Early Career Lecturers in Bioscience

Dr Stephany Veuger wearing pink glasses and a patterned dress. She is smiling at the camera while leaning against the balustrade of a wooden straircase.

For our series of profiles of senior academics, we hear from Dr. Stephany Veuger, Associate Professor (Education) at @northumbriauni.bsky.social. She shares ideas to support early-career researchers in their journeys. To read her profile, join our LinkedIn group: www.linkedin.com/groups/13191...

If like us you are in need of a pick-me-up, take a lunch break and join us for: Wellbeing for Early Career Lecturers on 26.02.26 1-2pm. Join us for an hour of top tips and some live relaxation techniques (including some takeaway short videos for quick breaks). Sign up here: tinyurl.com/ECLBio

Very proud to present, together with @plantteaching.bsky.social, Agnes Uhereczky, @yoselin.bsky.social, Sofie Goormachtig and @mehta-lab.com, our @jxbotany.bsky.social community resource paper on building a diverse and inclusive plant science community 🌱. academic.oup.com/jxb/advance-... (🧵 1/2)

... university from different perspectives & understand how it all works. Also, getting anything done in a university requires personal relationships, so getting to know your colleagues (academic & professional services) is really valuable and makes your professional life much more enjoyable 🧵 11/11

4️⃣ What practical tip or mindset would you share with colleagues who aspire to a successful academic career?
The strategies I have used are to “become indispensable” and to be as collegiate as possible. Get involved with as much as you can, because it can be important to see the... 🧵 10/11

That was a very beneficial programme, and I still use a lot of the techniques that I learned and developed during that programme in my teaching. Also being involved in @rsb.org.uk HUBS Annual Meetings has been very valuable 🧵 9/11

3️⃣ Name the most valuable training, mentoring, or professional-development activities you undertook. What made them useful?
When I started in 2010, I enrolled in our University’s Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (it was called University Teaching at the time). 🧵 8/11

This sent me down a teaching-focused path and a desire to make the most of it that I could. 🧵 7/11

... teaching fellowship at a University that was a commutable distance away. We wouldn’t have been able to relocate, so it would have meant a lot of time away from my family, so I took the teaching fellowship – against the advice of a supervisor for the postdoc I was employed on at the time 🧵 6/11

2️⃣ What one or two key decisions, opportunities or challenges had the biggest impact on the direction of your career?
The largest turning point was the birth of my son and the decision about whether to take a postdoctoral position at a University in a different part of the UK or the... 🧵 5/11

I lead the re-design of our Undergraduate programmes and our School response to COVID. My research focuses on the environmental impacts during early life on animal personalities. I was promoted to Professor of Biological Education in 2022 🧵 4/11

During that time, I lead the creation of a new Ecology course. I joined our Learning & Teaching Committeeas an associate Director for Student Experience and lead on local implementation of a student support model. I was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2016 & became Director of Teaching in 2017 🧵 3/11

1️⃣ Briefly outline your career path to date. Which roles or experiences brought you to your current post?
I was recruited as a Teaching Fellow in 2010 and retained as a Lecturer in Organismal Biology in 2012 🧵 2/11

Prof. Patrick Walsh wearing a warm blue jacket. He is leaning against the railing of a cruise boat. The boat is leaving the docks of a Turshish city on a foggy day.

We continue our series of inspirational profiles of senior academics. They share tips & ideas to support early-career researchers in their journeys. Today, we hear from Prof Patrick Walsh. Prof in Biological Education and Head of Institute of Ecology & Evolution @edinburghbiology.bsky.social 🧵 1/11

We hope you enjoyed this profile! Stay tuned for the next one in February! 🧵 10/10

4️⃣ What practical tip or mindset would you share with colleagues who aspire to a successful academic career?
There are many ways to be a brilliant academic, including ones that don't exist yet. 🧵 9/10

Meeting her and the other brilliant, enthusiastic network members completely illuminated the teaching and scholarship career path for me. Thanks, Momna! 🧵 8/10

.... after reading her case study on the @rsb.org.uk HE Bioscience Teacher of the Year website and asked if she'd mentor me. She invited me to the HUBS Biosummit Education Meeting she was organising that summer. 🧵 7/10

3️⃣ Name the most valuable training, mentoring, or professional-development activities you undertook. What made them useful?
Having had brilliant mentorship through the Gatsby Network, I actively sought a mentor when I started at Sheffield. I bravely cold-called Prof. Momna Hejmadi ... 🧵 6/10

... caring for young children forced me to think more flexibly about what I wanted from my career. I was lucky - when we moved to Sheffield @sheffielduni.bsky.social in 2014, HE was expanding and there were resources to support my ideas and projects. I had freedom to explore. 🧵 5/10

2️⃣ What one or two key decisions, opportunities or challenges had the biggest impact on the direction of your career?
The biggest challenge was a common one: being part of a dual-career academic family. I had my children in my 20s, which is unusual for academics, and the constraints of...🧵 4/10

With little teaching experience, I took a part-time teaching assistant job when my children were young. Turns out I love teaching, and the opportunities within a teaching and scholarship pathway are far broader and more varied than I'd ever imagined. I'm still here, and I still love my job. 🧵 3/10

1️⃣ Briefly outline your career path to date. Which roles or experiences brought you to your current post?
I completed a Gatsby-funded PhD and postdoc in plant genetics at the John Innes Centre and the University of Cambridge @cam.ac.uk before moving to Sheffield for my partner's career. 🧵 2/10

Dr Liz Alvey wearing a dark cardigan, a pink blouse and a beaded coral necklace. She is similing at the camera, standing in front of a window overlooking Firth Court at The University of Sheffield.

🎉 We're launching a series of inspirational profiles of senior academics. They will share tips & ideas that can support early-career researchers in their academic journeys. Today, we will hear from Dr Liz Alvey @lizalvey.bsky.social Senior University Teacher at the @sheffielduni.bsky.social. 🧵 1/10

🎄 ECLBio wishes you all a well-deserved Winter Break! ❄️. It has been a challenging semester for many of us in Higher Education so it is really important to pause and recharge batteries. We will be back in January with a new initiative: inspiring profiles from members of our academic communities ⛄

Fantastic to see one of our committee members being featured in this campaign by @biologists.bsky.social! Well done @apaterlini.bsky.social! Early career lecturers are amazing! ⭐ #100biologists @rsb.org.uk

Lis Bundock

Congratulations to @lisbundock.bsky.social of‬ @uniofbrighton.bsky.social on your #NTFS award! Lis is committed to inclusive and equitable education, focusing on creating accessible teacher training pathways. #NTFS2025 🎉 🎉

Check these useful resources for #NewPIs from @cp-trendsbiochem.bsky.social. Worth a read!

Two researchers, one using a tablet and the other taking notes, are discussing their work in a lab. Text overlay advertises the Royal Society of Chemistry's Researcher Development and Travel Grant, offering up to £500.

Could up to £500 help you take the next step?

Our Researcher Development and Travel Grant is open to PhD students and early career researchers. Use it for conferences, training or scientific meetings.

Apply by 28 July: buff.ly/tIEk7Qu #ChemSky

A quote from Sonya Towers, Ecosystem Manager at Wellcome, who is pictured smiling. The quote reads: "Championing underrepresented researchers is essential to improve the diversity of people leading, participating in and benefiting from science."

Researchers of Black, Bangladeshi or Pakistani heritage in the UK are currently underrepresented in research.  
 
We want to help researchers break through barriers that disproportionately affect them. 
 
That’s where our Accelerator Awards come in. [1/3]