Three workshops are designed for women in cognitive science, especially women in the early stages of their academic career. Research and economic analyses suggest that the impact of the economic crisis will be more detrimental for females than for males. The workshops focus on negotiation techniques to create opportunities and optimize mechanisms to sustain research visibility and productivity. A second focus is on grant application writing for predoctoral, postdoctoral, and early career scientists. Workshops will take place at the biannual meetings of the Psychonomic Society and at the Cognitive Science Society. The workshops will take the form of a public forum with invited speaker-panelists to initiate discussion about best practices for the professional advancement of women in cognitive science at the individual and institutional level. By partnering with these established societies, the workshops will maximize the outreach potential to a group that continues to be underrepresented in senior academic positions in the cognitive sciences.
The major goal of our project is outreach to junior faculty and graduate students so that they thrive professionally and personally in academe once they have been trained. Our focus is helping them to develop a professional network of peers and older professionals whom they can consult as they advance along their career path. To reach that goal, we organize panel discussions at professional societies for cognitive psychologists around relevant issues and provide funds for young scholars to attend those meetings. For example, economic conditions are placing unprecedented pressures on universities and funding agencies. For young scholars, this translates into fewer postdoctoral and faculty lines. For highly experienced senior scholars, it emerges as fewer opportunities for new programs of research and collaborations, and this in turn limits the options available to senior scientists for training young scientists. In this climate, it becomes essential for individuals and institutions to acknowledge and work to offset this pattern that is particularly detrimental to young female scientists. WICS is in a unique position to address the concerns of junior and senior scientists. With NSF support, we have 1) conducted interactive panel discussions on developing (national and) international collaborations and on the psychology of negotiation 2) supported travel by junior scientists to professional meetings for previously arranged meetings with senior scientists. Membership is now at almost 800 and annual WICS meetings at our professional meetings have attracted a large audience of male and female junior and senior scientists and the level of interaction was high.
