Wednesday, 6 September 2023
Session 2a – 14h00 to 16h00 – Auditorium 1

Panel discussion: Transitions in Career Paths
Career transition experiences of cognitive scientists range from changes across institutions, countries, roles, or work fields. The dynamics of transitions impact not only careers but also personal lives, which can be a challenge both for early career researchers and senior academics. Women in Cognitive Science-Europe invites us to reflect on the opportunities for, and challenges of, making career transitions outside as well as within academia. A panel of cognitive scientists across countries and career stages will draw on their own experiences to discuss how to transfer academic skills to different settings. The panel presentations will be followed by an open discussion with the audience and a speed mentoring session.

Speakers:

• Marilia Carvalho, Science Manager, Center for Psychology, University of Porto, Portugal. 

• Sofía Castro, Jagiellonian University, Krakov, Poland.

• Stravoula Kousta, Chief Editor at Nature Human Behaviour, United Kingdom.

• Vanessa Loaiza, University of Essex, United Kingdom.

Chairs:

• Anna Soveri, University of Turku, Finland.

• María J. Maraver, University of Granada, Spain.

Speed Mentoring & Reception 

As part of this event, we invite you to participate in the WiCS-E speed mentoring. This part of the session will link junior researchers with senior faculty to meet for up to 20 minutes. The timing may allow up to two mentor-mentee sessions, subject to sign-ups. This session will include a coffee reception. WiCS speed mentoring sessions have now taken place at various international meetings (Psychonomic Society in the US and in Europe, APS, ICPS, or ESCOP). There are several ground rules for speed mentoring: 

1.   This is a one-time session (i.e., the mentor is not signing on for a longer-term mentoring relationship). 

2.   The mentee should come up with a specific question or two to guide the session and make the most of it. 

3.   The mentee should send the mentor a CV and the question(s) ahead of time, but not expect that the mentor will have read this information prior to the meeting. 

4.   The information shared during the session is to be kept completely confidential.

Both mentors and mentees from the previous sessions have reported finding the experience to be very useful. This is a program for scientists of all gender identities, for both mentors and mentees.

If you are interested in being a mentor, please complete this MENTOR FORM 

If you are interested in being a mentee, please complete this MENTEE FORM 

All responses should be completed by Monday, 7th August 2023. Note that you may wish to sign up as BOTH a mentor and a mentee. For example, a first-year professor may wish for mentoring around earning permanent positions AND may be positioned well to mentor others about navigating through the stages of the PhD program.

WiCS membership is free and open to scientists of all gender identities. Join WiCS here. 

Contact: wics.europe@gmail.com