BRAINS Symposium

About the BRAINS Program

Retention of highly skilled scientists from diverse and underrepresented groups is critical for creating the diverse leaders of tomorrow needed for innovation in neuroscience. To broaden ideas and perspectives in neuroscience and to continue pushing scientific boundaries, the field needs a diverse array of neuroscientists, particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds.

To encourage greater diversity within neuroscience-related fields, we recently created BRAINS: Broadening the Representation of Academic Investigators in NeuroScience, a national program to accelerate and improve the career advancement of neuroscience postdoctoral researchers and assistant professors from underrepresented groups. The program, newly funded by a R25 grant from NIH's National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), creates unique, life-transforming experiences for participants. The BRAINS program goal is to increase engagement and retention of academic early-career neuroscientists from underrepresented groups by reducing isolation, providing tips, tools, and skills development to prepare for tenure track success, and increasing career self-efficacy. To achieve this goal, the program offers the following components to participants:

• Multi-day professional development symposium, packed with discussions with senior scientist panelists on a wide variety of career topics such as time management, designing a research program, work/life balance, etc.
• Facilitated peer mentoring circles, forums in which participants discuss professional concerns and receive constructive feedback, as well as set realistic personal goals. Facilitated discussions may include topics such as time management, navigating institutional culture, stress and conflict, writing and productivity, and self care.
• Career development consultation process, in which participants engage in self reflection, problem solving, and goal setting with a team of supportive and successful professionals.

While postdoctoral training is the norm in academic science careers, the postdoctoral and early career stages are underserved in the academy in terms of professional development support and access to networking opportunities. With professional development support, however, the postdoctoral and pre-tenure faculty career stages can be viewed as critical target stages where career development support will result in an increase of the representation of underrepresented minorities in neurosciences at the faculty level.