SFI’s Postdocs in Complexity Global Conference brought together 53 early-career researchers from different countries for a four-day event held September 16–19, 2025. The annual conference aims to promote collaboration, networking, and the development of ongoing research projects among postdoctoral scholars working in interdisciplinary fields.
Hilary Skolnik, SFI Postdoc Program Manager, said that the agenda is updated each year based on participant feedback. This year’s event included several changes such as spending a day at SFI’s Miller Campus in the new Gurley Forum. One notable adjustment was changing how Research Jams were organized. Instead of signing up before arrival, participants presented ideas for new Research Jams on the first day, allowing more time for discussion and questions about potential topics. “This gave the postdocs the chance to review the topics and ask more questions before diving in,” said Skolnik.
The conference also focused on issues like public outreach, communicating science effectively, navigating academic job searches during uncertain times, and refining personal research goals. In a tutorial titled “Setting the Stage for your Future Research Vision,” SFI Complexity Postdoctoral Fellow Katrin Schmelz advised attendees to focus on their own motivations when choosing research directions. She said: “As researchers, we sacrifice hours of sleep, family, and friends. You better care about how you spend your precious lifetime. When you have your own vision, it’s easier to say ‘no’ to projects that aren’t on your track, and to pursue big questions that keep you and others excited.”
Career advice was also provided by Karen Kelsky from The Professor is In, who discussed cover letters and job interviews with an emphasis on current challenges in academia.
Travis Holmes, SFI’s Emergent Political Economies Program Manager, led a session addressing changes needed within academic research culture. Referring to recent op-eds by SFI Professor Brandon Ogbunu published in Undark magazine (https://undark.org/2024/08/28/the-academic-tenure-track-has-gone-off-the-rails), Holmes encouraged postdocs to start asking major research questions earlier in their careers rather than waiting until after tenure decisions are made. He also discussed ways researchers can connect science with society through outreach efforts.
The meeting continued last year’s tradition of inviting groups from previous Complexity Global School events; eight participants from the 2024 CGS held in Bogotá attended both the conference and an additional week at SFI to continue their work.
New attendees had opportunities to present brief “flash talks” summarizing their work for all participants. Maike Morrison, a new SFI Complexity Postdoctoral Fellow this fall, remarked: “It was really different from what I was expecting... The joy of SFI is that you get to mix things up and see what happens — and this was refreshing and fun.”
