When authorship sails away – Stories of the intricacies of academic accreditation

Papers are the currency in academia, they seem to determine our whole career. So, naturally, we try to publish as much as we can, while at the same time trying to produce good science. But sometimes authorship can become tricky, with hard decisions and disappointment. We share author-hard-ship stories here that cover a range of experiences, from being undeservedly excluded over the impression of getting too much credit to our own case that we consider ambiguous to this day.* All stories illustrate one key advice: Talk about authorship as early as possible in a project. This includes defining who is responsible for what, and discussing who is the lead of this project.**

The art of moving to the US for a postdoc (as a Marie Skłodowska Curie global fellow)

About 2 months ago, the latest round of successfully funded Marie Skłodowska Curie fellows has been announced, and some might soon start to plan their move abroad. My move one year ago was spiked with some unforeseen obstacles. But even without those presumably rather unique incidents, there are quite a few things I wish I’d known before. With that in mind, I’ve put together some helpful information on the administrative side of planning your stay. Since I am on a Global Fellowship to the USA, this post is especially geared towards those in the same situation. I hope that large parts can also be useful for fellows going to other countries and postdocs receiving a different kind of funding, though. So here you go!

How to apply for a (Marie Sklodowska-Curie) post doc grant?

Both of your favorite blog writers, that is Sho and me, Christina, are currently funded by a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual (post doc) Fellowship by the European Research Council. Before that, we also applied, sometimes successfully, for other grants. You might ask how we did it, and we’re happy to share what we learned during the application process and from the feedback we received.

We’re focusing this post on the Marie Sklodowska-Curie individual fellowship in general, if you have specific question about the Intra European version or the Outgoing-Incoming funding scheme ask us for details. We’re both happy to help you out, and might add your questions to this hopefully dynamic and growing post.

Love Letters from Marie Curie

It’s That Time of The Year again. Talented* junior researchers all over Europe and the world receive that magical email containing the promise of joy and a better life: They get notified of having successfully gained a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship, arguably one of the best things that can happen to a postdoc in Europe. For those who do not know why, a few key characteristics :