Eleanor Palser: Mentor Q&A

For National Mentoring Month in January 2021, we asked mentors throughout the Diversity Program Consortium to respond to this brief questionnaire. The responses to these Q&As help showcase the important work mentors do every day, and highlights their creativity and dedication in revising their mentoring practices in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Read more to get acquainted with some of the mentors who work with the DPC.

Mentor Portrait: Jan. 2021 National Mentoring Month Q&A with Eleanor Palser, Ph.D.

1. Tell us a bit about your background; for example, when did you become interested in science and what was the reason? Was there a mentor who helped you on your education and/or career pathway? 

I grew up in a very rural environment in south Wales in Britain, and was not hugely academic. My parents, however, inspired great curiosity and learning, and I was always either outside exploring the natural world or reading. I was always interested in classifying living things and knew most local species of bird by name and had a great interest in hunting out unusual mushrooms and fungi. We thought I would go on to study biology if I attended university at all, but a comment from a high school teacher discouraged me. Around the same time, I took a course in psychology. While my peers struggled to understand the experiments and remember the names and dates of influential studies, I flourished, and decided to pursue an undergraduate degree in the topic, with the end goal of becoming a clinical psychologist. It was at this point I began to do well academically. I found the biological aspects of psychology and their possible relevance to the development of clinical disorders particularly fascinating, and decided to pursue a masters and then a PhD. As a first-generation college student and woman in science, mentorship has been incredibly important. I think it can make or break a career at this particularly precarious junction of trying to find your place in a field and was influential in my continuing a research career instead of pivoting entirely to clinical work. I consider myself very lucky to have benefited from kind and dedicated mentorship both as a PhD candidate and now, during my postdoctoral training. As I progress, I really want to pay this debt forwards to other junior scientists. 

2. What is your area of research?

I study how signals that pass from the body to the brain influence how we think and feel. So much of neuroscience and psychology still considers the brain in isolation, a segregated processing unit that directs the body. In fact, in certain pathways, there is far more traffic travelling from the body to the brain than vice versa. My research considers the significance of these signals for emotion, how we interact with others, and clinical conditions in which these processes may be altered. 

3. The past year has presented many new challenges for all of us. What are some of the challenges you have faced as a mentor or as a researcher? What were some of the solutions you found? 

The past year has been a lesson in taking stock of what you can do, what you cannot do, and letting go of the latter. As a mentor, new methods of communication and teamwork have been needed. Making sure that mentees feel that they can talk to you, when we can only see each other on a screen, and may not be able to rely on subtle social signals, has been important. 

4. Has your idea of what it means to be a mentor evolved during the past months?

The pandemic has emphasized to me that being a mentor is not just about providing training and experience in a particular field. It is also about ensuring a mentee knows they are valued, and are given space and opportunities to grow into the researcher they want to be.

5. How have you supported your mentees during the pandemic?

Many people are working from home, with children, partners or roommates, in environments not designed for work and study. A greater emphasis on flexible working hours means that mentees can work when it is best for them. I have also tried to be available to answer questions outside of normal working hours in order to facilitate this.

6. What is something valuable that your mentees have taught you?

They have taught me that seeing a mentee flourish and go on to great things is far more rewarding than experiencing personal success.

7. Mentoring plays an important role in fostering a community in STEM. What words of encouragement can you offer to your fellow researchers and mentors?

Seeing people like yourself in leadership roles is extremely important, because it communicates that you are welcome in this community. While we strive as a community to achieve diversity in this area, actively supporting and championing under-represented minorities in STEM is one way we can help to reduce the attrition rate of talented junior scientists who may not feel that they belong.