Reinventing postgraduate training in the plant sciences: T‐training defined through modularity, customization, and distributed mentorship

Abstract

The Plant Science Research Network ( PSRN ) comprises scientific societies and organizations with a mission to build and communicate a consensus vision of the future of plant science research, education, and training. This report enumerates a set of far‐reaching recommendations for postgraduate training that emerged from workshops held in October 2016 and September 2017. These recommendations broaden and deepen the T‐training concept presented in the Decadal Vision for Plant Science, which emphasizes experiential learning beyond the traditional disciplinary focus. Both workshops used the scenarios developed in Imagining Science in 2035 as a mechanism to encourage out‐of‐the‐box thinking, an approach that led to the innovative recommendations and solutions described here. At the heart of our recommendations is the empowerment of trainees, who should be enabled to customize and take ownership of their training experiences. This fundamental concept is embodied in five principles: (a) Trainees should be provided guidance and resources needed to define and pursue career objectives within and beyond academia, conferring to them greater independence and responsibility in shaping their own future. (b) Learning should be flexible, adaptable, and distributed. Training should combine traditional and modular coursework to encompass both technical and professional skills. Guidance from diverse mentoring teams will support and tailor training toward diverse, personalized career paths. (c) Scientific research experiences should be broad and question‐driven, whether motivated by basic discovery or seeking solutions to societal challenges. Trainees should continue to gain mastery of one or a few core scientific disciplines and their key tools and approaches. (d) Trainees should be skilled in science communication and incentivized to engage with and learn from the broader public community, helping to maintain an active dialogue among public, private, and academic sectors. (e) Training programs should foster and facilitate the inclusion of individuals with a diverse range of life experiences and should prioritize trainee well‐being. The report recommendations call for a profound cultural shift, one that embraces and extends educational delivery trends toward self‐learning and distance learning, considers trainee well‐being as an essential requirement for success, and acknowledges the importance of effective two‐way communication with the public. This shift is intended to broaden participation in the plant science workforce, both in terms of diversity and numbers, while maintaining excellence in core scientific training. Cultural change takes time, but among academic institutions the need for significant change and innovation in postgraduate training is increasingly pressing. As such, the immediate intent is for these recommendations to catalyze pilot programs and also build on emergent prototypes that exist globally while creating momentum for larger scale changes over longer time pe...

Plant science decadal vision 2020–2030: Reimagining the potential of plants for a healthy and sustainable future

“…3 New opportunities in plant science‐related jobs 4 underscore the need to rethink career expectations and to retool training paradigms to prepare researchers for careers beyond academia. The PSRN previously published recommendations for postgraduate training using a subway network metaphor to illustrate three main principles: flexible pathways, multiple career destinations, and the possibility of multiple on‐ and off‐ramps (Henkhaus, Taylor, Greenlee, Sickler, & Stern, 2018). The PSRN further emphasized the need for trainee‐centric approaches that offer trainees more control over their professional development through modular customization and a new mentoring model to help them with prioritization and focus.…”

Introducing plant biology graduate students to a culture of mental well‐being

“…To support graduate student mental health and well‐being, it has been suggested that graduate programming support self‐care to promote mental health and to protect from mental illness (Evans et al, 2018; Henkhaus et al, 2018). But, there are a number of potential challenges for graduate programming to achieve this because there are few concrete examples of effective strategies.…”

“…This awareness has led to a call for strategies to “improve the culture of mental health and well‐being among graduate students” (Mousavi et al, 2018). Organizations such as the Plant Science Research Network (PSRN) have prioritized trainee well‐being to become one of its core principles (Henkhaus, Taylor, Greenlee, Sickler, & Stern, 2018). With this, the PSRN recognized that a shift in training culture is needed (Henkhaus et al, 2018).…”

“…Organizations such as the Plant Science Research Network (PSRN) have prioritized trainee well‐being to become one of its core principles (Henkhaus, Taylor, Greenlee, Sickler, & Stern, 2018). With this, the PSRN recognized that a shift in training culture is needed (Henkhaus et al, 2018). Yet, there are few examples of effective strategies from which to draw for faculty who do not have limited experience with this subject area.…”

Directions for research and training in plant omics: Big Questions and Big Data

“…A recent report from another NSF‐funded RCN, the Plant Science Research Network, advocates for increased empowerment of trainees to personalize their Ph.D. training program, and proposes a modular approach that could, e.g., facilitate incorporation of training in both wet bench and analytical skills, and would be conducted under the guidance of a mentoring team (Henkhaus, Taylor, Greenlee, Sickler, & Stern, ). Such a shift in training paradigms might also help to create a more inclusive environment and promote workforce diversity.…”