Mike Young Academy commits to excellence and kindness initiative

New Danish network wants to promote a more compassionate scientific culture

From now on I will help foster a healthier scientific community.

This is what I promised to do when I last week joined something called the Excellence and Kindness in Research Initiative (ELIS).

And it has led me to reflect on how the content of my communication and social media workshops can help reinforce healthier and kinder practices for scientists. I have listed eleven practical examples of kindness in social media practices here.

The ELIS initiative

Academia can be nasty.

It can promote the pursuit of individual success over the achievement of a larger research mission. Competition can be chosen over collaboration within, and between, research groups. And there is only job security for the few, so many excellent scientists leave the pursuit of their calling to work elsewhere.

The Excellence and Kindness in Research Training (ELIS) initiative wants to change all that.

researchers will … eventually become supervisors and research leaders that reinforce a newer, kinder research culture

ELIS is a new collaborative training network and has activities that range from clinical research methodology, to the emotional aspects of research leadership, to new developments in scientific conduct and has been started up by Professor Thomas Bandholm, Professor Julie Midtgaard, and Professor Michael Skovdal Rathleff.

It is a network with a mission: By training younger researchers to achieve excellence in their scientific achievement with integrity, kindness, compassion, and empathy, the hope is that these same researchers will go on to eventually become supervisors and research leaders that reinforce a newer, kinder research culture themselves. One of the founders, Thomas Bandholm, is interviewed about the project here.

Scientific social media needs less self-promotion, less lobbying

The way I see it, scientific social media practices should be in line with ELIS’ excellence and kindness mission. But they are often not.

Some scientists communicate with, collaborate with, and discuss with others on social media fundamentally to promote themselves and to further their own careers. The logic is the logic of marketing. Social media success is measured in boosted download numbers, citations, and prestige. It is all about fighting for space in a zero-sum attention economy rather than the plus-sum goal of developing your own thinking or field.

Social media should be in the service of science, society, thought, and well-being

Other academics strive to achieve ‘thought leadership’ using techniques from the world of lobbying to dominate the social media debate on a particular topic. For them it is not about cultivating opposing views, but about winning and possessing their own position in the media space.

I am acutely aware that my own workshops can be used by scientists strategically for this kind of self-promotion and lobbying. But I try to fight this. Social media should be in the service of science, society, thought, and well-being. And I think I am already making a difference.

But by having Mike Young Academy endorse the ELIS initiative, I make a clearer definition of what the underlying vision behind my workshops is.

The content of my workshops for scientists is in line with the excellence and kindness principles.

They are:

• ​We pursue excellence, but not at the expense of kindness
• We provide mentorship and support—not leadership by force
• We show and promote transparency in research and leadership
• We discuss what excellence and kindness means for our activities
• We ensure all voices are heard and valued during discussions.
• We believe diversity and inclusion are important for wellbeing and success
• We talk about excellence and kindness in research training when given the chance
• We focus on collective success more than personal success
• We seek collaboration over resistance and unhealthy competition
• We view vulnerability as courage—not weakness or imperfection  ​

Does your department, faculty or university need to boost the international impact and career of your researchers? Here is more about my courses in social media for researchers. See other Mike Young Academy services here.