DDA Postdoc Summit Challenge 2022 – The Postdoc Experience

This year, the DDA Postdoc Summit Challenge focuses on the postdoc experience, and how we can improve it for future generations of postdocs. The output will result in six animated videos each tackling a different aspect of challenges facing postdocs.

A postdoc life can be quite a nomadic experience, often lacking a clear direction for where one will end up. As a postdoc, you might work on short-term contracts, on your own, and with no set curriculum. It is a wholly different experience than that of a PhD student. Suddenly, you are expected to become an independent researcher and develop skills to benefit your future career.

This can be exciting and empowering, but also stressful, as it infuses everyday life with a lot of uncertainty. So the question is: Does it have to be this way? And how can we pass on learnings for making these experiences easier for future postdocs?

Within – Together – Beyond

The DDA Postdoc Summit Challenge 2022 revolves around improving the postdoc experience for future postdocs. The challenge focuses on three themes: “Within”, “together”, and “beyond”, each with two subthemes:

WITHIN: Looking inwards and discussing how to improve mental health for postdocs.

• Resilience – Learning to navigate uncertainty and stress
• Work/Life balance – Balancing work and private life in a post-covid world

TOGETHER: Focusing on the scientific community – and how postdocs fit into it.

• Open collaboration – Online research collaborations in a global context
• Mentorship – Teaching whilst still being taught

BEYOND: Looking at how to step out of the unknown future and evolve as an independent researcher.

• Leadership – Postdocs as research leaders
• Strategic networks – Building better networks for bigger impact.

The six groups of postdocs were each given one of these subthemes. The goals were to have the groups reflect on the challenges within the theme, propose how the challenges might be tackled, and provide advice for the next generation on how to navigate the postdoc experience.

Challenge Output – Animated videos

The output for this year’s challenge will be in the form of six animated videos produced in collaboration with animation company Pixanddots.

The videos will be a product of the material, such as scripts and storyboards, provided by the six postdoc groups, and each video will tackle the theme that the group worked on. The animation company will then create animated videos from this material, highlighting the group work done at the summit and, we hope, spark some debate about the different challenges facing postdocs.