As a PhD student, there's nobody I really know well enough to approach and talk to, and there's a sense of social distance as well, which means that it's difficult to approach anyone from a position of unfamiliarity. So, someone in that position would think something to the effect of, "I'm a PhD student/newly minted Assistant Professor and that's a well-known and accomplished scholar whose work I'm citing in my dissertation or my newly published paper, so how do I get to introduce myself to them without looking like a nervous wreck or a bungler, especially when I want to make a good impression for the job market or in building up a research partnership that gets me tenure?" There's a lot of anxiety involved, and if you have young academics and PhD students afraid that each social interaction is going to be crucial for their future, they're going to feel especially isolated because none of them are willing to make the first move, to reach out and to just talk to someone different.
And even when PhD/ECS manage to speak to senior scholars, they often seem to sense that the senior scholars are more interested in catching up with each other, making it harder to network. I've often left conversations if I'm meeting a senior scholar or journal editor for the first time and they then meet someone else they haven't met - simply because our conversations are a lower priority item and I don't want to impose on the senior person's time for fear of making a bad impression.
Andre's idea is very good and in fact a mentorship plan was brought into effect, but my mentor was unfortunately unable to come to AOM, and any other potential mentors of interest were too busy or already taken. So instead, I would like to further Carole's suggestion and suggest an organized facilitated meet and greet during the CMS social, in which, in case a proper mentor is not available, PhD students and early career faculty could meet at least one mid/late career academic who can get to know them and their interests well. They, in turn, help introduce the students/EC faculty to some of the more senior scholars and journal editors with similar interests and help get started off with areas of interest and future research projects. How does this sound?
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Keshav Krishnamurty
UMass Boston
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Original Message:
Sent: 08-20-2019 04:21
From: Mark Learmonth
Subject: Doctoral and Early Career Events for CMS Scholars at AOM
Hi everyone
I have seen on Twitter concern about doctoral and early career academics feeling isolated at the AOM conference. I remember that feeling well myself. As I'm involved with organizing the PhD & earlier career workshop for Vancouver in 2020 I'd be interested in hearing ideas that people have about how we might address the issue. Please share any ideas you have on this platform.
Mark
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Mark Learmonth
Durham University
Durham
+44 0 191 3345428
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