In 2023, a group of researchers from different disciplines and career stages participated in an Arctic field school to study floating sea ice. This type of interdisciplinary training is highlighted in a new perspective published in Nature Microbiology as essential for early-career scientists.
Daniel Muratore, a Complexity Postdoctoral Fellow at the Santa Fe Institute (SFI), and his co-authors argue that microbiology should focus on supporting early-career researchers through interdisciplinary experiences. According to the authors, these researchers often have short-term contracts, must compete for publications, and rarely have chances to learn new methods. The paper states that without changes, future leaders in microbiology may not be able or motivated to combine advanced findings—such as DNA and RNA sequencing data—into large-scale models of Earth's systems. These models are seen as important tools for predicting climate change and other global shifts.
The perspective was developed after a working group meeting at SFI in August 2024, which was organized with support from the National Science Foundation’s BioGeoSCAPES Fellows program. The authors suggest several steps: connecting early-career scientists, offering mentorship opportunities, and increasing access to field schools, laboratory exchanges, and interdisciplinary collaborations.
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