Interactive Panel Discussion: Professional advancement through real and virtual international collaboration

Women in Cognitive Science (WICS) has a history of conducting panels at yearly meetings of several professional societies. Their goal is to increase attention to the situation of women cognitive scientists, to better understand the reasons for existing problems of under representation in key positions, and to provide a forum for professional development that encourages both junior and senior scientists to consider the ways in which they might work with their own home institutions to effect change. Specific topics have addressed networking and collaboration, best practices for institutional transformation, and issues of family and academic careers. Speakers and panelists have included both women and men who represented senior and junior scientists and topics have focused on the experience of both faculty and administration in negotiating these issues and in developing policies that are likely to support women’s success. Its history demonstrates that WICS is in a unique position to address the concerns of junior as well as senior scientists as they pursue their professional careers in the sciences. The Interactive Panel Discussion: Professional advancement through international collaborations seeks to bring together American and European researchers in Cognitive Science at the 2013 meeting of the Cognitive Science Society in Berlin, Germany. Speakers will discuss national and international collaborations as a tool towards professional advancement and visibility. The central theme will be how to develop new research collaborations outside of one's primary institution, including international collaborations and why this is important to one's career development. All acknowledge that this is not a simple process and often evolves slowly, out of more social networking connections. While such solutions generally occur on an ad hoc basis and vary tremendously across individuals and settings, the aim of the WICS workshop is to enable discussion of this and related activities that enhance productivity and thus visibility. Discussion will include the role of virtual collaborations and virtual research networks in enhancing professional enhancement, even for women with less opportunity/money/time to travel. At the time of publication, R. Harald Baayen (Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen), Melody Dye (Indiana University, Bloomington), Laurie Feldman (SUNY, Albany & Haskins Labs), Lael Schooler (Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin), and Anne Warlaumont, (University, of California, Merced) have been invited to describe and contrast varied formats and goals of their international collaborations. These people represent American and European junior and senior researchers, some who have held positions as university administrators and department heads and chairs. Each will share his/her perspective. The theme of virtual as well as real collaboration will be of relevant not only to those who have funds to attend the meeting in Berlin but to those with more limited travel budgets. Materials from the speakers will be posted on the Women in Cognitive Science website. Because the networking function of our workshop differs from the goal