When science meets entrepreneurship.

Science industries, such as the health and medical industry, are experiencing increases in competition regarding commercializing, patenting, and funding of scientific outputs. As such, scientists are facing increased expectation to engage in academic entrepreneurship. OrganoVIR (Organoids for Virus Research) is a Horizon2020 Innovative Training Network (ITN) that aims to train Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) to lead innovation in the field of human organoids for virus research. To assist them in this process, OrganoVIR introduced a pre-Master of Business Administration program that introduced OrganoVIR's ESRs to the tools and knowledge necessary to navigate the competitive industry. In this article, we describe this innovative pre-Master of Business Administration program and highlight the importance as well as the need for having a pre-Master of Business Administration programs in a scientific training network.

Humanizing science: seven actions for PhD students to become next generation, future-proof scientists.

PhD students, also referred to as the early stage researchers (ESRs), that were participating in the European Union's Horizon 2020 consortium, OrganoVIR, have the ambition to become top scientists in virology with innovative, animal-free, research models; organoids. To achieve this ambition, developing more self-confidence and resilience was used to strengthen personal leadership needed in such professional role. Towards this purpose, seven actions have been selected that guide the ESRs through their PhD journey and help them elevate their career perspectives and employability in the international labor market. In this essay, we share the seven personal development actions that have been carried out by the ESRs in the OrganoVIR H2020 Innovative Training Network (ITN) project, with the goal of demonstrating how training human skills can contribute to innovation and collaboration in European research. This article is an effort by OrganoVIR's Training and Education Committee to provide views on personal growth and leadership awareness.

This article highlights the importance of including a personal development program in a research training program, particularly, one that employs PhD students. A survey conducted by Nature (2019) shows that PhD students work for over 40 hours every week and that they ranked their work­life balance as a main concern throughout their PhD project. Additionally, academic pressure, uncertainty, and the amount of workload also play a role in mental health problems amongst PhD students. PhD students struggling with mental health problems are reluctant to seek treatment. This is caused by the fear of stigma or the fear of potential negative impact it might have on their future careers. Supervised skill-building programs have shown to improve the lives of university students and to boost their professional influence ( Conley et al., 2015). These programs have helped minimize mental health problems such as anxiety and depression and can improve social and emotional skills. Within the OrganoVIR Personal Development Plan, OrganoVIR's PhD students, also known as early stage researchers (ESRs), were guided through seven actions to help them become the next generation of scientists. These actions include taking care of their personal well-being, achieving a better understanding of their purpose in life, discovering their own identity, having an excellent understanding of how values and beliefs impact internal and external communication, boost emotional competences, integrating insights in personal and professional life as well as experimenting with new leadership behavior, and recognizing and leading ethical dilemmas.