Online learning environments for the promotion of undergraduate research in pandemic times: A case study in an engineering program

This case study explores the use of online learning environments as an alternative tool for the promotion of undergraduate research culture within an engineering program during the COVID-19 pandemic times. This context entailed the transition from face-to-face to online learning environments, which was taken as an opportunity for the diffusion and socialization of outstanding research projects developed by undergraduate students within the classroom, through the launching of an online event and a virtual permanent exhibition. The results of this case study were measured through quantitative indicators related to the number of research projects submitted by the students for participating in this exhibition, the number of courses participating through these projects, and the number of professors involved. Participation of students and professors increased by 85% and 90%, respectively, comparing the online environment to the previous face-to-face one. Consequently, it was concluded that the use of online learning environments supports the promotion of undergraduate research culture, by increasing the interest of students for the socialization of their research results. © 2023, Rajarambapu Institute Of Technology. All rights reserved.

Research culture in Australian and New Zealand radiation oncology: Fact or fantasy?

INTRODUCTION: Fostering a research culture is a key goal of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists, yet there has never been an organization-wide enquiry into the extent to which this is being realized. The purpose of this work was to address that deficit for the Radiation Oncology (RO) Faculty to serve as a baseline for future comparison. The hypothesis was that such a culture is closer to fact than fantasy. METHODS: With College approval, three de-identified Excel spreadsheets detailing 25 research-related sub-categories of the Faculty's Continuing Professional Development (CPD) database were interrogated for the 2019-21 triennium, accepting that research activity in 2020-21 would be COVID-19 suppressed. The numbers obligated to self-report CPD were 482, 496 and 511, respectively. Primary endpoints were the percentages of ROs claiming at least one research-related activity overall, and in each of the sub-categories individually, by year. Secondary endpoints were the "breadth" (number of sub-categories claimed/individual) and "depth" (percentages solely claiming in one of four lower-level sub-categories), by year. RESULTS: ROs claimed in 23/25 sub-categories. The percentages of ROs claiming at least one research-related activity were 71%, 44%, and 62% in 2019-21, respectively. The median number of sub-categories claimed by these ROs was 2 (range 1-10) in each year. The commonest activity was journal article co-author (25%, 16% and 27%, respectively). For 2019, the most representative year, other common activities were inhouse/local meeting presentation (17%), invited lecture at state level or above (15%), manuscript peer review and research project principal investigator (14% each). The percentages of ROs solely claiming in one lower-level activity ranged between 4.4% and 5.9% per year. CONCLUSION: A culture of research is arguably more fact than fantasy in ANZ. It is likely that Faculty curriculum requirements, research funding and other promotional initiatives have contributed substantively to this.

Listen to the shopkeeper.

His mosquito control project heading for failure, a field entomologist recalls how a chance encounter led to a Eureka moment.

Surveying the experience of postdocs in the United States before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the interest of advocating for the postdoctoral community in the United States (US), we compared the results of surveys of postdocs carried out in 2019 and in late 2020. We found that respondents' mental health and wellness were significantly impacted by the pandemic irrespective of their gender, race, citizenship, or other identities. Career trajectories and progression were also affected, as respondents reported being less confident about achieving career goals, and having more negative perceptions of the job market compared to before the pandemic. Postdocs working in the US on temporary visas reported experiencing increased stress levels due to changes in immigration policy. Access to institutional Postdoctoral Offices or Associations positively impacted well-being and helped mitigate some of the personal and professional stresses caused by the pandemic.

The Effect of Covid-19 Pandemic on the Regional Universities Research Culture and the Quality of the Engineering Education

In this paper we define university research culture and suggest a metric to evaluate the level of its maturity by comparing five universities in Russia, including the regional ones. We argue that strong research culture is pivotal for talent attraction and quality education, especially in engineering. By comparing the research productivity of universities with established and with immature research cultures during COVID-19 pandemic, we demonstrate that the mature research culture has helped universities to survive such global stressful situations with comparatively fewer loses, whereas the universities with currently undeveloped or emerging research culture have experienced a dramatic impact on their publication output. We suggest a set of activities to enhance research capacity of HE organizations by engaging local full-time faculty and report the results of implementation of a related faculty development program at one of the regional universities under study in late 2019 – early 2020. The implementation results show that such an intervention has contributed to enhancing research capacity and has advanced research culture at the University even at the time of pandemic as the result of increased research productivity of experienced and moderately experienced researchers and of forming new research groups. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

It is time for open access in clinical care.

A healthcare center widely sharing its internal guidelines on how to treat COVID-19 patients "just wasn't done." As the pandemic raged at a Boston hospital, the next generation of clinical leaders pushed for change.

Virtual conferences raise standards for accessibility and interactions.

Scientific conferences have an important role in the exchange of ideas and knowledge within the scientific community. Conferences also provide early-career researchers with opportunities to make themselves known within their field of research. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has brought traditional in-person conferences to a halt for the foreseeable future, the growth of virtual conferences has highlighted many of the disadvantages associated with the in-person format and demonstrated the advantages of moving these events online. Here, based on data from in-person and virtual conferences in a range of subjects, we describe how virtual conferences are more inclusive, more affordable, less time-consuming and more accessible worldwide, especially for early-career researchers. Making conferences more open and inclusive will provide both immediate and long-term benefits to the scientific community.

Improving on legacy conferences by moving online.

Scientific conferences and meetings have an important role in research, but they also suffer from a number of disadvantages: in particular, they can have a massive carbon footprint, they are time-consuming, and the high costs involved in attending can exclude many potential participants. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the cancellation of many conferences, forcing the scientific community to explore online alternatives. Here, we report on our experiences of organizing an online neuroscience conference, neuromatch, that attracted some 3000 participants and featured two days of talks, debates, panel discussions, and one-on-one meetings facilitated by a matching algorithm. By offering most of the benefits of traditional conferences, several clear advantages, and with fewer of the downsides, we feel that online conferences have the potential to replace many legacy conferences.