Creating community: a peer-led, adaptable postdoc program to build transferable career skills and overcome isolation

Postdoctoral positions provide critical opportunities for early-career ecologists to build transferable skills, knowledge, and networks that will prepare them for professional success. However, these positions often come with personal and professional challenges such as stress, isolation, and lack of agency. Here, we describe a peer-led postdoc program we created to maximize benefits and minimize challenges while preparing ourselves for a wide range of possible future careers using our training and expertise in ecology. We also give recommendations for other postdocs and early-career scientists in ecology and across science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields seeking to build a similar program.