Life after the thesisI own a website and blog called From PhD to Life. I started the site nearly a year after my PhD defense. It has chronicled my journey since then, as well as provided a platform for sharing the stories of others who’ve transitioned from graduate school to something other than a tenure-track position. Readers of…

Top tweets from the International and European Associations CongressEarlier this month, we attended the 14th International and European Associations Congress hosted in picturesque Lausanne, Switzerland. The conference was held over two days and promised to provide insights and methods to tackle some of the most challenging issues currently facing societies and associations. The conference certainly delivered as we heard some excellent case studies and…

Membership across the generations: a personal viewThe recent Wiley Membership Survey posed some interesting questions for me to ponder as I look at our membership strategy for The Physiological Society. As a learned society that publishes, membership subscriptions comprise only 3% of our income. Coming here, just a year ago, from a membership function in a financial professional body where subscriptions…

Five tips to help editors find the best reviewersIt is obvious that having the best, most qualified, most diligent reviewers is desirable both for guiding editor’s decisions and giving authors feedback. Finding the best reviewers, however, can be a real challenge. Editors, being experts in their fields, will already have a number of contacts in their areas that they can call on, but…

Are scientific collaboration networks advancing research?What social network do researchers use more than Twitter, Google+, Facebook or LinkedIn, and almost as much as Google Scholar? The answer, which may come as a surprise to everyone but researchers themselves, is ResearchGate. The company, founded in 2008, has over 6 million registered users and a high level of user engagement. Whereas ResearchGate…

Finding time to publish as a medical student: 6 tips for successSince I started medical school in August 2014, there has been a continuing battle for my time. Didactic lectures, independent coursework, clinical skills training, specialty interest groups, community service requirements, the list goes on and on. In addition, my classmates and I are encouraged to engage in extracurricular activities that contribute to our professional development…

How to distinguish yourself with ORCiDHave you ever been asked to list your work? The following scenarios possibly sound familiar… • Your funding organization wants to review your past work before making an award • Your institution needs you to provide a list of work before your promotion review • Potential collaborators are struggling to find if you’re the correct person for their…

Three reasons to time-log, even if you don't have toDo you ever reach the end of a busy workday and wonder where your time went? I used to. Usually, I would feel like I’d worked every minute of the day, but I would still have so much to do. What did I spend all my time doing? One day, I decided to find out.…

What's the new big picture? We're humans first.It started before my flight even took off from Boston’s Logan airport. Scanning the news stand, I spotted the Time Magazine headline: "What happened to vacation in America?" It was no shock of course, but I immediately picked it up and took a quick look inside. It reaffirmed what we all already know: our professional lives have…

Leveraging the power of your brand through learningWith the ongoing pressure societies and membership organizations face to retain and recruit new members, it’s very important to stand out from the crowd. In a previous blog ‘Meeting the eLearning needs of Generation Y’ my colleague, Trina Cody, highlighted the significance of Millennials and how without acknowledging the learning preferences of this largest generational…