researchers directly,” she said.
It is particularly difficult to reach younger, clinically active researchers, said Elisabet Jerlhag Holm, Future Faculty’s other chairperson:
“We don’t have any numbers on how many young clinical researchers there are, or how many people go on to postdoctoral fellowships. The more members we can get, the stronger the voice we could be for young researchers.”
Free and easy
Membership in Future Faculty is free of charge and requires no commitment from the member’s side. It is easy to become a member by sending a email tofuturefaculty@sahlgrenska.gu.se.
Future Faculty works both locally and at the national level to highlight issues affecting young researchers. At Medicinareberget, the organization has regular meetings with faculty management, and organizes several seminars on how to write a good application, how to improve a CV and other things that are good for those who want to establish an academic career. The seminars also create networks between young researchers in different parts of the Academy.
Perhaps a joint university research council
Future Faculty is now actively working within the university to help young researchers from other faculties organize themselves in similar ways. In the long run, Future Faculty hopes that all faculties will have similar organizations which can unite in a joint university research council for young researchers, something the president is in favor of.
On the national level, Sahlgrenska Academy’s Future Faculty is included in the umbrella organization National Junior Faculty, who have been invited to provide input for the research policy budget bill and whose work has already influenced the National Research Council to introduce a new level of consolidation in their appropriation forms.
“Not all researchers can have stable employment, and it is not something we are working for. But young researchers need to be more visible, and so we need to be able to reach out to more of them and get a better idea of who they are,” said Elisabet.
Sponsored by faculty
In October, counterparts of Future Faculty from across the country will gather in Gothenburg, when the annual meeting of National Junior Faculty will be held at Medicinareberget.
“The definitions of the requirements that are applied in order for assistant professors to be promoted to full professors is an important discussion that is going on in the National Junior Faculty, and it is one of several topics that will be raised at the meeting that we are presiding over,” said Marie.
There are, of course, opportunities for those who want to get involved. Future Faculty’s steering group participates in various groupings and works actively with many issues that are important to young researchers. Future Faculty is sponsored by the faculty through the financing of a portion of wages for the chairpersons, as well as contributions to seminars and assistance with national junior faculty joint meetings.
http://sahlgrenska.gu.se/english/research/future_faculty
