Megha Kumar is a DST Inspire Faculty fellow at the CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad. She is one of the Young Investigators selected to attend YIM2020 in Mahabalipuram. In this invited article, she writes about how her postdoctoral training in India helped prepare her for an academic career.

Vaishnavi Ananthanarayanan is an EMBO Young Investigator and a Wellcome Trust/DBT-India Alliance Intermediate Fellow. She attended YIM2014 as a post-doctoral fellow (PDF) and is an organiser for the upcoming YIM2020. In this invited article, she writes about her experience of transitioning from a DST-INSPIRE faculty fellow to an Assistant Professor at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

Ambadas Rode is an Assistant Professor at the Regional Center for Biotechnology (RCB), Faridabad. In this invited article, he talks about the many turns he took in his career path to reach his current position.

Dhiraj Bhatia is an Assistant Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar (IITGN). In this invited article, he speaks about his experience with the open lab system and how this can be a great advantage to a new Principal Investigator.

Smarajit Polley is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Biophysics, Bose Institute, Kolkata. In this invited article he writes about how he hit upon his topic of research, and how many different experiences throughout his life, beginning with his childhood, have shaped his scientific journey.