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An aibs council presentation december 2012. Biology in the 21 st century. 1. Time Famine. 1. Time Famine 2. Return on Investment. 1. Time Famine 2. Return on Investment 3. Increased competition. 1. Time Famine 2. Return on Investment 3. Increased competition 4. Generational values.
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An aibs council presentation december 2012 Biology in the 21st century
1. Time Famine2. Return on Investment3. Increased competition
1. Time Famine2. Return on Investment3. Increased competition4. Generational values
1. Time Famine2. Return on Investment3. Increased competition4. Generational values5. specialization
1. Time Famine2. Return on Investment3. Increased competition4. Generational values5. specialization6. Technology
The biology community Biology is a vast network of hundreds of organizations and hundreds of thousands of individuals that associate in loosely connected subcommunities through “scholarly societies”.
Biology scholarly societies/professional associations MARKET FAILURE “to promote, coordinate, integrate and spread scientific knowledge in its highest expressions in the frame of cultural unity and universality.”
The first FEW American Psychiatric Association (1844) American Medical Association (1847) New York Academy of Medicine (1847) American Association for the Advancement of Science (1848) American Pharmacists Association (1852) American Dental Association (1859)
At the turn of the 20th century Entomological Society of America (1889) Botanical Society of America (1893) Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (1902) American Genetic Association (1903) American Society for Cell Biology (1906)
Increasing specialization Number of new societies Decade
At the turn of the 21st century Society for Muscle Biology, Inc (2003) Society for Free Radical Biology and Medicine (2004) The Robert A. Good Immunology Society (2005) Chinese American Bio Pharmaceutical Society (2006) International Society for Zinc Biology (2008) Midsouth Computational Biology and Bioinformatics Society (2010) Virginia Herpetological Society (2010) Society for the Advancement of Biology Education Research (2010)
Total Number of scholarly societies in biology Data source: AIBS database on organizations in the biology community. Not yet published.
Internal Challenges to Biology: Organizations and Societies This data based on 110 respondent organizations to the 2010 AIBS survey of biological organizations. Full results available in BioScience.
Biology scholarLy organizations This data based on 110 respondent organizations to the 2010 AIBS survey of biological organizations. Full results available in BioScience.
This data based on 110 respondent organizations to the 2010 AIBS survey of biological organizations. Full results available in BioScience. What societies do
Pressures on community External forces put pressure on the field and its professionals at the personal, institutional, disciplinary, and field levels.
This data compiled from organization and individual professional survey. Results available online and in BioScience. External Challenges to Biology
Internal forces Internal Forces among subcommunities also greatly affect the individuals and organizations – and thus the success of the research enterprise.
Drivers of society membership Agriculture Anatomy Astrobiology Biochemistry Bioengineering Bioinformatics Biomathematics Biology Biomechanics Biomedical Research Biophysics Biotechnology Botany Cell biology Conservation biology Cryobiology Developmental biology Ecology Entomology Environmental biology Epidemiology Ethology Evolution/Evolutionary biology Genetics Herpetology Histology History of Science Icthyology Integrative biology Mammalogy Marine biology Microbiology Molecular biology Mycology Neurobiology Oceanography Ornithology Paleontology ParasitologyPathobiology Pharmacology Philosophy/ethics Phycology Physiology Phytopathology Population Ecology Population Genetics Public Policy Science Education Systematics/Taxonomy Virology Zoology Other 5.34
MOTIVATION TO JOIN A SOCIETY Ratio: Join a society to do this/ I can do this on my own.
Membership – shrinking?? So societies membership counts are shrinking…………… Right?
Growing or shrinking? 5 year trend Of 74 organizations:
Growing/ shrinking? 10 year trend Of 63 organizations:
Greatest growth over ten years International Society for Computational Biology (12.5x larger) Association of Molecular Pathology (3.3) Dragonfly Society of the Americas (2.6) Society for Vascular Medicine (2.2) American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (2.0)
Greatest growth cont… Botanical Society of America (1.5) Society for Neuroscience (1.5) National Shellfisheries Association (1.4) American Society of Hematology (1.4) Crop Science Society of America (1.4)
What members like X Axis Key 1: Undergrad 2: Graduate 3: Postdoc 4:Early 5:Mid 6:Late 7:Retired
Organizational capacity • What societies need to be vibrant? • To be relevant to their membership What members want: Improve networking for/among members (in person!) Improve meetings/conferences Career Assistance/professional development
MEMBERSHIP IN SOCIETIES Figure 12. Professional organization memberships as a function of career stage.
Strategies for success: Focus on strength • Convening—face to face • Conversation • Community • Curating—how do we provide information for members before they even know they need it?
Strategies for success: Concentrate resources • Collaboration
Strategies for success: Purposeful abandonment • Legacy programs • Programs where you are not excelling • Things that aren’t working
Scientific society leadership • Embody & exemplify values • Knowledge, justice, sustainability • Create & communicate goals • Goals put values to work in the world • Innovate • ITER, LHC, NEON, NCEAS, Rio + 20 • Collaborate, build trust and legitimacy • Organize, engage, “universality” of science • Excellence & solidarity • Distinction motivate and divides