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The Lise-Meitner-Gesellschaft aims to raise awareness of gender inequality in the natural sciences and mathematics.

When she realised that reading papers and discussing science was just as enjoyable as doing research, Yaiza del Pozo Martín decided to move away from a career as a postdoc to try something different. She now works as an Assistant Editor for BMJ Open.

A “completely random” encounter with a former classmate propelled Richard Aragon from a postdoc to the world of science policy. He now works for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as the Chief of the Office of Program Planning, Analysis, and Evaluation at the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS).

Of all the tools that Diana Ordonez used to study populations of immune cells during her PhD and postdoc research, flow cytometry was the most important. Now she uses her experience and skills to advise and support other researchers as a Flow Cytometrist at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany.

Zoë Hilbert is a PhD student at MIT, where she studies neuronal gene expression in the roundworm, C. elegans.

After finishing his PhD in cancer genomics, Yilong Li felt that most academic labs did not have the computational infrastructure needed to tackle clinically relevant questions in genomics. He is now a Principal Scientist at a company called Seven Bridges Genomics.

Neuroscientist Leslee Lazar has always been interested in design and art. Now, as a freelance graphic designer, he creates visual aids that communicate complex scientific information – especially biomedical research – to the right audience.

After completing a PhD in biochemistry, Dennis Breitsprecher was sure that he wanted to pursue an academic career. However, he grew bored of constantly writing papers and grant applications as a postdoc, and is now Head of Biochemistry R&D at NanoTemper in Munich.

While doing a PhD in Pharmacology at King’s College London (KCL), Maria Fernandes seized a number of opportunities – setting up the KCL Pharmacological Society, organising events and sitting on committees – to gain enough experience to move into a career outside of research. She is now the Professional Development Manager at the Microbiology Society.

On reading that the 21st century would be known as the century of biology, mechanical engineering graduate Lining (Arnold) Ju decided to pursue a PhD in biomedical engineering. He is currently a postdoc at the Heart Research Institute and a lecturer at the University of Sydney in Australia, where he studies how platelets sense mechanical forces and how problems in this process can lead to various blood diseases.