Get the latest tech news

I was denied tenure – how do I cope?

Researchers can work long and hard for a permanent academic position, only for their hopes to be dashed. Nature sought advice from three scientists who have experienced the same disappointment.

In the United States, the tenure process typically involves a five- to eight-year period in which a tenure-track assistant professor builds their lab and compiles a portfolio of their research and mentoring accomplishments. If your CV has a gap in mentorship or scholarship, for instance, then she recommends reaching out to a senior colleague or peer who has been in a similar situation and asking them for feedback on how to address it. Nature spoke to one ecologist who hired a lawyer to help him appeal a tenure denial at a US university after he uncovered procedural violations caused by one of his committee members, as well as evidence of biases that this person held against him.

Get the Android app