I am pleased to share a new collaborative paper published in Nature Human Behaviour, exploring how the structures of modern academia can constrain scientific creativity, particularly among early-career researchers.

From short funding cycles and publish-or-perish pressures to metric-driven evaluation, conservative peer review, and precarious career paths, many aspects of academic life can unintentionally encourage safe, predictable research over bold and unconventional ideas. Yet scientific creativity requires time, autonomy, and the freedom to explore uncertain ideas — including the possibility of failure.

The paper, “How contemporary academic structures constrain scientific creativity and hold back early-career researchers”, reflects on how we can create an academic environment that better supports curiosity, innovation, and scientific progress.

Read the paper here!