Mentoring Series: Updating Your (Prior) Beliefs

Update your prior on the struggles of junior academic life, with data from senior researchers sharing their experiences

Background and Motivation

The life of a researcher within an academic career path has a lot of advantages. An academic is often in the position to work on state-of-the-art interesting projects, to form collaborations of their own choice, have a flexible schedule, mentor and inspire junior future generations and more in general make a positive impact on the world.

In spite of all these appealing perks, life in academia can be challenging, especially for early career researchers. Junior researchers are often away from their families and support networks, and are subject to feel the pressure of competitive academic environments. Lack of self-confidence, impostor syndrome and mental health problems are very common in research communities. In the last few years, several studies have shown that mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression, are higher in PhD students compared to other populations [1,2].

The j-ISBA section, committed to promote and support early career researchers, is launching the new seminar series “Updating your (prior) beliefs”, with the aim of providing a safe space for dialogue and guidance. Senior researchers will be invited to share their own experiences and show how they have overcome the setbacks of their academic careers. This seminar series is seeking to remove the stigma against mental health difficulties and to openly talk about topics such as work-life balance, career development, burnout, and mental wellbeing. We aim to provide junior researchers with tools to endure hard times and build their resilience, while assuring them that they do not stand alone.

First mentoring event: panel discussion at BaYSM 2022

The very first event will be a panel discussion held on Wednesday, June 22 during BaYSM 2022, from 5:15 to 6:15pm EDT, at the conference venue, Centre de recherches mathématiques at Université de Montréal. We will be joined by panelists Amy Herring (Duke University), Sylvia Frühwirth-Schnatter (Vienna University of Economics and Business), and Adrian Raftery (University of Washington). All j-ISBA members and BaYSM 2022 attendees are welcome to participant. j-ISBA members who are not able to attend in person can request a full video recording by filling out this request form.