Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone: Early Career Researcher Perspectives on Chairing a Session at an International Conference

Abstract

The fear of making mistakes and/or expressing ideas incorrectly is a common reason for early career researchers (ECRs) to avoid engaging in activities that they feel could expose them. This feeling often intensifies at international conferences, where renowned scientists in our field are present and the possibility of being judged becomes very real. Some of us can vividly recall our first international conference and the anxiety that crept up when entering the auditorium where we would present our work. That feeling can be amplified when ECRs decide to go a step further and organize their own conference session.

We are two ECRs from South America interested in the cycle of methane in freshwater ecosystems. Paula is a postdoctoral fellow in Canada working on methanotrophy in lakes, and Sofia is finishing up her Ph.D. in Argentina, looking at methane dynamics in Pampean lakes. In 2022, during the conference of the International Society of Limnology, the desire to organize our own session at an international conference in the future sparked in us. At that moment, doubts abounded: What should the session focus on? Should we target a broad audience or be very specific? Who would be interested in presenting during our session? Are more experienced researchers going to propose sessions that might overshadow ours? Would our proposed session be accepted? How can we effectively and confidently communicate with our audience? These and other concerns crossed our minds, but we persevered and submitted a session proposal for the ASLO Aquatic Sciences Meeting to be held in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, in June 2023.

Our session focused on the recent advances in understanding the biological and physical controls on the cycle of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, in freshwater and marine ecosystems. Despite significant progress in recent decades, much uncertainty remains regarding mechanistic explanations, quantitative estimations, upscaling, and predictions of each component of the intricate methane cycle. We invited contributions related to any step (production, oxidation, accumulation, emission, food web incorporation) and at every scale (from molecular to global) in both freshwater and marine systems. Session presentations included experimental and field evidence of oxic methane production, methane oxidation by aerobic bacteria under oxygen-limited conditions, the importance of neglected methane emission pathways such as plant mediated and ebullition, the effect of submerged macrophytes on methane dynamics, sediment flushing and degassing in hydropower reservoirs, and coupled physical and biogeochemical modeling (Fig. 1). Some of the ECRs in the audience approached us after the session curious about the process we went through to organize it, and some even suggested that we publish a note about our experience. Below we share our journey and the valuable lessons we learnt, particularly that confronting our fears and preparing well can lead to unexpected and positive outcomes in our professional endeavors.

Our journey from initial trepidation to a successful session at the ASLO 2023 Aquatic Sciences Meeting underscores the value of preparation and confronting our fears. The unexpected positive outcomes, such as the well-received introductory talk and the encouragement we received from our peers, reaffirm the importance of acting outside of our comfort zone. In addition, our deliberate inclusion of ECRs as invited speakers during the session highlights the benefits of providing opportunities for young scholars. We strongly encourage ECRs to step up and organize sessions at their upcoming conference and to strive to provide opportunities for other ECRs when in a position where they can do so. Our session on the cycle of methane in freshwater and marine ecosystems exemplified the diverse and critical research in this field, and we are excited to see how it continues to evolve.