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Welcome to this month's ECR Newsletter where you will find key information on the following’:

• RDRC Courses
• Online Writing Groups for ECRs
• Enhancing Compassionate Creativity to Optimise Wellbeing & Performance Event
• Inclusivity Matters! Event
• 1:2:1 Careers Appointments now available
• Thinking about your Career?
• Participatory and Engaged Research Training
• ECR Liaison Forum
• New ECR Network - CSR Impact
• Research Grants & Funding
• Meet the New Reproducibility Team
• From Researcher to Youtuber to Author
• Knowledge Exchange Awards
• Presentation Skills for Researchers Webinar
• ECR Summer Networking Day
• IDSAI - Science Week 2022
• Latest Events and Opportunites
• and much more!

Please direct any questions you may have to researcherdevelopment@exeter.ac.uk.

Previous copies of Newsletters can be viewed by clicking here.

All courses are delivered online (please click on the course title for information and to book your place).

ECR Core Programme:-
Overcoming Imposter Feelings - 14/06/2022 (9.30 am - 12.30 pm)
GW4 - The Academic Recruitment Panel - 14/06/2022 (12.30 pm - 2 pm).  See below for full details.
Participatory and Engaged Research - 3 part course on 24.6.22; 1.7.22 and 15.7.22 (all 10.30 am - 1.30 pm).

Research and Innovation Essentials Series:-
Open Research - Publications, data and beyond - 22/09/2022 (10 am - 11.30 am)
Connecting with External Partners and Creating Opportunities - 22/09/2022 (2 pm - 3 pm)

Researcher-Led Initiatives:-
Enhancing Compassionate Creativity to Optimise Wellbeing & Performance - 20/06/2022 (10 am - 12 noon).
Inclusivity Matters! - 28/06/2022 (12.30 pm - 4 pm)

See the Researcher-Led Initiatives section below for details on the above events.

If you register for any of our above sessions, it is expected that you will attend. If you are not able to attend please log in to the ‘iTrent’ online system to remove your name from the relevant activity before it is due to take place. You will be expected to attend for the whole session and for ease of administration, attendance registers will be taken at the end of each session. Should you need to leave a session early or you experience ongoing technical issues, please email ResearcherDevelopment@exeter.ac.uk.

Groups have started back up again after the Easter break - all running 10 am - 12.30 pm - Click here for dates and details of how to join this group.

To make things easy, these sessions can be accessed via the same Teams link - click here.

"Having structured writing time that is set aside forces me to focus on writing when usually other things take over."

"I found this session incredibly useful for providing focused writing time for research. This can be difficult to find within a typical week and I hope to attend more of these sessions in the future."

"It was well structured and gave opportunity for short break in between."

These are just a few of the testimonials received from those who have attended these online groups.

These sessions follow a model where:-

• An Informal, dedicated support space is created for ECRs and Academics, in one virtual room, for you to be able to work without distractions.
• Time is structured into a series of working and discussion slots.
• The opportunity to learn from each other, share strategies, experiences, working goals and best practice is actively encouraged and facilitated.

​You can attend for as long as you need to!

We are looking to expand our team of facilitators so if you would like to find out more about becoming a facilitator please contact ResearcherDevelopment@exeter.ac.uk.

Enhancing Compassionate Creativity to Optimise Wellbeing & Performance
Monday 20 June 2022 (10am - 12 noon) - online

This event is a Researcher-Led Initiative that has been funded by the University of Exeter Researcher Development and Research Culture team. 

The workshop, delivered by Dr Lucie Clements and Dr Carl Bescoby, brings together ECRs to develop compassionate creativity. It is important to support and prioritise care for ourselves both within and outside of academia and research has suggested that practicing self-compassion may be a valuable way to enhance our general wellbeing, career success, workplace creativity and overall productivity. Academic settings have long been considered an inherently creative endeavour although recent research would suggest that creativity was being stifled with increasing emphasis placed on impact. During this workshop, you will increase your awareness and application of self-compassion within and beyond academia, develop compassionate creativity, and enhance general awareness of your wellbeing.  Register for the event here.

Tuesday 28 June 2022 (12.30 pm - 4 pm)
Hybrid event held in Chapel Lecture Theatre, Penryn Campus and on MS Teams

Inclusivity Matters! explores topics within equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in academic institutions, aiming to start a conversion that takes an intersectional approach to tackling issues of inequality and exclusion that are systemic within academia.

This event is a Researcher-Led Initiative that has been funded by the University of Exeter Researcher Development and Research Culture team.

We will be hosting three exciting speakers (Prof. Zenobia Lewis, University of Liverpool; Dr. Clara Barker, University of Oxford; Mette Westander, Disabled Students UK) to talk about their experiences in academic settings and share insights into how we can create a more inclusive working environment. This will be followed by a panel discussion where attendees can ask questions of their own.

The event is open to everyone - students and staff, academic and non-academic alike - and particulalry members of the University of Exeter and Falmouth University. You are welcome to attend for as long or as little as you’d like and can tune-in remotely via MS Teams.  To find out more and to register, click here.

Summer Dates Available!!

Unsure of your future career direction either within Academia or beyond Academia? Kate Foster, (Careers Coach for Researcher Development and Research Culture), is available to offer 1:2:1 Career coaching appointments for ECRs.  50 minute online appointments are available for you to book on by clicking here.

Kate can offer advice and discuss how to manage and plan your career.

If there are no timeslots available please contact ResearcherDevelopment@exeter.ac.uk.

Some recent testimonials:-
"A chance to reflect and think about my options, being heard."
"Very clear and direct tips!"
"Kate was very attentive and reassuring. She answered all of my questions."
"That the chat was confidential. That Kate was very easy to talk to."
"I felt like I was really being listened to and that my individual situation was being considered."

The GW4 Alliance of the most research intensive universities in the Southwest have just one remaining organised free lunch time career panel for Early Career Researchers and Postgraduate Researchers undertaking doctoral programmes. ECRs and PGRs from Exeter have been able to join researchers from Bath, Bristol and Cardiff for online events throughout May and June giving insights into career opportunities within and beyond academia. The events have drawn together academics and alumni from across the four institutions and given the opportunity to meet and network with other researchers from across GW4.

The final upcoming event is:

The Academic Recruitment Panel – Tuesday 14 June 2022 (12.30 pm - 2 pm)

Note, the above event is not being publicised beyond our academic community and will not be featured in the general Eventbrite events programme so only bookable through this link.

The series of panels have been organised by career consultants working with PGRs and ECR from the four partner institutions and aim to provide researchers with real life insights from practitioners on the range of opportunities available. Do take advantage of this unique opportunity to gain first-hand knowledge from those with experience of working both in academia and in roles outside of the university sector.

Book your place by clicking here.

Do you want to bring diverse perspectives to bear on your research? Better understand the interests of those who you want your research to benefit? Or how to better engage with research communities, patient groups or others for whom your research is relevant?

This 3 part course is designed to be an introductory overview of participatory and engaged research. It will provide you with an understanding of some of the basic concepts, terminology and practical approaches involved in engaged projects and support you as you develop your own project from initial idea to funding proposal.  There will also be homework tasks designed to enrich your learning and lead you towards a plan of action tailored to your research.  We will provide resources and tools to support participatory and engaged research, and participants will be encouraged to share their own resources and practices.

Session 1- What is, and why do we do, participatory/engaged research?  24/06/2022 (10:30-13:30)
This session provides an introductory overview of participatory and engaged research. It will touch lightly upon some of the histories of these movements and why they are so pertinent in today’s academic context (equality, diversity and inclusion, responsible research and decolonising academia).

Session 2- Getting practical 01/07/2022 (10:30-13:30)
This session explores participatory methods for engagement or participatory research. We will explore, share and practice a range of approaches and their potential value with the aid of in-depth case studies.

Session 3- Managing your project and applying for funding 15/07/2022 (10:30-13:30)
This session will explore some of the unique requirements in managing participatory and engaged work including the ethics of engagement as well as some of the tensions between this work and traditional University systems that tend to be geared up for more traditional research.

Thursday 7 July 2022 (10 am - 11.30 am) - Online
The ECR Liaison Forums are a fantastic opportunity for Early Career Researchers to meet and discuss what their community needs from the University. The forums typically meet four times a year and have representation on various boards across the University, to take ideas and requests forward. If you would like to be involved please register here.

On 7 July 2022 (12 noon - 2 pm) at Building One Constantine Leventis Teaching Room a newly founded ECRN, CSR IMPACT, will hold a catered sustainable lunchtime meet & greet to celebrate and brainstorm group activities. The Corporate Social Responsibility Researcher Impact Network or CSR IMPACT for short is a new network built for those interested in researching, engaging in, and widening the participation of collaborations between academia and industry on the topic of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Research on CSR cuts across many schools, departments, and institutes at the University of Exeter, and offers exciting opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration. If you are an early career researcher interested in discovering paths into CSR work from academia, CSR IMPACT seeks to host industry guests in the future to discuss their own experiences and inroads into this rapidly growing field in both academia and industry. To RSVP for the free event, please email David Wallace-Hare at csrimpact@proton.me.

Open Innovation Platform - 2021/22
Applications are welcomed on a rolling open call basis until the fund is fully allocated.
Two complimentary funding schemes to accelerate the translation of your research into economic and societal benefit by engaging and collaborating with external partners or by advancing the commercialisation of your research.

Link Fund - Awards of up to £3,000 to support the creation of ‌links with new external organisations where there are clear opportunities for collaboration or to develop innovative ways of engaging with existing partners

Collaboration Fund  - Awards of up to £15,000 to support short term collaborations with external organisations to translate existing research into advances in new or existing products, services, policies or practice.

For more information about the above, click here.

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Funding Opportunity – ESRC Festival of Social Science (FoSS)
Applications are now welcome for events as part of the ESRC’s Festival of Social Science (FoSS) 2022.This year the FoSS will run from Saturday 22 October – Sunday 13 November. Applications for up to £1k are welcome from researchers to hold an event that promotes social science and brings it to life for a non-academic audience. Find out more by clicking here.

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New funding call
Wellcome ISSF funded TREE are delighted to launch a new pump priming initiative to support interdisciplinary research. Find out more details about the initiative and how to apply online.

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ECR Fellowship funding opportunity
InterAct has recently launched a new Fellowship aimed at supporting early career researchers (ECRs) seeking to engage with the Made Smarter and InterAct agendas.  Find out more by clicking here.

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Check out the Research Toolkit webpages for more opportunities.

Following a recent competitive call for an institutional lead for the UK reproducibility Network (UKRN), Prof Neil Gow is delighted to announce the appointment of a team of researchers to fulfil the position.

Prof Mark Kelson (CEMPS) has been appointed as institutional lead and will be supported in this role by Dr Eilis Hannon (CMH) and Dr Gavin Buckingham (CLES). The institutional team will be working with the senior leadership team on mechanisms to support more transparent methodologies and sharing of research data, and the integration of reproducibility as a core component of the Exeter Researcher.

This is in addition to the appointment of Dr Janice Ranson (CMH) as local area network lead for the UKRN, who is supported by Sofia Fernandes (Library Services). The Local Network Lead provides a point of contact for the UKRN, and represents the grassroots network of researchers at the University of Exeter.

Reproducibility, at its heart, is about ensuring that the scientific results we deliver can be reproduced by others. It involves researchers being transparent about their methods and the ultimate goal is to increase the rigour, efficiency and reusability of our institutional output. It plays a key role in fostering an open research culture.

Exciting initiatives are to come from this group including: a scoping review of reproducibility across different disciplines and a rolling programme of reproducible coding training.
If you have ideas about reproducibility and would like to be involved, the team would love to hear from you.

The reproducibility team work closely with our Research Ethics and Governance Manager, Gail Seymour, and her team, in order to promote good practice and align with both internal policies and external ones such as the Universities UK Concordat for Research Integrity.

To join the UKRN Exeter community and receive information related to upcoming events and opportunities, register here.

Prof Mark Kelson – M.J.Kelson@exeter.ac.uk
Dr Eilis Hannon – E.J.Hannon@exeter.ac.uk
Dr Gavin Buckingham – G.Buckingham@exeter.ac.uk
Dr Janice Ranson – J.Ranson@exeter.ac.uk
Sofia Fernandes – C.S.S.Fernandes@exeter.ac.uk

In the latest episode of staff member Kelly Preece’s podcast, Researchers, Development and the Inbetweens, Kelly talks to Dr. Simon Clark - University of Exeter PhD graduate, Youtuber and author of Firmament: The Hidden Science of Weather, Climate Change and the Air That Surrounds Us. You can listen to the interview online or you can listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts and Stitcher!

Knowledge Exchange Awards – call for nominations
Deadline for Project Nominations - Friday 1 July 2022
Nominations are now open for the Knowledge Exchange Awards, which will celebrate the best impactful, innovative collaborations between the University and external partners.  Click here for more information and register your project here.

You are invited to jobs.ac.uk’s and Vitae’s exclusive webinar on ‘Presentation Skills for Researchers’. Join this live session at 1 pm on Wednesday 22 June, which will be hosted by Dr. Mhairi Towler, CEO of Vivomotion. Learn how to prepare for presenting, interviewing and building your academic network in a range of scenarios. To register, click here.

ECR Summer Networking Day
Wednesday 6 July 2022 (9.30 am – 4.30 pm)
Positive Lights (Exeter) AND Master’s Suite, Seminar Rooms 1 & 2 (Penryn Campus)

Ticket Registration:-
Exeter: Click here
Penryn: Click here

A full day of networking for ECRs including:

• Poster presentations
• Speed networking sessions
• Talks from established leaders in their field
• Workshops on building relevant skills
• Creative arts and wellbeing sessions
• Delicious free lunch!

There are two parallel events - one at Positive Lights in Exeter, and the other at the Penryn campus in Cornwall with virtual links between the two sites. This event is open to absolutely all ECRs across all colleges so come along and enjoy a summer’s day sharing experiences and networking with colleagues from across the University.

Contact for more details:
Exeter event: N.Jeffery@Exeter.ac.uk
Penryn event: P.Onnis@Exeter.ac.uk

27 June - 1 July 2022 (9 am - 5 pm)
IDSAI invites you to join in celebrating the best of Data Science and AI at Exeter by hosting a week long series of talks, research project presentations and training opportunities at the Streatham and Penryn Campuses.

Sessions are open and accessible to all Exeter staff and students and the wider IDSAI community. We are currently putting the programme together. Please keep an eye on the website for further details including how to register and how to get involved.

Please see below for further information on the following  events listed below:-

Networking session for Early Career Researchers (ECRs) – part of Data Science Week 2022
Thursday 30 June 2022 (4 pm - 5 pm) Xfi Building Atrium (Streatham Campus)

The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence – Agile Rabbit Event
Thursday 30 June 2022 (starts 6 pm) at the Exeter Pheonix
 

Exeter Respect Festival 2022

11 and 12 June 2022 (11.30 am - 7 pm) Belmont Park, Exeter
At this year's Festival you will get the chance to sample the wealth of content of stalls providing everything from global food to fine clothing and handmade crafts, plus information about local communities and organisations delivered with a very genuine smile. This year’s theme is dedicated to Environmental Justice. To find out more, click here.

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Confronting the Colonial Archive - Heritage Collections and Special Collections Event
Tuesday 21 June 2022 (1 - 2.30 pm) Online
Registrations close 21 June @ 9 am.
Heritage Collections and Special Collections host this internal which looks at the issues and debates surrounding records research and record-keeping. For more information and to register click here.

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Confronting the Colonial Archive: Workshop and Display
Thursday 23 June 2022 (1 pm - 3 pm) Digital Humanities Seminar Room
Registrations close 20 June @ 12 noon.
Special Collections and Heritage Collections are providing a rare chance for people to interact with their colonial archive, sponsored by the International Institute for Cultural Enquiry (IICE).

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Understanding and Winning Innovation Grants
Thursday 23 June 2022 (Pt 1) and 30 June 2022 (Pt 2) - 10 am - 12 noon - online.
This two part online course, delivered by Granted Consultancy Ltd, will cover what funders - in particular Innovate UK - look for in an innovation funding application, what makes up a bid, the questions they ask and how to successfully answer them to secure funding. To find out more and to register click here.

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Are You on Form?: Illness and Literary Criticism
Monday 27 June 2022 (11 am - 2.30 pm) @ Digital Humanities Lab.
For more information and to register (by 15 June 2022) - click here.
Some approaches to illness narratives and stories regard reading as direct access to patient's experiences, but we demonstrate the importance of the aesthetic qualities of narrative, with emphasis on craft, technique, and style. We will be focusing specifically on form, emphasising how these are crafted texts, which do not provide an unmediated window into the illness. With a focus on examples of modern and contemporary medical writing, such as health advice and guidance, medical journalism, and illness essays, we ask what these forms tell us about medicine and health, and why are the forms so significant? Free entry and lunch/ refreshments provided.

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Networking session for Early Career Researchers (ECRs) – part of Data Science Week 2022
Thursday 30 June 2022 (4 pm - 5 pm) Xfi Building Atrium (Streatham Campus)
This event is a chance to meet and catch up with other ECRs from across the University who have an interest in data science (however big or small – all are welcome). After the last two years, to be able to meet and network again in person is reason to celebrate. So please come along and enjoy drinks, nibbles, and data science chat. Register your interest here (select “Thurs 30 June 16:00-17:00: Session 5”).
As a celebration of data science at the University of Exeter, we would like to decorate the session with posters by ECRs. If you have a poster you would like to volunteer (it needn’t be new), please email c.kirkwood@exeter.ac.uk with a provisional title by 17/06/2022 – there will be prizes on the day!

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The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence – Agile Rabbit Event
Thursday 30 June 2022 (starts 6 pm) at the Exeter Pheonix
As part of Data Science Week 2022, the Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence are providing free entry to the exciting Agile Rabbit event ‘The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence’.  Simply use the code ‘FREEIDSAI’ when you book your ticket here (but please, only book if you intend to come).

For those attending the preceding networking session for Early Career Researchers on Thursday 30th of June from 4pm to 5pm in the Xfi building atrium (see above event), we will be walking down to the Exeter Phoenix on Gandy Street afterwards – feel free to join us, or to attend either or both events independently.
For more information about the full program of events for Data Science Week 2022, click here or contact the IDSAI's events team if you have any questions.

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The Environmental Intelligence Grand Challenge 2022 by UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Environmental Intelligence
11 - 15 July 2022 
This event is a week-long hackathon using data science and AI to solve environmental challenges posed by our partners: Friends of the Earth, World Wildlife Fund, Institute for Strategic Dialogue, Cool Earth, with others. Interdisciplinary teams will work together to develop solutions before presenting their ideas at the end of the week – good solutions will be adopted by the partners so it is a good chance to make an impact with some scientific creativity!

The event will run 11-15 July 2022 and will be held on campus at University of Exeter. We are seeking participants: postgraduates, PhD students, early career researchers and academics. Check out our event webpage and then register your interest using EventBrite.

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Collaborative Workshop for PhD Students and Early Career Researchers in Labour Law, Migration & Asylum, Human Rights, and Public Law
Deadline for submission of abstract - Wed 25 May 2022.
This workshop will  be held on 13 July 2022 at the University of Bristol.The workshop is open to anyone working in one or more of the relevant subject areas who:

• Is currently undertaking a PhD or other research degree; or
• Is within four years of the award of their PhD (or equivalent training) in July 2022; and/or
• Is within two years of their first academic appointment in July 2022.

Participants do not need to be members of the SLS to participate. We particularly welcome submissions from underrepresented groups  – the SLS’s Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion policy can be found here.

There will be up to 15 places available for PhD and early career presenters. The expected format is five panels, each formed of three presentations for around ten minutes, with a discussant to comment on each set of three papers. Panels will be formed thematically based on the content of submissions, and will aim to cut across the different subject sections to encourage dialogue.

Those interested in attending should submit an abstract of 200 – 300 words through a form that can be found here by Wednesday 25 May 2022. Each proposal will be considered on the basis of academic merit. Contact Philippa Collins (philippa.collins@bristol.ac.uk) and Natalie Sedacca (N.Sedacca@exeter.ac.uk) if you have any enquiries.

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IUS Commune Prize 2022
Deadline for submission 1 September 2022
Value 1250 Euro. The Board of the Ius Commune Research School has decided, as a result of the great success of former years, to organise the prize this year again. The prize will be awarded to the graduate student or early career researcher whose article is of outstanding quality, other outstanding articles will be honourably mentioned. For further information click here.

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Event hosted by a Turing Network Development Award (TNDA) University
6 - 9 September 2022
The University of the West of England (UWE) are hosting an International Conference on Artificial Neural Networks in September 2022. To find out more click here.

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The British Academy - ECR Network : Monthly Online Coffee Hour
Takes place on the last Friday of every month.
This Coffee Hour aims to give ECRs the space to speak to one another. This could be about similar issues faced, general work/life discussion points or research projects, just to name a few. Click here for more information.

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Policy Engagement Training Programme
Policy@Exeter, the University of Exeter’s policy engagement initiative, has partnered with seven sector-leading training providers to bring you an exciting suite of practical and engaging workshops over the spring and summer. The programme aims to equip Exeter researchers from all disciplines and at all career levels with the skills and tools needed to confidently engage with policymakers locally, nationally and internationally.  To find out more and sign up, visit Policy@Exeter’s Events and training page.

Early Career Research Networks (ECRNs) are designed to help support our Early Career Researchers in the beginning stages of their career. The ECRNs are designed to help raise awareness of new developments in a particular field: new tools, processes, leaders, training programs, and services. They are also an opportunity for collaborative problem solving and to get advice from your peers. To find out more about the Networks and who your Network Rep is click here.

You can also get the latest Concordat updates and events by signing up to their newsletter when registering with their website.

Already registered and want to receive Vitae News? Contact Vitae direct

See the latest news update on the Concordat here.

Please remember to check the University Travel Policy for Colleagues before booking any travel for work purposes. The information covers both international travel and trips within the UK. Find out more click here. If you have any concerns, please do contact researchrestart@exeter.ac.uk and the research restart panel will be happy to discuss any bespoke issues that require further support and consideration.

Library Search is your key gateway into the print and electronic resources available to you via the Library. It is available 24/7 from your desktop or device, wherever in the world you are located.

It will enable you to find recommended readings and search across a wide range of full text resources to discover materials on your research topics.

If you're organising an event and don't know where to start, take a look at the Corporate Events webpage where you will find lots of useful information and advice including an Events Planning Toolkit!  If you would like to contact the Events Team for further advice email eventenquiries@exeter.ac.uk.

Find out how the University can support Early Career Researchers by clicking here.  The page includes support from the University, Spectrum.Life as well as a list of networks to support staff wellbeing.

Colleague Grief and Bereavement Group
The University Chaplaincy and Staff Wellbeing teams have launched a Colleague Grief and Bereavement Group - a support network for colleagues experiencing any form of Grief or Bereavement. The group is a safe space for sharing/listening and practical/reflective activities, rather than a counselling environment. We have now set dates for groups at both campuses until the end of the year. Please click here to find out more and register your interest in attending. This group is open to all staff regardless of your worldview or religious faith. Further support is available here.

Spectrum Life
If you’re finding things tough at the moment, please don’t forget we can all make use of our free and completely confidential Employee Assistance Programme, Spectrum Life, available 24/7 365 days a year for you, your partner or spouse and any dependents over the age of 16, still living at home.