Plenary
Session chair: Dr Bethany Pettifor (University of Birmingham)
For this session, we are going beyond the impact factor to ask our panellists about their careers in publishing, selecting the right journal for your research, and how to deal with difficult feedback!
Joy Watts is Associate Dean for Research and Innovation and a Professor of Environmental Microbiology. After her undergraduate studies at LJMU, she focused on soil microbiology during her PhD with Prof. Liz Wellington at the University of Warwick. Post-doctoral studies were performed at the Centre of Marine Biotechnology (Baltimore, USA) with Prof. Kevin Sowers, focusing on PCB degradation in anaerobic sediments in estuarine systems. Followed by a faculty position at Towson University (Maryland, USA). Then returning to the UK, specifically the University of Portsmouth as SL in 2010. Her research focuses upon the application of molecular tools to better understand microbial diversity and ecology in environmental systems. Areas of interest include community interactions that enable the degradation of recalcitrant organic compounds- especially in anaerobic environments.
She has had a range of active expert panel roles and is currently part of the scientific steering committee for the DSMZ. She is also Editor-in-Chief for Environmental Microbiome and Senior Editor for Microbiome. With a funding track record from the NSF, European Commission, NERC and Research England. As ADR she spends too much time thinking about the REF and looks forward to returning to the laboratory and science!
Following a BSc (Hons) in Biology at the University of Bath, Lindsay joined the Society for Endocrinology/Bioscientifica in 2006 as an Editorial Assistant, subsequently being promoted to Peer Review Staff Editor, Managing Editor and Publisher. Throughout this time she worked with both the Society for Endocrinology and client societies to run their journal editorial offices, ensuring optimal peer review processes, supporting journal Editorial Boards and latterly focusing heavily on journal development. In 2020 Lindsay began working as a Freelance Managing Editor for The Editorial Hub, working with publishers including Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press. Lindsay joined AMI in April 2023 as Journal Development Manager, supporting the Director of Publishing, our journal editorial boards and our publishing partners to develop AMI’s journals in line with publishing strategy.
Nonia received a degree in Biochemistry and a PhD in Molecular Biology from the Autonoma University of Madrid, the latter for studies on RNA virus evolution and new antiviral strategies in the lab of Esteban Domingo. Nonia then moved to UCLA for postdoctoral research, where she focused on developing lentiviral vectors for gene therapy in Irvin Chen’s laboratory. In 2007, Nonia joined the EMBO reports editorial team and over 8 years, held various editorial roles in which she was responsible for a broad range of topics within molecular and cell biology. In 2015, Nonia joined the launch team of Nature Microbiology and, after handling microbiology at Nature for two years, became Chief Editor of Nature Microbiology in 2019. In March 2020, Nonia joined PLOS Biology as Editor-in-Chief.
