The Node Network

The Node Network is a global directory of developmental and stem cell biologists. It exists to help those organising conferences, assembling committees, seeking speakers for seminar series, looking for referees and so on to identify individuals who might not otherwise come to mind.

The Network is entirely inclusive – any member of the developmental and stem cell biology community, at any stage of their career, can join. It is also designed to help promote diversity in our field – as well as providing information on scientific field, model organism, place of work and career stage, members can also voluntarily provide details on aspects of diversity such as gender, race/ethnicity, LGBTQ+ identity and disability status. You are welcome to give as much or as little information as you like. We hope the Network will help promote diversity at our conferences and put an end to ‘manels’, but it can also be used solely in terms of science.

We’re conscious that we are inviting members to provide personal information, and we’ve designed the Node Network with data protection best practice in mind. To access the Node Network (as a ‘user’), you first need to register through a quick, automated process. If you are already registered on the Node, all you have to do is update your profile page. Becoming a ‘member’ of the Node Network community (entering your details into the directory) requires an additional registration step and manual approval by us which may take a couple of days. Users can contact members through an online contact form – no email addresses are made public – and we will keep a record of these contacts for a short period of time in case of any malicious activity.

We hope that the Node Network will be a valuable resource for the community, and welcome your feedback on any aspect of the site. Finally, we would like to thank all members of the community who completed our survey and helped to shape the Network, and to the curators of other similar initiatives (particularly Anne’s List, 500 Women Scientists, DiversifyEEB, Diversify PlantSci and Diversify Chemistry) and the Wellcome Trust Diversity and Inclusion team for inspiration and advice.

Please see our FAQ page for more information.