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Community-driven online initiatives have reshaped scientific engagement

Nature Reviews Materials volume 6, pages 963–965 (2021)Cite this article

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An Author Correction to this article was published on 14 October 2021

This article has been updated

Scientists have reacted to COVID-19 restrictions by organizing virtual seminars and journal clubs to maintain engagement. We reflect on our experiences and lessons learned from organizing such initiatives and highlight how, far from being temporary substitutes of in-person counterparts, they can help foster more diverse, inclusive and environmentally friendly scientific exchange.

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Fig. 1: The global reach of community-driven online initiatives that have emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Acknowledgements

I.d.L. acknowledges the Topics in Bioengineering organization team at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences for their contributions running the seminar during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as invited speakers for their time and enthusiastic participation. J.P.K.A. and N.J.K. acknowledge B. Aguado and S. Quackenbush, who have helped to organize and co-chair several Virtual Seminars in Biomedical Science, as well as the speakers that have contributed to the success of the series. W.P. and S.S. wish to acknowledge all presenters and journal club attendees for their participation and continued support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials, Imperial College London, London, UK

    James P. K. Armstrong

  2. John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Irene de Lázaro

  3. Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA

    Irene de Lázaro

  4. Department of Bioengineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Natalie J. Kirkland

  5. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Wilson Poon

  6. UCSF Diabetes Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Wilson Poon

  7. Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Shrey Sindhwani

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  1. James P. K. Armstrong
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  2. Irene de Lázaro
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  3. Natalie J. Kirkland
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  4. Wilson Poon
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  5. Shrey Sindhwani
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to James P. K. Armstrong, Irene de Lázaro, Natalie J. Kirkland, Wilson Poon or Shrey Sindhwani.

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Related links

Nanomedicine Journal Club: https://tinyurl.com/NanoJournalClub

Topics in Bioengineering: https://tib.seas.harvard.edu/

Virtual Seminars in Biomedical Sciences: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsmlV5qnnBqRuzgbZ1IFvDQ/about?view_as=subscriber

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Armstrong, J.P.K., de Lázaro, I., Kirkland, N.J. et al. Community-driven online initiatives have reshaped scientific engagement. Nat Rev Mater 6, 963–965 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-021-00384-y

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