Ten simple rules for a successful remote postdoc

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1 Education, Cary Institute for Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, New York, United States
2 Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, United States
3 Climate Change Institute, University of Maine, Orono, Maine, United States
4 David H. Smith Conservation Research Program, Society for Conservation Biology, Washington DC, District of Columbia, United States
5 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, St. George, Ontario, Canada
6 Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States
7 Informatics Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States
8 Biodiversity Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States
9 School of Biology and Ecology, University of Maine, Orono, Maine, United States
10 Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, United States
11 Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
DOI
10.7287/peerj.preprints.27907v1
Published
Accepted
Subject Areas
Ethical Issues, Computational Science
Keywords
remote postdoc, postdoc, career, ethics, inclusive science
Copyright
© 2019 Burgio et al.
Licence
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ Preprints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
Cite this article
Burgio KR, McDonough MacKenzie C, Borrelle SB, Ernest SKM, Gill JL, Ingeman KE, Teffer AK, White EP. 2019. Ten simple rules for a successful remote postdoc. PeerJ Preprints 7:e27907v1

Abstract

Postdoctoral positions are temporary full-time positions typically taken between completion of a PhD and the start of a permanent position. Postdocs are expected to move for short-term positions which can often be problematic for early-career researchers, especially those from under-represented groups in STEM. However, the proliferation of computational research has changed how scientists can conduct science, opening the door to postdoctoral work being conducted remotely. Research activities primarily involving quantitative analysis, modeling, writing, and data collection can take place anywhere and therefore can all be conducted on a remote or semi-remote basis. We offer 10 simple rules for overcoming challenges and leveraging the unique opportunities presented by remote postdoc positions, derived from our experiences as either remote postdocs or the PIs who have mentored them. We believe that not only will these suggestions increase the desirability of remote postdoc positions whenever they are feasible, but that they also contain good practices for facilitating better communication both within labs more generally and in other long-distance collaborations.

Author Comment

Here, we present advice to both principal investigators and postdocs for successfully navigating a remote position within a research lab. Using the combined experience of the authors, who have either been remote postdocs or have employed remote postdocs, we provide a road map with real-world examples to overcome the real (and perceived) obstacles associated with remote work.

This manuscript will be submitted to PLoS Computational Biology for peer-review upon publication of this pre-print.