SciLifeLab PULSE training: equipping postdocs for future leadership
The SciLifeLab PULSE program is more than just a postdoctoral fellowship – it is a comprehensive training initiative designed to equip researchers with the scientific and professional skills needed for future leadership roles. By combining advanced scientific training with industry collaboration and transferrable skills development, PULSE prepares postdocs for their future careers, be it in academia, healthcare, industry or beyond.
As a research infrastructure supporting Swedish academia, industry, and healthcare, SciLifeLab aims to foster the next generation of international science leaders through the MCSA-funded PULSE program. The training focus of the program is on scientific and research skills, but transferable skills such as team science, public engagement, unconscious bias, and entrepreneurial thinking are also incorporated in the training framework.
“The PULSE programme is more than just a postdoctoral fellowship – it is a comprehensive training initiative designed to equip researchers with the scientific and professional skills needed for future scientific leadership roles. By combining advanced scientific training with industry collaboration and transferrable skills development, PULSE prepares postdocs for their future careers, be it in academia, healthcare, industry or beyond”, says Jessica Lindvall, Training Director of the programme and Head of Training at SciLifeLab.
Through PULSE, SciLifeLab will team up Swedish university partners and associated partners representing research infrastructures, research institutes and companies. Collaboratively, these partners will contribute to the PULSE training programme. PULSE training coordinators Kristen Schroeder and Anna Ridderstad Wollberg have been instrumental in developing the form and content of this programme.
“The program consists of three components: hands-on scientific training through working on research projects, advanced scientific training through SciLifeLab’s infrastructure as well as secondments with industry partners, and transferable skills training, which includes leadership, communication, and other key competencies outlined in the European Competence Framework for Researchers. This structure allows postdocs to build connections broadly with non-academic sectors, which can be crucial for future career opportunities. Our focus is on connecting the postdocs with practical learning opportunities, providing experience they can draw on as future leaders” says Kristen Schroeder, Scientific Training Officer at SciLifeLab Training Hub.
While two-thirds of the PULSE positions will be part of the academic track, the Drug Discovery and Development Platform at SciLifeLab is leading one third of the postdocs in developing their research. Interacting with drug discovery experts, hosting principal investigators, secondments at associated partner labs as well as training by the innovation system will support the postdocs in their path towards commercialisation.
“Post docs in the entrepreneurial track will develop an entrepreneurial mindset applied on their own research, aiming to facilitate target based drug discovery”, says Anna Ridderstad Wollberg, Senior project leader at SciLifeLab Drug Discovery and Development platform.
For participants of both tracks, PULSE provides a structured framework that balances cutting-edge research with essential career development. The PULSE training materials that are part of this framework are also being developed as Open Educational Resources.
“One of the guiding values of the SciLifeLab Training Hub is to make knowledge transfer as open and inclusive as possible, so the expert lectures and structure of the workshops will be made available for anyone who wants to try it on their own. Other postdoc programs, individuals, or even group leaders who want to integrate more leadership training in their groups will be able to use these PULSE resources, regardless of where they are”, finishes Kristen Schroeder.
