Collegiality Awards: An International Platform for Young Investigator Opportunities

Abstract

Collegiality—an unusual word, of French origin. Collégialité was in fact first used in Belgium in the 1880s to express colleagueship: the relationship between colleagues. In more recent definitions, both in print dictionaries and online, however, the word encompasses the concept of respect for another’s commitment to a common purpose and the ability to work toward it. Now, for the Society for Investigative Dermatology (SID), the European Society for Dermatologic Research (ESDR), and the Japanese Society for Investigative Dermatology (JSID), the term has been embodied in the Collegiality Awards program. This series of awards was established in 2007 with a broad vision to foster and promote the careers and professional visibility of young investigators, with an emphasis on international experience and exchange. The goal was quite simple: to create a framework and something tangible that could help promising researchers obtain international exposure of their work at an early stage in their career and thereby help develop their professionalism and sense of achievement. The hope was that this would be an effective way to stimulate academic exchange as well as new professional interactions, collaborations, and friendships. The objective was for a research-active fellow in one Society—who regularly attends and contributes to that Society’s meetings—to be encouraged to submit an abstract (reporting new data) for presentation at one of the other Society’s meetings. En route to or on the way back from that meeting, the fellow’s own Society would help support a visit to a department or institute at which he or she could present data and enjoy some academic discussions and feedback, as well as some local hospitality. Registration fees for the guest Society meeting would be waived, and some academic recognition and professional respect from sister-Society colleagues would also be part of the package. Initial collegiality awards were established between the ESDR and the SID, but perspectives were broadened at the International Investigative Dermatology (IID) meeting in Kyoto in May 2008. At that conference, the JSID decided to host a collegiality evening for young investigators. The event was a great success, being 10-fold oversubscribed. New friendships were forged, and the real spirit of international young investigator collegiality took off. In 2009, with the JSID changing the language of its annual meetings entirely to English, a platform for a truly tri-Society series of collegiality awards became possible. To date, more than 20 Collegiality Awards have been made, and feedback has been very positive—awardees have cited benefits in terms of personal and professional development, the chance to talk science with both junior and senior investigators, and the opportunity to enjoy and learn from exposure to similarities and differences, both academic and cultural. But perhaps only now is the full infrastructure and tri-Society commitment in place to administer and implement the program, and it is pleasing to report that it has the strong backing of all three Society Boards. Evaluating the success or failure of the program will take time, but for now the opportunities are there, and I urge all young investigators to check their Society websites for full details of the Collegiality Awards. Residents, PhD students, postdoctoral research fellows, lecturers, instructors, and assistant professors are eligible to apply. Broaden your horizons: international collegiality, in every sense, awaits you.