APAN Professional Development

APAN has grown from an annual meeting to an organization that broadly supports the Auditory Neuroscience community. In particular, in 2021, APAN began to take an active role in nurturing diversity, supporting our trainees to become confident and impactful researchers, and helping underrepresented minorities overcome barriers to progress. During Spring 2021, we polled the community to identify the areas of greatest need and offered interactive panel discussions on the following four topics:

  • Women and gender minorities
  • Getting your auditory neuroscience research funded
  • Publishing your auditory neuroscience research
  • Job application dos and don'ts

If you missed these meetings, or if you want more, stay tuned! Information about future professional development programs will be posted on this page.

Please see our partner group E.A.R.S. for professional development workshops and seminars featuring trainees.

 

Women and gender minorities panel discussion - April 22, 2021

An opportunity for our community to discuss the barriers faced by women and gender minorities in our field and what we can do to overcome them.  The panel, composed of inspirational scientists at various career stages, will share diverse perspectives and insights for addressing gender bias and affecting positive change.  We welcome all voices to join us for this community building event. The main panel discussion will be followed by focused break-out rooms. 

Panelists:

Dana Boebinger, PhD candidate, Harvard University

Ingrid Johnsrude, Western Research Chair - Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Western Ontario. 

Jennifer Linden, Professor of Neuroscience, University College London

Huan Luo, Associate Professor, Peking University

Cynthia Moss, Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University

Nihaad Paraouty, Postdoctoral Fellow, New York University.

 

APAN organizers:

Maria Chait, University College London

Tania Barkat, University of Basel

Sarah Verhulst, Ghent University

Kerry Walker, Oxford University

 

Getting your auditory neuroscience research funded - April 29, 2021 

This panel discussion will identify effective habits in grant writing and will demystify the process of how grants get reviewed. Our panel of distinguished auditory neuroscience faculty offers first-hand experiences and perspectives on reviewing applications for early career and senior grant mechanisms in the US, EU, and UK. The panel will begin by discussing universal principles in effective grant writing. The discussion will then transition to audience-driven questions and focused discussions that are specific to region and career stage. 

 

Panelists:

Maria Geffen, University of Pennsylvania

Andrew King, University of Oxford 

Amanda Lauer, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Jonas Oblesser, University of Lübeck

Jose Pena, Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Sarah Verhulst, Ghent University

 

APAN organizers:

Daniel Polley (moderator), Harvard Medical School / Mass. Eye and Ear

Pierre Apostilides, University of Michigan

Ross Williamson, University of Pittsburgh

 

Publishing your auditory neuroscience research - May 13, 2021 

The panel will provide a variety of perspectives on the review process and how scientific publishing is changing. We will begin with a discussion of several questions: What makes a good cover letter? How do you make auditory research interesting to broader journals? When should I publish a preprint? How useful are non-traditional figures/visualizations? How do editorial decisions get made? How are reviewers selected? How do you write a good review? How do you write a good rebuttal? When should I fight a rejection? The audience will then be invited to break out into discussions on more focused topics.

 

Panelists:

Manolo Malmierca, University of Salamanca, Editorial Board, PloS Biology
Chris Petkov, Newcastle University, Editor-in-Chief, Current Research in Neurobiology
Daniela Saderi, Co-founder and Director, PREreview
Barb Shinn-Cunningham, Carnegie Mellon University, Senior Editor, eLife

 

Organizers:

Stephen David (moderator), Oregon Health & Science University

Tania Barkat, Basel University

Hiroyuki Kato, University of North Carolina

Vatsun Sadagopan, University of Pittsburgh

 

Job application dos and don'ts - May 27, 2021

A moderated panel discussion (+ audience Q&A) on surviving the job application process.  Our panel of senior and recently appointed auditory neuroscience faculty offers diverse experiences and perspectives on job applications. What makes a good cover letter? How should you prepare for an interview? How to write a research statement? How should you present your auditory research so as to appeal to departments with different disciplines (i.e. bio/psych/oto, etc)? What are key things to look out for when visiting prospective departments? What are the major differences between the EU and USA job markets? What are the Dos and Don’ts of contract negotiations?

 

Panelists:

Tania Barkat, Associate Professor of Neurophysiology, Basel University

Fred Dick, Professor of Auditory Cognitive Neuroscience, Birkbeck University of London

Nikolas A. Francis, Assistant Professor of Biology, University of Maryland

Michele Insanally, Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology, University of Pittsburgh

Sarah MN Woolley, Professor of Psychology Columbia University

 

Organizers:

Melissa Caras (moderator), University of Maryland

Maria Chait (moderator), University College London