Member support
We know this the COVID-19 pandemic is a challenging time. We have a range of online resources to offer Members to help you through this period.
Mental health resources
During periods like the COVID-19 pandemic, it is more important than ever that you take care of your mental well-being. We host a suite of online training courses that help you identify potential signs of stress and mental ill-health in yourself and others. If you are supervising students, you might find the module about managing employees’ stress particularly useful.
Support and Inclusion Fund
The Society’s Support and Inclusion Fund can provide financial aid to Members in the most difficult of financial situations – including those resulting from COVID-19. Affiliate or Full Members who have been Members of The Society for at least one year can apply for personal financial support of up to £1000 through this fund. Please note that only one application can be submitted by each Member. To make an application, please complete the form on our website. You will be asked to explain your circumstances and how the funding will be used. This will be reviewed alongside other applications at the end of each month. Please note that this fund is finite and in order to ensure we are able to provide support to as many Members as possible in the most difficult of situations, we ask that you explore other avenues before submitting an application.
Teaching resources
Having to teach from home means a whole host of changes, from your setup to your interaction with students. Read articles from The Society’s blog and Physiology News magazine, which provide useful advice for making this transition:
- Physiology for the YouTube generation
- Visualising cell biology: We’ve an app for that! How I am incorporating molecular visualisation into my teaching
- Flipping physiology: Can we teach physiology in a different way? A traditionalist tries out some new tricks
- Open education: a creative approach to learning and teaching
- Blended learning in physiology – merging new technologies with traditional approaches
We also have a selection of videos which have been adapted from a Massive Online Open Course (MOOC), titled ‘Physiology: The Science of Life’, which ran in 2018 and 2019. The course was developed in partnership between The Physiological Society and the University of Liverpool, UK, and was hosted on FutureLearn. Feel free to use these videos in your teaching.
February 2020 webinar series
In February 2020, we partnered with the British Society for Immunology to organise a three-part webinar series to support the professional development needs of early career Members.
Building Resilience
Hear from immunologists John Tregoning and Cecilia Johansson about difficulties that all researchers face, and strategies to help overcome them.
Networking and Building an Online Presence
Hear from physiologist Dan Brayson about how to identify and pursue networking opportunities, and ways to build your online presence.
Transitioning to Independence
Hear from immunologist Viki Male about what it takes to start your own research group, and the different routes to achieving this.
Recordings of these webinars can be found in the video library. You must be a Member of The Society in order to access the library.
Enhance your career
Working from home during this time could be a great opportunity to enhance your career:
Grants for science communication and engagement: Science communication doesn’t have to be face to face. If you are looking to flex your science communication muscles while working from home then take a look at our science communication and engagement grant. We award grants every month of up to £500 that can be used to help you get started. For example, it could be used to buy equipment.
- Improving the accessibility of your research: With everyone spending even more time online in the coming weeks and months, this is a great opportunity to promote your research far and wide. If you haven’t done this before, our webinar ”Making your research more accessible” will give you some top tips on how to get started.
- Grant applications: For support with your grant applications, read our blog or watch this short video with suggestion from Maja Wallberg of the Wellcome Trust.
- Publishing for beginners: For help submitting papers to a scientific journal, learn from Mike Tipton (Editor-in-Chief of Experimental Physiology) and Kim Barrett (Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Physiology) about the dos and don’ts of publishing in high-quality journals.