Neetha Balaram is an Assistant Professor at Department of Neurology in Government Medical College, Kozhikode. She is currently the lead for epilepsy subsection including paediatric epilepsy. In this invited article, she shares her experiences of navigating medical research outside her comfort zone as a clinician turned researcher.

Gitanjali Yadav is a Scientist at the National Institute of Plant Genome Research, New Delhi. She is also a Lecturer at the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, as one of the first appointees of a Joint Deputation Program between India and the U.K. She attended YIM 2016 as a Young Investigator. In this invited piece, she talks about the perennial hurdle of getting, and sustaining funds for research.

Anindita Bhadra is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Science, IISER, Kolkata. She attended YIM 2015 as a YI. In this invited post she writes about her long-drawn struggle to get a permanent faculty position at her institute.

Arpita Mukhopadhyay is an Associate Professor at the Division of Nutrition, St. John’s Research Institute, Bangalore. She attended YIM 2017 as a YI. In this guest post, she writes about why she got back to a full-time research career after having quit it earlier.

Madhulika Dixit is an Associate Professor at Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences, Indian Institute of Technology Madras. She attended YIM 2010 as a YI. In this invited piece, she writes about her unique experience as a faculty at an institute where majority of researchers are from Engineering background and often unaware of requirements of biological research.