Tech startup pays scientists to distill cutting-edge research

LONDON - March 22, 2016 - PRLog -- In a recent survey, 35% of UK companies reported the use of referrals to hire for scientific roles, growing from just 26% last year, even though the usage of social media channels, including LinkedIn, jumped from 47% to 61%, and the share of companies posting to online jobs boards and their own websites remained at roughly 70% and 75%, respectively [1]. It is evident that standard online approaches and social media platforms are not fulfilling the needs of firms seeking scientific talent.

Sparrho, a six-person tech startup based in London, runs a discovery platform that helps researchers from 80 countries stay on top of science that matters to them, and are now applying their deep understanding of their users' needs to connect employers with the right PhD talent, whilst supporting scientific communication. Sparrho's long term vision is to minimise the barriers to accessing and understanding scientific research, so that anyone and everyone can stay up-to-date.

Through Sparrho, industry partners can sponsor selected PhD students and early-career researchers to write concise and easily understandable opinion pieces, or Research Perspectives, on the latest publications in across science and engineering. Within one month of announcing the initiative [2], Sparrho has already kicked off partnerships with Cambridge Coding Academy, Entrepreneur First, and PetaGene.

When it comes to career progression, young scientists have to balance high workloads with sparing the time to communicate their research achievements to the wider scientific community, as well as prospective employers. As the success of an academic researcher is still primarily judged by the quantity of their research publications, and which journals they publish in, most scientists will prioritise publishing a research paper over building their reputation in circles beyond their field.

Given the common lack of external exposure for researchers, it is concurrently difficult for employers, especially small firms with a niche focus like PetaGene, to identify suitable PhD talent for roles that require both business acumen and highly specific technical expertise.

Moreover, technology-focussed entrepreneurship programmes - such as Entrepreneur First - and educational ventures - such as Cambridge Coding Academy - are keen for PhD scientists to channel their expertise into improving general comprehension of cutting-edge research, and building tomorrow's game-changing innovations.

This partnership is just the beginning of Sparrho's long-term plan to improve the dissemination of scientific knowledge:

• The general public will be able to understand a wider range of scientific research through Sparrho's Research Perspectives.
• Researchers and PhD students can save time by using Sparrho as a platform to communicate their research as well as connect with prospective employers and alternative career development programmes.
• Employers and other organisations can work with Sparrho to reach their target candidates whilst supporting scientific communication at the cutting edge.

Sparrho is also continuing to independently sponsor Research Perspectives from all scientific and engineering fields. Interested researchers and students should simply leave their details at Sparrho's blog: http://blog.sparrho.com/

The first four industry-sponsored Perspectives are now available to view through Sparrho's platform and Sparrho's blog, written by PhD students from Imperial College London, University College London, and the University of Cambridge, and the University of Edinburgh:

1. "Detecting DNA on standard computer microchips"
(blog.sparrho.com/post/140627149262/)
2. "Predicting protein structure from coevolutionary information"
(blog.sparrho.com/post/140753056547/)
3. "A more consistent way for people to make quantitative judgements"(blog.sparrho.com/post/140751820247/)
4. "Learning geometry from 'clouds' of data"
(blog.sparrho.com/post/141424872222/)

Quotes:

Dr Vivian Chan, CEO and Co-founder of Sparrho, said:

"Sparrho is very excited to announce this new incentive model for PhD students and researchers to communicate their research findings to a wider audience, whilst connecting them with prospective employers and alternative career paths such as entrepreneurship. We have validated interest from both sides of the table, and we feel that this can lead to a step-change in the way scientific knowledge is disseminated and consumed."

Raoul-Gabriel Urma, Co-founder and CEO of Cambridge Coding Academy, said:

"Cambridge Coding Academy is dedicated to making personalised technology education more accessible, so we are excited to be working with Sparrho, who are similarly committed to this initiative. Sparrho's Research Perspectives provide an excellent way to gain insight into the latest Data Science and Machine Learning techniques, share technical expertise, and discover new opportunities in the field."

Chloe Lianos, Talent Associate at Entrepreneur First, said:

"Entrepreneur First are excited to work with Sparrho to ensure that top class research in AI, machine learning, and informatics is more widely accessible. Condensed perspectives of these cutting edge research papers is the first step to open access of vital research thus furthering tech innovation."

Dr Dan Greenfield, Co-founder of PetaGene, said:

"PetaGene is excited to be working with Sparrho to extend our presence in the United States, whilst supporting young researchers to participate in science communication. We think this is an initiative that benefits everybody involved."

References:

[1] "The state of the job market in science", 26 Feb 2016, jobs.newscientist.com/en-gb/article/the-state-of-the-job-market-in-science/

[2] "Can a computer help you digest cutting-edge scientific research?", 25 Jan 2016, blog.sparrho.com/post/138022983792/


Notes to Editors:

About Sparrho

Sparrho is the world's most intuitive AI-driven platform to help researchers and professionals stay on top of science that matters to them. Currently holding more than 24 million items from over 21,000 sources, Sparrho has the most comprehensive, structured repository of scientific content - from publications to patents to multimedia - and the most accurate content recommendations developed by world-class scientists. Sparrho was founded in 2013 out of frustration by two Oxbridge scientists and now has a talented team based between Cambridge and London, UK.

Learn more: www.sparrho.com

About Cambridge Coding Academy

Cambridge Coding Academy is a venture dedicated to making high-quality technical education personalised and accessible to everyone. Cambridge Coding Academy is supported by the Cambridge Computer Laboratory, the University Careers Service, Cambridge Judge Business School, The Royal Society of Arts and HRH the Duke of York.

Learn more: www.cambridgecoding.com

About Entrepreneur First

Entrepreneur First (EF) was founded by Matt Clifford and Alice Bentinck to help top technical talent build world-class tech startups in London. It is the only pre-seed investment programme in the world to accept candidates pre-team, pre-idea with individuals selected purely on the basis of their technical ability or domain expertise.

Learn more: www.joinef.com

About PetaGene

PetaGene is a provider of revolutionary solutions for smaller and faster genomics data. Developed by a team of award-winning PhD graduates from the University of Cambridge, PetaGene was initially part of a project exploring new storage and compression approaches in collaboration with the European Bioinformatics Institute. It achieves up to a 5x reduction in both storage costs and data transfer times, and integrates with existing storage infrastructure and bioinformatics pipelines.

Learn more: www.petagene.com