Spotlight on ISEH Committees: The New Investigators Committee
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Past and New Members of the NIC at the ISEH 2024 Annual Scientific Meeting in Chicago, USA!
View the full list of current NIC members here.
The ISEH New Investigators Committee: who we are and what we do for ISEH.
Who is part of the ISEH New Investigators Committee (NIC)? How do we contribute to ISEH? How can I get involved with the NIC or other ISEH committees? Those questions come up often during ISEH events. Their answers might be obvious to some readers, but maybe not so much to other readers. Therefore, we thought it would be useful to provide you with an overview of the ISEH NIC and offer you some advice on how to apply to this super dynamic and friendly committee. This blog post will also introduce you to the 2024-2025 NIC agenda. If you have additional questions, you can also get in touch with us through ISEH or by direct messaging on platforms such as X and Bluesky. Without further ado, let’s get started!
What is the composition and role of the NIC?
Firstly, the NIC is composed of trainees (graduate students and postdoctoral researchers) and junior PIs who work in the hematology field and who are happy to offer their time to ISEH members. The 2024-2025 NIC comprises a total of 12 trainees and junior PIs that work in America (USA and Canada), Europe (UK, France, Germany, Sweden, The Netherlands) and the Asia/Pacific region (Japan and Australia). Each member on the NIC is offered a 2-year term, and this term is renewable for a total of 4 years. It is extremely important for us and ISEH to have members that cover different regions of the world. This ensures that we have a global outreach to scientists working in the hematology field, and it allows us to expand our scientific network. This is very helpful given the tasks mandated by the ISEH Board of Director which are: to organize 3 scientific webinars and 1-2 virtual networking events per year, to contribute to the organization of the ISEH Annual Meeting and to write 4 posts for the ISEH Blog: Simply Blood on topics that are relevant to ISEH trainees. To organize all these events, we meet virtually once a month for one hour and we interact regularly by e-mail. We also work with Jackie Zhang, our ISEH Education Senior Associate, who supports us in all of our tasks. Her work and presence are essential to the work of the NIC and ISEH.
What is the 2024-2025 NIC agenda?
Just like every year, we are planning 3 scientific webinars on hot topics in the hematology field. For each scientific webinar, we invite a junior PI and a more established PI to present the latest research in their fields of expertise. These webinars are free to ISEH members, but also to non-members since we want to attract new scientists to our community. For each scientific webinar, we also write a Perspective Article for the ISEH Journal “Experimental Hematology” to recap the speaker’s presentations. This is done by the speakers and NIC members who organized the scientific webinar. Our next webinar will take place on the 8th of January 2025, so keep an eye out for the advertisement and don’t forget to register!
We received a lot of feedback from trainees asking for more networking and mentoring events. In the past few years, we started to organize virtual networking events to bring trainees and PIs together in virtual rooms. Our most recent virtual networking event, “Ask the PIs”, took place on the 13th of November 2024 and brought together junior PIs and postdoctoral researchers to create new mentoring and networking opportunities. This allowed postdoctoral researchers to get advice on taking the next step in their scientific careers. We will also host a fourth edition of the “NIC Career Fair” in April 2025 to connect PhD students with PIs who are actively recruiting for postdoctoral researcher positions. If your research laboratory is looking for a postdoctoral researcher, don’t hesitate to get in touch with NIC members for more information.
Lastly, we are also involved in the organization of three sessions at the ISEH Annual Meeting: NIC Technology Session, NIC Career Session and the famous “Meet the Experts”. These sessions do not overlap with the scientific program because we want to make sure that you will be available for these networking events. Briefly, the NIC Technology Session aims at inviting scientists who are already presenting their work at the ISEH Annual Meeting (oral or poster) on a new and upcoming technology in the field. For the NIC Career Session, we invite scientists working outside of academia (e.g. industry, publication, patent, etc.) to inform us on additional career paths. This is a great opportunity to expand your network outside of academia. Finally, the “Meet the Experts” is a networking event designed exclusively for trainees to chat with PIs in a more relaxed atmosphere over drinks and nibbles or over breakfast. You will also find the NIC at the ISEH Pre-meeting workshop, which takes place at the beginning of the ISEH Annual Meeting. This event is also great networking and learning opportunity for trainees who are newer to ISEH. The NIC is invited to judge the talks and posters of trainees alongside PIs, and we also invite PIs to discuss various topics such as the importance of collaboration and networking. Both can be underestimated by some scientists, but it is undeniable that they have become an essential part of our work. Globally, all NIC events will bring you networking opportunities, so we encourage you to attend as many as possible.
Who can apply to the NIC, and how can you make your application stand out?
To become a member of the NIC, you need to be an ISEH member. Therefore, if you want to apply next year, this is the perfect time to become an ISEH member (https://www.iseh.org/page/MembershipTypes). An ISEH membership offers great benefits including a big discount on the registration fee for the ISEH Annual Meeting and for manuscript submission to the ISEH journal “Experimental Hematology”. The application process for the NIC (and other ISEH committees, see https://www.iseh.org/page/Committees) runs once a year, usually between March and May. Once you become an ISEH member, you will receive an automatic e-mail that details the application process. Globally, you will be asked to answer a few questions and to write a short statement about your background. In this statement, it is important to highlight your motivations to serve on the ISEH NIC and your future contributions if you are selected. For example, you can highlight your past experiences on extracurricular activities or the activities you would like to organize if you become a member of the ISEH NIC. This short statement is very important to make your application stand-out from the crowd. We receive many applications every year with excellent candidates, but we only have a few available spots (usually 2-4). Therefore, if you leave this section blank, you will not be shortlisted. Also, given that we want the committee to represent many parts of the world, this will also influence our decision process. We strongly encourage you to apply every year, and to also consider applying to other ISEH committees because they are all fantastic!
Do you have more questions, or suggestions for the NIC?
If you have questions, do not hesitate to contact us via ISEH or directly on our social media platforms. We are always open to hearing your feedback on our events and to bring your suggestions to the ISEH Board of Directors. The ISEH NIC is here to help its trainees, so don’t be shy to contact us.
The NIC's Impact:
"...my career stage was basically the same as the other trainee in my breakout rooms. That made the discussions even more interesting since most of our questions were relevant to both of us."
"Meet the Experts mixer was my favorite event by far as a new trainee! I liked the speed dating style and felt like I had many opportunities to have great conversations....This event definitely made me feel more comfortable approaching PI's in the future."
"For the pre-meeting workshop, the focus on collaboration / mentorship / interpersonal aspects of science was really nice."
Blog post contributed by:
Research Associate at the Montreal Clinical Research Institute (IRCM), Canada
Chair of the ISEH NIC
Research Associate at the Lund Stem Cell Center, Lund University, Sweden
Member of the ISEH NIC
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