Team Science in the 2020s- Progress and Barriers
Science traditionally rewards and recognises individuals/principal investigators – but what about the PhD students, Post-docs, technicians, statisticians, bioinformaticians and project managers that are essential to the success of these teams? As we undertake more collaborative research, we must reward not only individuals, but also the team players.
This recognition is slowly filtering through to funders and employers. Pioneering funders are losing interest in impact factors, instead preferring researchers to summarise the impact of their top five (impact factor free) outputs and their personal contributions to these. Also, in support of team science, is the introduction of collaborative funding schemes which assess and fund teams of applicants rather than single PIs. Skills/technical specialists are key components of research teams but structured career paths comparable to the ‘PI’ track are rare.
A paradigm shift towards recognition of the team nature of science is occurring, which hopefully will lead to a more inclusive, collaborative, diverse and productive research environment. However, much still needs to be done. We were delighted to welcome Professor Anne Ridley FRS FMedSci, as our invited speaker to the MVLS Women in Research Network in May 2020. Anne served as Chair the Academy of Medical Sciences’ 2016 Team Science report which focused on how to improve the recognition of scientists involved in team science projects.
Please find a link below to a recording of the event. It provides an overview of Team Science and an open discussion on the opportunities and potential pitfalls of this new approach.