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Graduate students increasingly use artificial intelligence tools to search the literature, design presentations, generate code and summarize papers, but many fear it could erode the very skills a doctorate is meant to build. According to Nature’s 2025 global survey of PhD students, 81% said they don’t fully trust AI tools and 65% are worried that AI could weaken their thinking, research and writing skills. This free live 60-minute webinar from Nature’s careers team investigates how doctoral programmes are adapting to accommodate future workplace needs and how PhD students are embracing the technology and its potential, alongside striving to maintain and develop core research skills.
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If you would like to submit any questions to the panelists in advance, please email naturecareerseditor@nature.com.
Nature Careers enables employers, senior researchers and faculty leaders to efficiently attract and hire world‑class scientific talent through trusted global reach, targeted job advertising and employer branding solutions.
Speakers
Yanjun Gao
Professor and Co-Director
Center for Health AI, University of Colorado Anschutz
Yanjun Gao is a computer scientist and Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, where she also serves as Co-Director of the Center for Health AI. Her research focuses on trustworthy AI and natural language processing, particularly large language models, uncertainty, and clinical reasoning and decision-making in healthcare.
Thane Campbell,
Dean of Education
Deep Science Ventures
Thane is Dean of Education at Deep Science Ventures, where deep tech founders train to tackle global challenges. As an accredited College, DSV delivers the world's first PhD in invention, the Venture Science Doctorate. With 40 universities and national research assets, including EMBL, The National Physical Laboratory and Helmholtz Association, DSV is replaying dynamics which established trillion-dollar industries before.
The Venture Science Doctorate inspired the UK government’s UKRI Venture Doctorates, committing £25m to training 150 PhDs to found deep tech companies. Thane’s work is also published by ARIA, Forbes, and Cell. His immunology PhD was completed at The University of Edinburgh in collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline.
Omar Shabana
PhD Student
University of Cambridge
Omar is a PhD student at the University of Cambridge, UK. His research uses organoids plus high throughput microscopy to answer questions around the gut microbiome and immunity. Omar has degrees in immunology from the universities of Edinburgh, UK, and Cambridge University and has previously worked at University College London and the University of Oxford, UK. Alongside his research, he acted as a managing director in the biotech incubator Nucleate UK and occasionally writes scientific articles for international media.
Julie Gould
Journalist (Moderator)
Julie Gould is a London-based science journalist, speaker, panel moderator and podcast producer best known for her work on Nature Careers’ Working Scientist podcast. She specializes in exploring careers in science, research culture, innovation, diversity in STEM, and the intersection of science with society and the arts. Through interviews with researchers, policymakers and industry leaders, she has built a reputation for making complex scientific and career topics engaging and accessible to broad audiences.