Early-Career Researcher Resource Center

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News, perspectives and resources to help navigate the early stages of your neuroscience career

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Liftoff: New lab alerts
Learn about early-career scientists starting their own labs.
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Navigate uncharted waters in the early stages of your neuroscience career.

Early-career researcher action potentials

JOB OPPORTUNITY
The University of Amsterdam has an open position for an assistant professor in perceptual and cognitive neuroscience.
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JOB OPPORTUNITY
Peter Kok at University College London seeks a postdoctoral fellow and a Ph.D. student for his lab, which studies visual perception in the hippocampus.
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JOB OPPORTUNITY
Kurt Fraser at the University of Minnesota seeks a research technician for his lab, which studies how brain circuits regulate behavior.
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Illustration of a laptop computer superimposed over a scroll.

‘Friction-maxxing’ in school: Students should read primary literature, not AI summaries

Trainees need to learn how to identify a neuroscience paper’s major takeaways and integrate them into their understanding. This skill doesn’t come from outsourcing the work to large language models.

By Nora Bradford
26 March 2026 | 5 min read
Collage with a portrait of Caitlin Vander Weele in the foreground.

Frameshift: How Caitlin Vander Weele made science communication her business

Her favorite part of research was talking about it. So she left academia and turned that passion into a successful company.

By Katie Moisse
19 March 2026 | 6 min read
Illustration of a leaking pipe.

Securing the academic pipeline amid uncertain U.S. funding climate

Finding creative ways to keep early-career researchers in academia—for example, through part-time roles—can help the field weather the storm.

By Lucina Q. Uddin
9 March 2026 | 5 min read
Illustration of a sheet of paper with many holes punched out of it.

Let’s teach neuroscientists how to be thoughtful and fair reviewers

Blanco-Suárez revamped the traditional journal club by developing a course in which students peer review preprints alongside the published papers that evolved from them.

By Elena Blanco-Suárez
6 March 2026 | 6 min read
Portrait of Raphe Bernier in front of a collage of a building, a chalkboard, a computer and human silhouettes.

Frameshift: Raphe Bernier followed his heart out of academia, then made his way back again

After a clinical research career, an interlude at Apple and four months in early retirement, Raphe Bernier found joy in teaching.

By Katie Moisse
20 February 2026 | 8 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Ground squirrel.

How thirteen-lined ground squirrels illuminate retinal development

In most mammalian retinas, rods outnumber cones. But that ratio is flipped in ground squirrels, a quirk that helps Seth Blackshaw explore how retinal cells develop their identities.

By Sarah Thau
31 July 2026 | 5 min read
Research image of the association cortex.

Cortical territories compete in developmental space race

Sensory and association regions are established through a reciprocal process, according to a new model of cortical development.

By Holly Barker
30 July 2026 | 5 min read