Early Career Researchers Hub   :   ECR Training and Development

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

Spotlight On ... TWO (YES TWO!) Research Culture Funding Opportunities!

Research Staff Development Programme

Other Learning and Development Opportunities: University of Exeter and Beyond

Research Grants, Funding & Competitions

Research Culture

Research & Researcher Networks

Health, Wellbeing & Support

If you are not on the circulation list to receive this Newsletter directly into your Inbox, and would like to subscribe, please email researcherdevelopment@exeter.ac.uk.

View previous copies of Newsletters. If you have something that you'd like to share in future Newsletters, please visit our webpage where you can find copy deadline dates as well as submission guidelines.

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

Deadline for both opportunities: Friday 23 January 2026 (12 noon).

1  Researcher-Led Initiative Awards (max £2,500/Award)

This fund is designed to support the development and cascading of personal, professional and career management skills by and for postgraduate research (PGR) students and early career research (ECR) staff across the University of Exeter through the process of initiating, designing, managing, and delivering new professional development activities.  Staff applicants will need to indicate their job family/explain how they fit into the ECR stage.  Read about the Award and how how to apply.

2  Early Career Researcher Network (ECRN) Awards (max £3,000/Award)

The ECRN Enhancement Awards provide funding to support current Early Career Researcher Networks (ECRNs) in enhancing, developing or re-establishing their network activities. The awards are also available for the creation of new ECRNs in departments or faculties that do not yet have an established ECRN, or to support activities which enhance research culture and community for ECRs at departmental/faculty level.  Read about the Award and how to apply.

The Research Staff Development Programme provides training and professional development for all research-active staff at the University of Exeter, across all campuses.  Early Career Researchers (ECRs) should find the sessions and workshops particularly useful for their development as researchers.  

How to Write When You're Struggling to Write - 15/01/2026 (10.30 am - 12.30 pm) online
Making Your Work Open Access in ORE - 20/01/2026 (2 pm - 3 pm)
How to Manage Your Career - 27/01/2026 (12.30 pm - 2 pm) online
Publishing in Open Access - 04/02/2026 (2 pm - 3 pm) online
Mapping & Marketing Your Skills - 10/02/2026 (12.30 pm - 2 pm) online
Emotionally Challenging Research - 11/02/2026 (9.30 am - 1 pm) online
Writing Your Data Management Plan - 19/02/2026 (1.30 pm - 3 pm)
Peer Reviewing Research Papers - 25/02/2026 (1 pm - 2.30 pm) online
Sharing Your Research Data - 04/03/2026 (1.30 pm - 3 pm)
Thriving and Progressing in the Academic Mid-Career - 5, 12, 19 & 26 March 2026 (application deadline 4 February 2026 at 12 noon) - see information below for details
Applying for non-Academic Jobs - 10/03/2026 (10 am - 11.30 am)
1:2:1 Confidential Careers Appointments with Kenneth Howgill (ECR Careers Coach).
Focus Space - supportive space encouraging productivity for Research Staff. 

Any form of recording whether via Teams or external tools like Fellow and other AI notetakers is NOT permitted. If you have any accessibility needs and do require a recording of the session, please contact Researcher Development in advance and we will arrange this with the trainer.

Postgraduate Researchers need to click here to view all  courses available to them.

Thursday 15 January 2026 (10.30 am - 12.30 pm) - Online

Have you got a piece of writing that you're 'meant' to be doing but feel that you're not making enough progress? That you 'should' have done it by now? Or that you don't know where to start or even if it's any good anyway? In this two hour online workshop, Dr Vikki Wright of Wembury Coaching, will focus on WHY you're not writing at the moment and how you can manage your thoughts and feelings to get more done and enjoy the process.

You will be shown some specific self-coaching techniques that you can use when you're struggling to write.  You'll leave knowing how to support yourself to get this done and be proud of the outcome.

Application deadline - 4 February 2026 (12 noon).

4 Part course taking place on:
5, 12, 19 & 26 March 2026 (all 10.30 am - 12.30 pm) - 0nline

Over four, 2 hour long online sessions you will join other mid-career colleagues in reflecting on your career to date, before exploring how you can consider and action how you may approach your institution’s internal promotional pathways. The sessions will be a mix of focused individual work, small group work and short talks and question and answer sessions from specialists internal and external to the university. The workshops will explore key themes such as: research culture, institutional citizenship, research and teaching impact and academic leadership and communication. When clicking on the link below, please ignore the 'fully booked' message as you cannot book a place via iTrent.  You need to apply for a place by using the MS Form link shown.

Wednesday 11 February 2026 (9.30 am - 1 pm) Online

Equip yourself and/or your team with knowledge and tools essential for maintaining emotional wellbeing in research on emotionally challenging topics (eg death, illness, war, crime, extreme poverty).

The online workshop, delivered by Dr Tina Skinner, introduces a practical toolkit, providing resources and guidance to support researchers, supervisors and organisations in managing the emotional aspects of their work and progressing towards a strategic approach to researcher wellbeing and emotionally challenging topics.

Join us for our Spring Term ECR Town Halls exploring opportunities for researchers to engage with business and industry. A panel of expert speakers will share their research journeys, discuss what it means to be a business-aware academic, and highlight pathways for progression and collaboration. The session includes a panel discussion, Q&A, ECR-focused conversations, and networking. Light refreshments provided.

St Luke’s Campus
Wednesday 28 January 2026 (10 am - 11.30 am) - South Cloisters Room 3.06.
Speakers: Stuart Brocklehurst; Professor Alison Truelove; Colin Dart

Penryn Campus
Tuesday 3 February 2026 (11 am - 12.30 pm) - DDM PG Seminars 1 & 2
Speakers: Dr Kara Bogus; Dr Jo Bowler; Nicholas Pearson

Tuesday 24 February 2026 (1 pm - 2.30 pm) - Online

ECRs are welcome to join the next online Representative Committee meeting which is an opportunity for ECRs to have their voices heard and to raise issues that can be brought to higher University committee for deliberation. This meeting is also an opportunity to hear about what the University is doing for ECRs. If you wish to be added to the meeting circulation list, email researcherdevelopment@exeter.ac.uk and you will be sent an invitation along with joining link.

Want to shape research culture at Exeter?

Our current St Lukes's ECR Rep, Becky Whear, is reaching the end of her term and we’re seeking an Early Career Researcher Representative from St Luke’s campus to sit on the Research & Impact Executive Committee (RIEC). This role brings ECR voices into University decision-making and helps shape a research environment where ECRs feel empowered, connected and heard.

As ECR Rep you will work with the 3 other ECR Reps to RIEC to:

• gather insights and highlight priorities from Town Halls and ECR meetings.
• feedback issues to the ECR community from RIEC.
• chair the ECR Representative Committee on a rotational basis.
• help prepare papers for RIEC.

The role offers insight into strategic decision-making plus excellent experience in leadership, communication, presentation and policy influence - highly valuable for your academic and professional profile.  The new Rep will receive information and ongoing support from the existing Reps and the Researcher Development and Research Culture team. Follow this link for more information about ECR Representation.

To express interest, complete this form by Friday 30 January 2026 (5 pm). For questions or an informal chat, contact us via researcherdevelopment@exeter.ac.uk.

Unsure of your future career direction either within Academia or beyond Academia? Kenneth Howgill, (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.

Kenneth can offer advice and discuss how to manage and plan your career and has timeslots from 20 January 2026 onwards.  If you have any queries, please contact ResearcherDevelopment@exeter.ac.uk

We would like to give you a warm welcome to our regular 'Focus Space' online sessions which run from 10 am - 12.30 pm Mondays and Thursdays - Click here for dates and details of how to join this group.  Participants do not have to stay for the whole session - you can dip in and out as you please!  To make things easy, these sessions, open to staff researchers, from Early Career Researchers onwards, can be accessed via the same Teams link.

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.  Facilitating is considered part of 'teaching practice' for Fellowship levels of the Higher Education Academy!

Researcher Development & Research Culture (RDRC) is delighted to announce the launch of the newly refreshed ECR SharePoint Resource Hub! This hub is designed to support your personal and professional development, featuring: 

• Comprehensive resources to help you develop key skills;
• Insightful blogs written by fellow ECRs;
• Quick access to useful tools and links.

This initiative has been driven by Becky Rowe, our Future Leader and Innovator, who has been a key part of the team over the past four months. 

Explore the hub today and make the most of these resources!

These free-to-access programming training are for staff.  Places for each workshop series will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.

• Introduction to Regression with R (online) - 13/01/2026 (1 pm - 4 pm)
• Regression Analysis in R: Adapting to Varied Data Types (online) - 20/01/25 (1 - 4 pm)
• Introduction to Version Control (online) - 22/01/25 & 29/01/25 (10 am - 1 pm)
• Introduction to Python (Streatham) - 27/01/25 & 03/02/25 (10 am - 1 pm)
• Python for Data Analysis (Streatham) -05/02/25 & 12/02/25 (10 am - 1 pm)
• Introduction to R (St Luke's) - 05/02/25, 12/02/25 & 19/02/25 (10 am - 1 pm)
• Introduction to Machine Learning (online) - 10/03/25, 17/03/25 & 24/03/25 (1 - 4 pm)
• Introduction to Regression with R (online) 16/03/25 (1 - 4 pm)
• Introduction to Python (St Luke's) - 19/03/25 & 26/03/25 (10 am - 1 pm)

Are you removing, storing or using any human tissue for research or teaching?  The Human Tissue Act (HTA) training is mandatory for anyone working with human tissue samples at the University of Exeter and the next training date is Wednesday 21 January 2026 (10 am) online

If you plan to collect informed consent as part of your research, you need to attend the Informed Consent training, also held on Wednesday 21 January 201 (11.15 am) online.

You should attend these training sessions even if the human tissues that you work with are later rendered acellular (for example, plasma or urine). This helps ensure that all researchers at the University understand their responsibilities under the Human Tissue Act and feel confident in meeting those obligations. If you have previously completed this training but have not stored samples or taken consent in previous two years, then you should re-attend.

Please contact the HTA team on HTA-return@exeter.ac.uk for further enquiries or to book your place.

Drop-in Session for ECRs - Tuesday 13 January 2026 (2.30 pm - 3 pm) - click here for Teams link.

Deadline for Consultation - Friday 23 January 2026.

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is a major national assessment of the quality of UK research, carried out every six to seven years. As part of our preparations for REF2029, we have produced the first full draft of our REF2029 Code of Practice, and we are now inviting colleagues to share their feedback.

Survey Deadline - Saturday 31 January 2026

The survey will capture perspectives from Researchers, Career Development Practitioners and PI/Supervisors.​ The goal is to identify strengths, gaps and good practices that can be shared transparently afterwards. ​All responses are treated in confidence, aggregate data will be used, and any qualitative comments will be reported anonymously. ​There is a set of tick-box questions as well as some open questions to share your thoughts and opinions about that topic. ​It will take approximately 10 minutes to complete.

Tuesday 3 February 2026 (9 am - 12 noon) Online

This Fast Track Impact training explores the role of evidence synthesis in research, and its importance in ensuring successful policy impact.  The course is free to attend, and early career researchers are encouraged to apply. 

Contact PolicyEngagement@exeter.ac.uk for more information.

Monday 2 March 2026 (11 am - 2 pm) Streatham Campus, Innovation Hub

The Developing Business Aware Academics (DBAA) Team is partnering with Babcock to host a half day research event in Exeter. 

Babcock has set x4 research challenges which it would like support from researchers to address. One-page PDFs detailing each challenge may be found in the link above and the challenges require expertise in Mechatronics, Physics, Metallurgy, Engineering and Chemical Engineering.

The event is open to researchers and our DBAA project can cover travel costs for attending researchers. Lunch and cakes included.

Thursday 12 March 2026 (10 am - 3.30 pm) Penryn Campus, ESI Previthick Room
AND
Tuesday 24 March 2026 (10 am - 3.30 pm) Penryn Campus, Exchange Yellow

It's important you can commit to the 2 full days of this training.

Ever wondered if there is a better way to run a meeting or a workshop?  Boost your confidence, innovative thinking and collaboration skills – and transform the way you approach team meetings, workshops, teaching, and research groups.

Prosper is a free portal of resources and careers guidance for postdocs with advice on working in and beyond academia. The content is informed by postdocs, institutions, employers and research managers. Postdocs at Exeter are encouraged to register via the Prosper portal as an institutional user (using Exeter email address) for the best functionality of the site. 

Career Zone is looking for volunteers to contribute towards a series of podcasts covering the stories of Widening Participation PS and academic staff.  This is part of the Diversification of PG Education agenda and is becoming a body of inspirational stories of staff from many different WP backgrounds.

Recording will take about 1 hour and participants would have full editorial rights.

The following are the type of questions asked:-

• What is your background? Tell us your story.
• Did you do a Masters degree first?
• How did you fund your doctorate?
• Did you have to overcome any barriers to completing your doctorate?
• How did you supervisor support you to achieve your potential or to overcome any issues that you faced?
• Can you tell us about your career – how did you get to the role you are in now?

Contact Dawn Lees for further information and to register your interest.

Application Deadline -  Tuesday 10 February 2026

Glaucoma UK’s Research Programme for 2025-6 has just been launched and we welcome applications regarding relevant research proposals into all aspects of glaucoma care and treatment.

Funding is available for project grants worth up to £150,000, for projects investigating all aspects of glaucoma.  Applications for smaller projects, especially welcome from early career researchers.

Application Deadline - Monday 2 February 2026 with successful projects running for 6-months from June through to November 2026. 

Up to £20,000 Available!

This fund supports innovative research and collaborative communities across the GW4 Alliance: Bath, Bristol, Cardiff, and Exeter.  The fund supports both new and existing GW4 communities working to address major research or societal challenges.

Applications are welcome from any discipline and Early Career Researchers (ECRs) are especially encouraged to apply.

Funding can be used independently or alongside other sources, helping communities take the next step toward securing external funding.

Explore past projects on the ‘Our Communities’ webpages. For questions or support, contact communities@gw4.ac.uk.

Researcher Development & Research Culture is looking for one or more ECRs to join our CoARA (Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment) Working Group. The group will develop an action plan over the course of 12 months, based on the ten CoARA commitments, which will help shape our research assessment practices, contributing to fairness for all, and ultimately improving the quality and impact of the university’s research. This is a voluntary role requiring a minimum commitment of 10 one-hour meetings across a year. You will work with a small, varied team of Academic and Professional Services colleagues to identify priorities and develop an action plan. If you are interested, please contact Becky Euesden (r.s.euesden@exeter.ac.uk)

8 - 9 July 2026 - Manchester

"Collaborating to Improve UK Research"

Bringing together researchers, institutions and research stakeholders from the UK and beyond, and working within and between research disciplines, UK Reproducibility Network’s unique structure gives us the power to drive collaborative change. We will showcase what UKRN has built, developed and implemented, the impact we’ve already made, our plans for the future, and how you can get involved. This event offers delegates an opportunity to engage across the research sector, to strengthen existing relationships and build new ones. Join us, work with us to improve UK research.

Have you noticed the University community for ECRs on Viva Engage? Lots of ECRs have already been added and if you are not on there, you can join. This is a collaborative online space to share and discuss ideas, ask questions and keep up to date with the latest activities, events and opportunities.

Have your voice heard and shape our community and ECR culture.  Join the conversation now by sharing your first post!

This page is maintained and moderated by the Researcher Development and Research Culture team.

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