RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Promoting Open Discussions of Scientific Failure within the Annual Society for Neuroscience Conference
JF eneuro
JO eNeuro
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP ENEURO.0524-24.2024
DO 10.1523/ENEURO.0524-24.2024
VO 12
IS 3
A1 Hagenauer, Megan H.
A1 David Redish, A.
A1 Schiller, Daniela
A1 Bigos, Kristin L.
A1 Flagel, Shelly
A1 Rodriguez, Amilcar
A1 Parker, Zac
A1 O’Connor, Angela
A1 Ortiz-Gonzalez, Xilma
A1 Murphy, Deirdre
A1 Leeson, Rachel
A1 Community for Rigor
YR 2025
UL http://www.eneuro.org/content/12/3/ENEURO.0524-24.2024.abstract
AB The annual Society for Neuroscience (SfN) meeting is a bonanza of scientific achievement: famous keynote speakers, beautiful scientific results, and award ceremonies. This focus is exciting and invigorating but glosses over the many failures, mistakes, and rejections that typically lead to scientific success. Our goal has been to create a space within the annual SfN meeting for open conversation about scientific failure and, by doing so, increase transparency, resilience, and mental well-being within our community. In this article, we share the materials that we have used at SfN during the past 4 years (2021–2024) to promote discussions of scientific failure, including formal storytelling, individual and interactive games, and confessionals. For each activity, we provide the rationale and practical guidance regarding logistics and usage. We hope this will aid scientists interested in adapting the activities for their own communities or local events. We end with a call for scientific institutions to commit to providing space for open discussions of failure within their educational programs and conferences.