Le Peer Support Group de l'Institut Curie - L'interview

A group of young permanent researchers at Institut Curie have recently created a Peer Support Group. Officially launched on 10 October 2016, in a meeting opened by Geneviève Almouzni who welcomed this initiative, this group counts with the support by the Training Unit. We invited Paolo Pierobon (U932) and Cédric Delevoye (UMR144), two of the researchers behind this initiative, to tell us more about this project.

Qu’est-ce que le peer support group et quel est son rôle? / What is the peer support group and what is its role?

The peer support group aims at being a confidential and friendly space to promote a self-mentoring system for researchers where they can share experiences and solutions to common or specific problems concerning their everyday life in the lab, career choices, conflicts and even scientific aspects.

Qu’est-ce que vous a poussé à proposer la création du peer support group? / Why did you decided to create the peer support group?

Everything started after hearing the Uri Alon’s guitar talk (in 2014) that was describing similar structures in Harvard and Weizmann Institutes. Then, we realized that it might be a good opportunity to implement such group in Curie to gather researchers with diverse experiences and expertises. 

Quelles sont vos principaux objectifs ? What are the main goals of the group?

Our main aim is to discuss subjects not strictly related to our science but equally important for the well-being of the researcher, such as management of students, career timing and mentoring, motivation, visibility, or possible issues. One important role of the PSG is also to train and assist post-doctoral fellows in applying for permanent positions. For instance, some of the members of the PSG already provided such help this year. In order to exist as a « real entity », we have created a mailing list (about 100 researchers) useful for internal and/ or external exchanges (fundings, training unit, administration…).

Avez-vous d’ores et déjà eu des retours positifs par rapport à la création de ce groupe? Did you have already positive feedback concerning the creation of this group? Au moment, quelle était la réponse / adhésion des vos collègues? Until now, what has been the response / adherence to this initiative?

We first organized unofficial meetings with colleagues around drinks and pizzas, and we realized that they were very enthusiastic, thus it pushed us to officially organize the PSG thanks to the support of the direction and the training unit. 

Why joining the PSG?

We hope that we have initiated a group that will be self-driven. We really believe that the more numerous and diverse we are, the more interesting and helpful it will be. Such a group might foster and reinforce the scientific and social network of our Institute. 

For more information on the Peer Support Group please contact: Cédric Delevoye or Paolo Pierobon (cedric.delevoye [at] curie.fr (cedric[dot]delevoye[at]curie[dot]fr); paolo.pierobon [at] curie.fr (paolo[dot]pierobon[at]curie[dot]fr)). 

If you are a permanent researcher at Institut Curie you can subscribe to the Peer Support Group mail group by sending an email to: Peer.Support.Group [at] curie.fr (Peer[dot]Support[dot]Group[at]curie[dot]fr)