In the early 20th century, neuroscience, like many other sciences, was largely a solitary profession. Many seminal papers had one, or at most two, authors. Obviously things have changed. As a young principal investigator, I came to understand that practicing scientific skills alone was no longer sufficient for student success. Teamwork and collaboration are now essential elements of many neuroscience projects, and specialized skills such as communication and networking are not only beneficial; they are important.
The upcoming Society for Neuroscience (SfN) annual meeting will provide students and early-career researchers with the latter skill: sharing research, exchanging ideas, and making potentially career-shaping connections. It provides a valuable platform for practice. But its scale, with more than 30,000 neuroscientists regularly participating, can be overwhelming even for the most experienced participants. Without guidance, many students can get lost at this conference and not know how to make the most of the opportunities provided.
There is no handbook for conducting a conference of this size, so it is the PI’s responsibility to actively guide students. Teaching them how to attend a conference like SfN is not just about helping them get through the conference, it’s also about empowering them as scientists and professionals. So how do you incorporate teaching these “soft skills” into your lab work?
As a mentor, I choose to prioritize skill building in the lab culture and make sure to set aside time for this. I am the co-founder of Stories of WiN, a media project highlighting the achievements of women in neuroscience. And in a recent episode of our podcast, we shared advice we’ve accumulated over our years of SfN participation, including how to use soft skills to build scientific networks.
In the podcast, we wanted to speak directly to trainees about often-neglected professional skills and provide a resource that young scientists and instructors can refer to in the same way they refer to recorded lectures. One important soft skill is learning how to identify goals that can change over time. Here we’ll show you how to leverage it to navigate SfN.
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We all know that you can’t do everything in SfN. I have to accept that I won’t be able to attend many talks, posters, and networking events, even if they are related to my job. How do you deal with the overwhelming number of options that SfN conferences offer? I propose a simple solution. It’s about setting specific overarching goals. This goal will vary depending on the stage of your career and the context of your research project, but it will help you prioritize which talks, poster sessions, and networking events to attend.
For example, if you’re on the verge of a career change, your primary goal may be to explore future positions. Postdoctoral researchers in the job market or graduate students looking for a postdoctoral lab will want to focus on meeting potential principal investigators and attending networking events. The key here is preparation and planning. Arrange a meeting with interested principal investigators and lab members as far in advance of the conference as possible. If you’re considering changing fields, browse the program in advance to prioritize talks and posters in the field you’re interested in moving to to help you make a decision.
Those initiating new research projects should focus on assessing the field situation to ensure that the planned experiments are novel and methodologically sound. Attending lectures and poster sessions in your field of research can help you learn about the key issues in that field and how your research can contribute to it. On the other hand, if you are finishing up a project, your main goal is to present your research and get feedback from your colleagues on improvements and gaps to address. In this case, practicing and polishing your poster or talk should be your top priority.
Not all goals need to be completely science-centered. For example, an independent researcher may wish to meet with key collaborators or representatives of funding agencies for future grant applications. In this case, SfN is where everyone comes together in person for one-on-one meetings.
The phrase “soft skills” seems to imply that these learned competencies are less tangible and less important. But in fields where the ability to communicate complex ideas and build professional relationships can determine career trajectories, developing these skills in students should be a priority.
Our responsibility as PIs is to ensure that our trainees are not only good scientists, but also competent communicators and networkers. We must find effective ways to convey this knowledge, whether formally addressed in classroom or laboratory meetings, or in casual conversation. While the podcast episodes provide insights based on my own experiences, we all have an obligation to actively share soft skills lessons with the next generation. By learning from our rich and diverse experiences, our mentees can develop into better communicators and the most collaborative generation of neuroscientists ever.
