NEWS FROM WORKING GROUPS
MEET ARATHI KIZHEDATH, CHAIR OF THE MCAA CAREER WORKING GROUP
Arathi Kizhedath is the Chair of the Career Development Working Group. We met her to find
out more about the group’s past and future activities.
ABOUT ARATHI KIZHEDATH
I am an early stage researcher at Newcastle University within the EU H2020 Innovative Training Network BIORAPID. I was a founding member of the Career Development Working Group within the Alumni Curie Alumni Association; it aims to provide transversal skills to researchers for more holistic development. I am an active advocate of science without barriers and boundaries and firmly believe that collaboration is the way forward.
I graduated from Wageningen University and Research Center, the Netherlands (MSc.ir) and VIT University, India (BTech). I have also volunteered with several public engagement platforms, such as Soapbox Science and theNational Indian Students and Alumni Union (NISAU), and I have been both the RA representative on the Equality and Diversity committee at Newcastle University and a student representative at Wageningen University.
ACTIVITIES WITHIN THE MCAA
As a founder member of the MCAA’s Career Development Group, I have been actively involved in its activities, as well as that of the MCAA in general in various capacities. I have represented the MCAA in a collaborative initiative with jobs.ac.uk for early stage career development webinars, e-books and articles, and I contributed to the MCAA’s representation at the Vitae Researcher Development International Conference 2017.
I am also currently involved in the administration of Oxford EPIGEUM courses, in the capacity of MCAA Career development Working Group. I am also an active member and contributor to the MCAA Indian Chapter. Being associated with the MCAA for the last two years has been an incredible learning experience for me, especially for my professional growth. It gave me immense pride to be a part of and to contribute to this organisation, and this was my impetus to apply for the Chair position.
CHANGE IN ORGANISATION STRUCTURE
The Working Group now has a new structure for management of various activities. The current team and distribution of activities are as follows.
RECENT ACTIVITIES
Career day at Heidelberg:
Brian Cahill and Juliane Sauer were speakers at an event hosted by the German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg. Prof. Stefan Hell, the only Marie Curie Fellow to win a Nobel Prize, was the plenary speaker.
Brian Cahill and Juliane Sauer at the Career day, German Cancer Centre Heidelberg, Germany
Designation Member
Chair Arathi Kizhedath
Vice Chair (Operations) Fran Cardells
Vice Chair (Funding and fellowships) Juliane Sauer
Vice Chair (Strategic partnerships) Brian Cahill
Vice Chair (Networking) Maria Antonietta Buccheri
Vice Chair (MCAA Academy) Francesco Grassi
Communications and events Sajid Mohammed
Epigeum Courses Pablo Tomatis
Brian Cahill was invited to the EURAXIND project meeting in the Netherlands.. EURAXIND is a new project bringing together seven partners and seven third-parties from the EURAXESS Service Network with the aim of increasing industry participation in EURAXESS services. It will develop resources to support researchers and institutions as they seek to increase industry and research collaboration opportunities, and for institutions and industry promoting these opportunities.
Brian Cahill and Juliane Sauer at the Career day, German Cancer Centre Heidelberg, Germany
Arathi Kizhedath was a panellist on the 60-minute live video ‘Alternative Career Pathways After Your PhD’ organised by jobs.ac.uk. The webinar had over 2.5k views, and can be viewed at: https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=xkilCq1d7fY.
Arathi Kizhedath contributed to two e-books published by jobs.ac.uk
‘PhD employability: Career pathways and recruiter insights’. This e-book is a summary of the special interest session run by jobs. ac.uk at the Vitae International Conference 2017 (http://www.jobs. ac.uk/careers-advice/resources/ ebooks-and-toolkits/phd-employa bility-career-pathways-and-recruiter-insights).
‘Alternative Career Pathways After Your PhD: An essential checklist’ (http://www.jobs.ac.uk/careers-advice/resources/ebooks-and-toolkits/alternative-career-pathways-after-your-phd)
The Career Development Working Group session at MCAA GA 2018 was attended by more than 100 participants and was the most popular parallel session of GA2018.
• Dirk Haaksman (Euraxess, Nuffic, the Netherlands) spoke about intersectoral mobility of researchers;
• Frans Cardells (Salesforce, UK) spoke about preparing for career transitions;
• Arathi Kizhedath (Newcastle University, UK) spoke about career development planning during a fellowship
A careers panel was organised by the WG at the MCAA UK Chapter Annual General Meeting 2018: The session was attended by more than 60 participants. This was chaired by Arathi Kizhedath and the panel brought together:
• Michael Browne, Head of European Research and Innovation, UCL;
• Dominika Bijos, Instructional Designer, Medical writer, Delta Kn;
• Chance Coughenour, Program Manager, Google Cultural Institute;
• Mattias Björnmalm, Lead coordinator of qBioNano, Imperial College London;
• Cleo Kontoravdi, Reader in Biosystems Engineering, Imperial College London.
Fran Cardell (Salesforce UK) gets the audience thinking about their mission statement for career development. Dirk Haaksman (Euraxess, the Netherlands) shares insights from the EURAXIND project highlighting trends in intersectoral mobility.
Ex-CDWG chair Adel Pastor was behind the design of the MCAA 2017 survey. The results will be disseminated by the CDWG.
Brian Cahill attended the International Organisations Career Fair in Berlin on 3 March 2018. The event was run by the German Foreign Office and Brian was able to contact potential sponsors of the GA in Vienna, such as EMBL, EPSO and WIPO.
PLANNED ACTIVITIES FOR 2018
Still to come: a major career event, the MCAA GA 2019, two confirmed sessions at ESOF, a grant writing webinar, collaborative events with external partners and MCAA chapters/WGs. We look forward to feedback and ideas from all MCAA members!
MESSAGE FOR MCAA MEMBERS
First, I would like to thank everyone for their continued contribution and participation in the Career Development Working Group so far. I would also like to thank Adel Pastor for her contributions as the previous Chair of this Working Group, and for organising an excellent survey which attracted more than 5 000 participants. The Career Development Working Group has been attracting a large audience (over 100 participants at the GA 2018) and we believe we can make a positive contribution, ensuring that this aspect of the MCAA shines through and benefits MCAA members as well as a wider audience! It will also facilitate continued support for the comprehensive development of researcher profiles as well as prepare for a transition to alternative careers.
The following priorities will guide our future activities:
• Uncovering career development
needs;
• Maximising development opportunities;
• Amplifying strategic partnerships;
• Unleashing community engagement;
• Boosting mindshare outside of academia.
We champion the value of scientists outside of academia and strive to boost versatile employment opportunities. Our contribution to the MCAA mission will be in:
• developing a career development platform for researchers and scientists (from life sciences, engineering and social sciences) to bring in dedicated help and expertise for career pathways;
• strategic alliances with external sponsors such as jobs.ac.uk, OxygenEUm and other firms/consultancies to develop dedicated career guides and bring sponsorships via career events;
• alliances with other Working Groups and Chapters for high impact events – activities have already been initiated;
• dedicated workshops and courses for members to develop transversal skills and use MCAA for facilitating professional growth;
• increasing the global impact and presence of the MCAA.
With a dedicated team and valuable contributions from the WG members, we look forward to taking the activities of the CDWG to greater heights!
(Top left) Arathi Kizhedath (Newcastle University) presenting how to make the best of career planning during the fellowship period. (Top right) Ex MCAA chair and CDWG founding member Brian Cahill introducing the panel members. (Bottom panel) Career Development Working Group at the MCAA GA 2018 parallel session
(Top left panel) The MCAA UK Chapter Annual General Meeting 2018. (Top right panel) Arathi Kizhedath introducing the career sessions panel (from the left): Cleo Kontaravdi, Chance Coughenour, Dominika Bijos, Michael Browne and Mattias Björnmalm. (Bottom Panel) Culmination of the session and summarising the career tips provided by the panellists.