Dr Silvia Valenzuela-Lamas is a Principal Investigator and archeologist at the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) in Spain. She was previously a recipient of a prestigious European Research Council Starting Grant. She used this success to leverage a permanent position back to her home country after several years of hard work and academic uncertainty.

Dr Mirna Mustapha is an MRC Senior Fellow at the University of Sheffield (UK). Her research through multiple international collaborations has led to the identification of over 15 human genes involved in deafness. She has plenty experience of being the only woman from a Global South country in the room.

Dr. Araceli Venegas-Gomez is Founder and CEO of Qureca, a company that offers support to individuals and businesses in the quantum field. She has experience in both the academic and industrial worlds and has created a space in-between the two to bridge gaps in understanding, communication, and conversations in quantum.

Dr Natasha Chang is Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at McGill University. She is one of these academics who has had the challenge of setting her research group during the Covid period. She reflects on the last few years since becoming a PI.

Dr Stephen Aderinto is an early-career scientist working in the Chemistry Department at the University of Sheffield. He is not scared of challenges having left Nigeria for his undergraduate studies in China and a PhD in the UK. Now, he works on a multidisciplinary project to develop DNA probes to be used in cancer R&D.

Dr Amy Wong is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine & Pathobiology at The University of Toronto. She became a PI in 2019 with a lab hosted at the Hospital for Sick Children, 10 years after starting her Postdoc. She is a pioneer in using human stem cells to model lung development and disease.

Dr Jonathan Draper is Vice-President of the Canadian Stem Cell Network and responsible for the strategic design and rollout of the network research and training programs. After a decade of working as a PI, he took the challenging decision of letting go of his identity as a research group leader and not running a lab anymore. He shifted his professional efforts into another role as a stem cell leader working for a stem cell network.

Dr. Nika Shakiba is an Assistant Professor in the School of Biomedical Engineering (SBME) at The University of British Columbia (Canada). Her research into the social lives of stem cells aims to answer fundamental biological questions for the development of novel therapies. Her commitment to public engagement has been an important thread in her leadership development.

Dr Samantha Payne is Assistant Professor in Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph (Canada). She has moved quickly from her Postdoc to her first PI role. Interestingly, she has returned to the university where she did her Bachelor's degree and Master.

Dr Vijay Raghavendran is a researcher in microbial biotechnology, who has experienced the tribulations of short-term research contracts. Vijay studied in India before moving to Denmark, USA, Brazil, UK and Sweden…many countries on several continents. Vijay has also worked as a science teacher. His broad ranging interests from science to the humanities have enriched his nomadic research life. Vijay is also a poet and an artist.

Kristin is Senior Scientist at the University Health Network and an Associate Professor in the Department of Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto. Kristin has had two important guiding principles in the choices she has made in her career: the desire to work on something that would make a difference in people’s life and clarity about what interested her.

Dr Sean Sapcariu is programme manager at the Luxemburg National Research fund. Trained as a biomedical scientist, Sean moved into university strategic development before jumping on the other side of the fence by now working for a national funder.

Dr Zoe Hewitt is a stem cell expert wearing two professional hats through her role as project manager for one of the UK Regenerative Medicine Platform Hubs, and CEO and founder of the consultancy-Regenerative Cell Therapy Consulting (RegenCTC) Limited. Zoe jumped straight out of her PhD into setting up facilities for the growth of stem cells that could potentially be used for regenerative medicine.

Dr Matthew Cheeseman is an interdisciplinary researcher and thinker, working as Associate Professor of creative writing at the University of Derby (UK). Matt acknowledges that both his stubbornness and his position of privilege have contributed to his continuing academic career. The need for academic freedom and the desire to understand the world have maintained his motivation to pursue a career in the university environment.

We take for granted informal encounters during scientific conferences. Some will shape the course of our lives. It was meeting an academic from Sheffield during a conference in China which changed the direction of Dr Yi JIn’s life. She is now a Wellcome Trust Sir Henry Dale Fellow at Manchester Institute of Biotechnology.

Prof. Stéphane Bordas is an academic at the University of Luxemburg who has had a globe-trotter career, starting in France before working in the USA, Switzerland, Scotland, Wales and more recently Luxemburg.

Dr Muna Abdi is an independent scholar and consultant who is using her own experience and expertise as a British Somali academic to support organisations embed anti-racist practices. 

Dr Cristiano Malossi is a manager of the Artificial Intelligence Automation Group at IBM in Switzerland. His approach to hosting collaborative meetings may inspire others.

Dr Briony Birdi is a senior lecturer at The University of Sheffield. A commitment to doing research that contributes to giving voice to an area of public life often brushed aside, has fuelled her research motivation. Adapting her professional goals and work patterns to her family reality have been part of her academic resilience.

Dr Narine Hall is an Assistant Professor and Program Director in Data Science at Champlain College (USA) in Vermont. Her experience in industry and start-ups has been key in innovating tools for educators during the pandemic. She is now CEO of the start-up InSpace which is transforming interactivity in online classrooms.