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What's the best way to become a professor? The answer depends on where you are

2025/1/22

Nature Podcast

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Benjamin Thompson

Dan Fox

Smriti Malapati

Yancy Flores Breso

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Yancy Flores Breso: 我来自洪都拉斯，在追求学术研究的道路上，我亲身经历了来自低收入国家的许多障碍。例如，在国际期刊上发表文章对我们来说非常困难，因为我们缺乏资金。这导致我的职业发展道路与其他地方的要求大相径庭，也让我错失了一些机会。这并非能力问题，而是机会不平等。许多优秀的科研人员可能仅仅因为其国籍或工作机构而被排除在顶尖科学职位之外。因此，我们需要建立一个全球学术职位招聘标准数据库，帮助招聘经理更好地理解来自不同背景的科研人员的经历和成就，不能使用统一标准来衡量来自不同地区的候选人。高收入国家更关注科研质量、研究诚信和社会影响，而中等偏上收入国家则更依赖于文献计量指标，这反映了不同国家在科学发展阶段上的差异。 Smriti Malapati: 一些研究人员认为，中等偏上收入国家更依赖文献计量指标，可能是因为这种评估方法更经济实惠。而高收入国家可能因为对透明度和期刊影响因子操纵的担忧而逐渐减少对文献计量指标的依赖。 Nick Pachachow & Benjamin Thompson: 意识到不同地区对科研人员的评估标准存在差异非常重要，因为科研人员具有很强的流动性。我们需要对招聘政策进行重新思考，以创建更加多元化的科学界，不能仅仅依靠简单的标准化评估，要看到每个候选人的优势和潜力。

Deep Dive

Chapters

A study reveals that the criteria for professorship varies significantly worldwide, potentially hindering researchers from certain regions. While institutions in the Global South often prioritize publications and awards, those in the Global North are shifting away from bibliometrics. This discrepancy raises concerns about fairness and diversity in academia.

Criteria for professorship varies significantly across the globe.
Institutions in the Global South often emphasize publications and awards.
Institutions in the Global North are moving away from using bibliometrics.

Shownotes Transcript

00:56 How the paths to professorship vary

A huge analysis of hiring practices has revealed that criteria to get a promotion to full professorship is hugely variable around the world. The authors suggest that this variability results in researchers from countries that value one type of metric being locked out of professor positions in others. They hope that the database of hiring practices created in this study could help institutions adjust their hiring policies to create a more diverse science workforce.

*Research Article: *Lim et al.)

*News: *Want to become a professor? Here’s how hiring criteria differ by country)

21:48 Research Highlights

Lasers reveal hidden tattoos on ancient mummified-skin, and a new pill that cuts flu symptoms and viral levels in the body.

*Research Highlight: *Hidden tattoos on mummy skin emerge under a laser’s light)

*Research Highlight: *Got flu? Promising drug shortens symptoms)

12:13 Cancer cells’ broken mitochondria could poison immune cells

Researchers have shown that cancer cells can slip their dysfunctional mitochondria into T cells, limiting the immune system’s cancer-fighting capabilities. Cancer cells are known to steal healthy mitochondria from immune cells to help tumours survive and thrive. Now, researchers have shown mitochondria can move in the opposite direction too, with the donor T cells showing signs of various stress responses that make them less effective when inside a tumour. The team showed that blocking this transfer limited this effect, and hopes that this mechanism could offer a new avenue for boosting the immune system’s response to cancer.

*Research Article: *Ikeda et al.)

*News & Views: *Mitochondrial swap from cancer to immune cells thwarts anti-tumour defences)

21:12 Science and the Gaza conflict

Noah Baker and Ehsan Masood turn to the war in Gaza, and discuss what comes next for science as a ceasefire comes into force.

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