PeerLadder’s Xènia Pérez Sitjà was at the 16th NorthernBUG, presenting a PeerLadder poster and – wearing her ELIXIR-UK hat – facilitating the opening workshop of the day. Among a room full of new faces, one turned out to be a familiar one – Sophia Ahmed, one of PeerLadder’s mentees, was among the attendees, and it was a lovely surprise to hear her call out a friendly hello mid-workshop.
We were able to catch up with Sophia about her experience in PeerLadder, as well as the challenges we both face when it comes to engaging staff with FAIR. Ten years on from the first publication of the FAIR principles, awareness has improved enormously – yet there is still so much work left to do. Even simple messages, such as FAIR ≠ OPEN, still need to be shared far more widely.
We also talked about how PeerLadder is exploring new cohorts and set-ups, and whether there might be an opportunity to work together at York to establish peer-mentoring groups there.
These are exactly the kinds of encounters that initiatives like PeerLadder help to build – connecting people across the community and turning shared challenges into shared opportunities.
