Overcoming the Obstacles Faced by Early Career Researchers in Marine Science: Lessons From the Marine Ecosystem Assessment for the Southern Ocean

• Published in: Frontiers in Marine Science
• Main Authors: Brasier, Madeleine J., McCormack, Stacey, Bax, Narissa, Caccavo, Jilda A., Cavan, Emma, Ericson, Jessica A., Figuerola, Blanca, Hancock, Alyce M., Halfter, Svenja, Hellessey, Nicole G., Höfer, Juan, Puskic, Peter S., Soares de Oliveira, César, Subramaniam, Roshni C., Wallis, Jake, Weldrick, Christine K.
• Other Authors: Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre (Australia), Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (España), National Science Foundation (US), Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico (Chile), Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica (Chile), Natural Environment Research Council (UK), University of Tasmania, Australian Research Council, Agencia Estatal de Investigación (España)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media 2020
• Subjects: ECR; Mentorship; Diversity and inclusion; Polar science; Interdisciplinarity; Antarctic; Cierva; Pew; Southern Ocean; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10261/221925; https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2020.00692; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100002848; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100002850; https://doi.org/10.13039/100000001; https://doi.org/10.13039/100005156; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100000270; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100000923; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100011033

Marine Ecosystem Assessment for the Southern Ocean: Meeting the Challenge for Conserving Earth Ecosystems in the Long Term.-- 9 pages, 1 figure, 1 table, supplementary material https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2020.00692/full#supplementary-material.-- All datasets presented in this study are included in the article/Supplementary Material Pressure in academia and science is rapidly increasing and early career researchers (ECRs) have a lot to gain from being involved in research initiatives such as large international projects. But just how inclusive are they? Here we discuss experiences of ECRs directly involved in the Marine Ecosystem Assessment for the Southern Ocean (MEASO), an Australian led international research project to assess the status and trends of Southern Ocean ecosystems. We review the benefits of ECR involvement in large-scale initiatives to the project deliverables, the leadership team and ECRs themselves. Using insights from MEASO, we outline the obstacles that may become barriers to ECRs in scientific research in general but with a focus on large-scale research projects and suggest potential actions to overcome these at the individual, institutional and scientific community level. We consider the potential for ECRs to lead future Antarctic science programmes with a focus on science communication and applied research for policy makers within a global setting MB, CW, and SM were supported by the Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre and PEW Charitable Trusts. JC acknowledged the support from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in the form of a Humboldt Research Fellowship for Postdoctoral Researchers. BF was supported by a postdoctoral contract Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación (IJCI-2017-31478) of Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades. NH was funded by the NSF grant (Award #: 1840927) under a postdoctoral contract at Georgia Institute of Technology, United States. JH was funded through FONDECYT (POSTDOCTORADO 3180152) and CONICYT ...