Are you a neuroscience fan who is an early career trainee from an underrepresented population? Like Seattle? Want some awesome FREE training? Than we have the program for you! The Brain Sciences Foundation is offering an AWESOME chance to talk about setting up your research team, writing grants and staying on point and sane in the pretenure years. This is one of the Fighty Squirrel’s favorite programs with real world advice and great follow up for trainees.

Seattle is Not Unpleasant.

Here’s the 4-1-1 and be sure you let folks know that the Brain Sciences Foundation is accepting applications from a broad swath of underrepresented groups including folks with disabilities, so be sure you check these awesome programs out.

———————————–

The BRAINS program goal is to increase engagement and retention of academic early-career neuroscientists from underrepresented groups through cohort-based community development and access to tips, tools, and skills development to prepare for tenure track success. The program is designed to increase participants’ career self-efficacy, sense of belonging to neuroscience and help them thrive in their careers.

To achieve this goal, the program offers two participant pathways: BRAINS Fellows and BRAINS Affiliates. BRAINS Fellows attend a multi-day professional development symposium packed with discussions with senior scientists’ panelists on a wide variety of career topics such as time management, designing a research program, work/life balance, thriving as scientists from an underrepresented group etc. and participate in ongoing facilitated peer mentoring circles. The BRAINS Fellows Symposium will be held September 28 – October 1, 2017 on Bainbridge Island, just a short ferry ride from downtown Seattle, WA.  BRAINS Affiliates are invited to series of three interactive webinars addressing core BRAINS curriculum topics (e.g., time management, mentoring, and thriving as a scientist from an underrepresented group) and ongoing facilitated peer mentoring circles. The BRAINS Affiliates program will begin in October 2017.

BRAINS participants are early career Ph.D. scientists in neuroscience-related fields from underrepresented groups, including racial and ethnic minorities and people with disabilities. Early career includes postdoctoral researchers, assistant professors, assistant research professors, and other pre-tenure level science positions.

Applications will be accepted through May 22, 2017.

You can learn more about the BRAINS program and access our application by visiting our website (www.BRAINS.washington.edu). You may also be interested in reading our recent papers, Learning to Thrive: Building diverse scientists’ access to community and resources through the BRAINS program, in CBE Life Sciences Education (http://www.lifescied.org/content/15/3/ar49.full) and in Neuron (http://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(17)30293-3). You can also find us on Twitter @BRAINSbites.  Feel free to contact us with any questions you might have (brains@u.washington.edu).

About the Author

Screen Name

Fighty Squirrel, PhD, Awe.Some.

About Me

The Fighty Squirrel is very thin pseud for a molecular and cellular neurobiology type who runs a lab studying neurodegeneration. She is mother to a 14yo half child/half honey badger and 16yo half child/half border collie and a Reviewing Editor at Journal of Neuroscience. She also sort of a badass at air hockey. She speaks for herself unless her employer likes it, in which case it's patented.