The reasons are many, and often nuanced. But one significant factor is the lack of career development support for ECRs. With so many PhDs and postdocs in the system, and so few PI positions, competition is fierce. To successfully navigate this transition demands not only a strong track record of publications (this is in fact a bare minimum requirement…), the other ‘rules of the game’ must be addressed. For instance, to be competitive, you should have a track record of bringing in money (even if small amounts), collaborations beyond your group (ideally international), and a vision beyond your research proposal. 

These rules are not obvious to most ECRs. Those of us who have successfully navigated the postdoc to PI transition have often benefited from unofficial mentorship. Such mentorship is not equally available to all, however, partly due to a lack of senior female role models, in addition to systemic and often unconscious biases. For instance, fellowships tend to be awarded to those with several years of postdoctoral research experience, which often coincides with when women have children. It makes what should be a flexible and rewarding career trajectory seem insurmountable to many. 

I feel strongly that there is insufficient support available to ECRs to craft a competitive fellowship application. It is also clear that, to address the ‘gender leaky pipeline’ in academic STEM, talented female ECRs deserve this extra support as a matter of urgency. The Chapelgarth Women in STEM Writing Retreat was my attempt to address this need. 

A group of 11 Women in STEM from University of Manchester drove up the M1 (thanks train strikes!) shortly before Christmas for a wintery retreat at Chapelgarth. These women were selected based on their goals of applying for competitive fellowships in the near future, and so those with a year or more postdoctoral experience were prioritised. Prior to the retreat, I had set up a Slack Workspace so we could all introduce ourselves. This also became valuable when we realised there would be train strikes and we’d need to car share…

Once at Chapelgarth and sufficiently caffeinated and sugared with cake, we dedicated the first two sessions of the retreat to tips and tricks learned from my own experience, and that of fellow Fellow Dr Laura Richards. Laura and I hold the same internal tenure track fellowship, and she has also held external fellowships in the past. Our presentations told our own career stories, and helped to illustrate that no two journeys are the same. We were incredibly fortunate to also be joined by Rachel Cowen, Professor of Inclusive Research and Academic Development at the University of Manchester. Rachel brought a huge degree of experience and wisdom to our discussions, and organically became a go-to advisor for one-to-one sessions throughout the following day. These early sessions were informal, intended to serve as safe spaces to discuss the ups and downs of striving for research independence.

The remainder of the retreat was dedicated to writing. We were treated to glorious snowy vistas outside, nourishing vegetarian food, as much tea and coffee as we could manage, and the most nurturing home you could wish for to focus on writing. It truly was a retreat, and a hugely successful one at that.

The feedback from these Women in STEM was overwhelmingly positive. Everyone felt they left feeling more informed on how to apply for fellowships than when they arrived, which was  the goal of the retreat. The testimonials speak for themselves. When asked what they liked most about the retreat, responses included: 

“Talking about my issues with women in a similar position and hearing what they’re struggling with too. Also the location was beautiful.” 

“The honesty when sharing everyone’s experiences and doubts, which is very different from institution-given seminars on the same topic. I think, with this event, more meaningful discussions were born and I really took home a lot of food for thoughts that I think will help me frame my future applications better.”

“Networking, hearing about others experiences and learning about the tips to have a successful application“ 

The networking aspect in particular was appreciated:

“I also really enjoyed meeting other postdoctoral researchers from the University of Manchester. Just a week after the retreat, I have been talking with people I met at the retreat about collaborating on a research project.”

Since the retreat, several of these Women have applied for University of Manchester tenure track fellowships, and one retreater commented “I wrote a lectureship application for Imperial College London and updated my CV [during the retreat] and applied for the job 5 days later”.

The funding for this  was one-off, but given its success I have since successfully argued for the School of Natural Sciences at Manchester to fund at least one of these  a year for the next three years. Dr Marcella Sutcliffe and I also have grand plans of launching a Women in STEM writing retreat series at Chapelgarth open to all, whether at the University of Manchester or not. Watch this space!