Sunset in Stewart Park, Ithaca

How can research labs mentor post-docs to grow their leadership, equipping them to build influential, inclusive, and flourishing endeavors that serve society?

In academia, post-docs are typically opportunities for a recent PhD graduate to work with a mentor before launching the next part of their journey as a professor or whatever else they choose to take on. This period, which can be as little as one year and grow much longer can also be a very difficult time when people land in positions that see them as workers rather than invest in their growth.

Here at CAT Lab, we are committed to supporting the next generation of leaders to envision their impact and build the skills and networks they need to thrive— especially scholars who are excited about innovative forms of publicly-engaged research and action. That’s why we have been thrilled to work with Dr. Avriel Epps as a Civic Science Fellow this year supported by the Rita Allen Foundation.

While Avriel and I *are* collaborating on some exciting projects (details TBD), we also wanted to make sure to time to support her development as a leader and scholar (though frankly, I just feel lucky to be along for the ride of someone so capable and accomplished). At CAT Lab, that means joining the community and sharing in the reciprocity of expertise with others in the lab. Avriel and I also developed a syllabus of conversations that will run parallel to our collaborations. This shared plan gives us a chance to be clear about the conversations we want to have and the things we want to learn from each other. If you’re a postdoc advisor or post-doc, I encourage you to create something similar for your time together.

For those who are curious, here’s a list of the topics we’re discussing this year. If you have suggestions for readings and prompts for some of the later discussions, let us know!

Conversation 1: What difference in the world could Avriel achieve through scholarship, and what would it take to accomplish that

  • Choose and analyze three labs for the way they contribute to the world through scholarship and public engagement. (for example, the Civic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research or aChord)
  • For each lab, If we had to summarize a theory of change for their scholarship, what would it be? 
  • What institutions and positions of power do they hold on the basis of their scholarship (rather than other things) ?
  • What would happen in the areas of practice they care about if their scholarship didn’t exist?
  • For their theory of change, how important is it that their work becomes famous or well-known by other academics?

Conversation 2: Public, culture-facing work in scholarship- how to strategically make use of that

Conversation 3: Full-Cycle Research as a way to link theory and action

Conversation 4: Funding labs over the long arc and maintaining a healthy lifestyle

  • In this conversation, we will discuss the challenge of generating sustainable funding amidst boom-bust cycles, especially as under-represented minority faculty.

Conversation 5: Writing, Publishing, and Finding your Scholarly Community

  • In this brainstorming session, we will reflect on the different audiences of interdisciplinary scholars and how to navigate them, with the goal of identifying long-term conversation partners.

Conversation 6: Writing and publishing techniques

  • In this conversation, we will discuss how to imagine and write for general scientific audiences in journals such as Nature, PNAS, Science, etc, the pros/cons of publishing with predatory journals that are nonetheless high prestige, and alternative publishing strategies.

Conversation 7: Models for integrating activism / publicly engaged work with scholarship, either within a university or outside

Conversation 8: Personal Branding & Networking For The Job Market

Conversation 9: Creating a Diverse, Inclusive Lab Within Broken Institutions and Cultures