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

• RDRC Courses
• Researcher-Led Initiative Funding Awards - NOW OPEN!
• Online Writing Groups for ECRs
• Doing Research with Artists - drop in session
• Software Engineering Surgeries
• Research Integrity and Ethics Surgeries
• Thinking about your Career
• Responsible Metrics and how to get involved
• International Women's Day 2022
• Research and EDI Deep Dives
• Research Grants and Funding
• 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 info and to book your place).

ECR Core Programme:-
LinkedIn for Researchers : Developing and using your Profile - 09/03/2022 (11 am - 12.30 pm)
Applying for Academic Jobs - 15/03/2022 (10 am - 12 noon)
Peer Reviewing Research Papers - 16/03/2022 (9 am - 10.30 am).
Applying for Jobs Beyond Academia - 22/03/2022 (11 am - 1 pm)
Getting Stuff Done - 30/03/2022 (9 am - 10.30 am)
Research Culture from the Bottom Up - 06/04/2022 (10.30 am - 2 pm)
Writing World Leading & Impactful Research Papers - 28/04/2022 (9.30 am - 11 am)
Planning a Fellowship Proposal - 05/05/2022 (10 am - 4.30 pm)

Research and Innovation Essentials Series:-
Intellectual Property and Commercialisation - 24/03/2022 (10 am - 12 noon)

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.

Applications are NOW OPEN for our Researcher-Led Initiatives Award Scheme

Application Deadline: 31 March 2022 (12 noon)

This year, we are asking for applications on the following themes:

a. Developing an engaged research culture
b. Building a PGR or ECR community
c. Equality, diversity, and inclusivity
d. Wellbeing

You can find out more on our website and apply using our online application form.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss an idea for an application, please contact researcherdevelopment@exeter.ac.uk.

"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!

Various dates in March are now available - 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.

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.

The next 2 drop-in sessions will take place on Tuesday 22 March 2022 (2.30 - 3.30 pm) and Wednesday 18 May 2022 (10.30 - 11.30 am). These sessions are for ECRs wanting to work with creative practitioners in their research but are unsure where to start, or what the process involves.  Sarah Campbell, Associate Director for Arts and Culture will be on hand to guide you through how to progress your idea about working with artists and who to ask for help.  To find out more and to register, click here.

These surgeries are for ECRs and run monthly by the University’s new Research Software Engineers (RSEs) Group. The University has created a centralised RSE group that will assist our research community with more complex and bespoke research software needs. The RSE group is part of the Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence.

The software surgeries provide an opportunity to discuss with a member of the RSE team any coding issues, software development tasks, or other research software problems or ideas you have. For example:-

• Discuss bugs or problems you are having, and approaches to finding a solution;
• Get some guidance on how to design and approach your coding tasks;
• Understand the next steps and places to go for getting additional help or working with the RSE team in the long term.

The next surgery will be held on Wednesday 9 March 2022 (1 pm - 4.30 pm). Appointments are 30 minutes and need to be booked in advance.

To book your place, complete this short form.  Once submitted, you will receive an auto-reply with an MS Bookings link where you can book yourself a timeslot.  Please note you cannot book via Trent.

The Research Ethics and Governance team, in conjunction with the Researcher Development and Research Culture team, are offering two further monthly Research Ethics Surgeries for ECRs.

These 1:1, 20 minute appointments provide an opportunity to discuss any queries, concerns or issues that you may have relating to all aspects of good practice in research, research integrity and ethics.

This could include consideration of the ethical implications of your research project and future research direction, review of your ethics application, identifying regulations and external approval routes for your research where relevant, discussing concerns on research integrity or queries on, for example, authorship, data management and open research practices.

The surgeries are on:

Thursday 17 March 2022 (morning)
Monday 28 March 2022 (morning)

To book yourself a surgery timeslot please email a request to ResearcherDevelopment@exeter.ac.uk.

As a reminder, you may be interested in enrolling on the following online courses, facilitated by the Researcher Development Careers Coaches, Kate Foster and Kenneth Howgill:-

LinkedIn for Researchers - Developing and using your Profile - 09/03/2022 (11 am - 12.30 pm)
Applying for Academic Jobs - 15/03/2022 (10 am - 12 noon)
Applying for Jobs Beyond Academia - 22/03/2022 (11 am - 1 pm)

Kate is also offering further 1:2:1 timeslots throughout the Spring.  If you'd like to book yourself a 50-minute online timeslot to discuss your future career direction either within academia or beyond academia, click here.

Career Support – self-paced online career management programme for researchers:
In addition to the 1:1 coaching and career related workshops and webinars we offer, you may be interested in the Career Management for Early Career Academic Researchers MOOC which is now open until July 2022.

Career Management for Researchers is a bespoke online course developed by specialist researcher careers consultants at the universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Sheffield. It has been designed for research staff and PhD students who are exploring their career options and preparing for the next stage in their career, whether in academia or beyond. It is a 4 part/week course designed to address key career issues pertinent to researchers. Each week the course content provides a range of articles, videos, reflective activities, exercises and discussion topics. Researchers are encouraged to set aside 3 hours to complete all of the content available each week.

Do you care that your research is assessed fairly, in its entirety and not based on narrow measures such as where you have published or how many times you have been cited? Responsible metrics is about ensuring that our research culture celebrates all research and research outputs and looks beyond blunt quantitative measures to assess quality. As a signatory to the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), we are looking for PGRs and ECRs to join our Responsible Metrics Champions Group, in order to help ensure that this important agenda translates into our own university policy and practice. Those in the early stages of their research career have the most to gain from responsible metrics, so we’re keen to ensure that we have PGRs and ECRs represented on the group. If you’d like to find out more, or think you may be interested in joining the group, please contact Becky Euesden r.s.euesden@exeter.ac.uk.

For International Women’s Day this year we are celebrating the UN Women theme Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow, which you can read more about online. 

Events and activities will be taking place the week beginning Monday 7 March and you can find out more and register for these online.

Research and EDI Deep Dives

We are working to develop an action plan to make our research cultures and processes more equitable, diverse, and just. As part of this, we are planning a series of ‘deep dive’ online meetings with the staff networks to gather information and feedback about our researchers’ lived experience. If you are interested in attending any of the meetings, please email researchedi@exeter.ac.uk for more information. We are also asking all researchers to complete our Research and EDI survey at ex.ac.uk/researchedi.

AUK-BLF Grant Rounds

Deadline Extended to Thusday 10 March 2022
Due to the disruptions caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic deadlines have been extended for the majority of our currently open grant rounds.  For more information visit the Asthma UK or British Lung Foundation websites, or contact research@blf.org.uk.

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ESRC Celebrating Impact Awards 2022
Deadline for Applications : Thursday 17 March 2022 (4 pm)
We would like to make you aware that the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) have opened a call for their ESRC Celebrating Impact Awards 2022 and are now accepting nominations.  Learn more and apply.

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Check out the Research Toolkit webpages for more opportunities.

UKRI EDI Strategy : Draft for Consultation
UKRI have developed a draft EDI strategy which is out for consultation until 28 March 2022. We will be coordinating an institional response, and are inviting staff to share their feedback as part of this process. You can do this be sharing your feedback on our anonymous form, or emailing researchedi@exeter.ac.uk.

Causality Seminar Series

16 February - 30 March 2022 (Registration now open)!
The Institute of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (IDSAI) is excited to announce and invite you for a Causality Seminar Series. They have a number of amazing speakers who have agreed to take part in this event series.

In order to sign up for one, a few or all seminars, please click on the Eventbrite link here to register.

The seminars will be delivered either remotely or in person. Please check the delivery method  on registration.

If you require any more information please contact Prof Mark Kelson or ;">IDSAI Admin Team

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Mental Health and the Researcher Experience Webinar
Thursday 3 March 2022 (4 pm)
King's College London is hosting an online panel event, to coincide with University Mental Health Day: ‘Mental Health and the Researcher Experience’. Panellists include Annie Irvine and Tim Newton from King’s, Clare Viney from Vitae/CRAC, and Sonya Towers from Wellcome. You can read more about the panel and sign up here: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcrcuuoqzMtEtcwyj-Z_rWMS1UHZb1qU-MU.

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COP26 – Recognising the power of our contribution as girls and women
Tuesday 8 March 2022 (1 pm -2 pm) - Zoom
Join Ciara Eastell OBE on International Women’s Day in conversation with an incredible panel of women leaders as they discuss the contribution girls and women can make to the legacy of COP26.  Register here.

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Digital Humanities Seminar: Living with Machines: Analysing Digital Heritage at Scale
Wed 9 March 2022 (3.30 pm - 5 pm) Online
Speakers : Federico Nanni, Kaspar Beelen, Mariona Coll Ardanuy (Alan Turing Institute)
Click here for more details.

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AI UK
22 - 23 March 2022
The Institute will be hosting their flagship two-day conference AI UK, showcasing the latest developments in artificial intelligence (AI) research, applied  to the most pressing challenges across multiple disciplines. Click here to find out more.

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Digital Humanities Seminar: Data-Driven Hermeneutics: Historical Judgement in Digital History
Wed 23 March (3.30pm - 5 pm) Online
Speaker: Melodee Beals (Loughborough University)
This talk will discuss the history of reproducibility in the humanities and how we might build upon these rich traditions in an age of data-driven results.  Click here for more details.

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Public Lecture - Alan Turing: Coding for Life
Tuesday 29 March 2022 (6.30  - 7.30 pm BST)
This public lecture, which is hosted by the EPSRC Hub for Quantitative Modelling in Healthcare, is intended to provide a platform for people to separate truth from fiction in the story of Alan Turing’s scientific accomplishments. Over the course of the evening, guest speakers will reflect on the impact of Alan Turing’s early machines on the development of modern computers, and later, on his contribution to answering fundamental questions about life and the natural world. More details about the event and in-person or online event tickets can be found here.

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LGBTQ+ Deep Dive
Wednesday 30 March (2 - 3.30 pm)
In advance of the meeting (and for those who cannot attend), we are asking people to complete an anonymous questionnaire about your experience as researchers to help us structure the discussion and provide further data to help us understand the needs of the research community. The questionnaire will be open until June so there is plenty of time to contribute.

We have also set up a mailing list to share bi-monthly updates about this work. All senior research leaders have been added to this list automatically, and anyone else can join at ex.ac.uk/redimailinglist.

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Violence, Evidence and Justice Research Network (in development)
What? Seeking colleagues (at all career levels) and across the University who have an
interest in topics within the realm of violence, harms and inequalities in, and of, criminal
justice to identify themselves through this brief survey. Click on the survey for more
information to gauge whether this network is right for you.

Why? The development of a Violence, Evidence, and Justice Research Network (actual
name TBD) in which we hope that the network umbrella and activities will enable us to
bring together individuals that were previously working in relative isolation from others in
different parts of the University.

The scope of the network and activities envisaged will be shaped by those who help
develop it and, based on your responses here, we will hold a meeting on the 30 March 2022
to discuss this further.  If you have any question, please contact: Dr. Dreolin Fleischer;
Dr. Ashley Frayling; or Dr. Abi Dymond 

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Policy Engagement Workshop for ECRs
Friday 1 April 2022
Policy@Exeter is delighted to announce it has renewed its membership to the Voice of Young Science Network, a unique and dynamic network of early career researchers (ECRs) across Europe committed to playing an active role in public discussions about research. PhD students and ECRs from all disciplines are invited to apply for the network’s first Standing Up for Science workshop this year, which will take place on 1 April at the University of Manchester. This is a unique opportunity for ECRs to find out how to contribute research findings to public discussions and engage effectively with journalists and policymakers.  Click here to find out more.

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NCRM/Exeter Computational Communication Methods Spring School
6 - 14 April 2022
Researchers interested in computational social science will be given the chance to learn new skills at a spring school in April 2022.

The NCRM/Exeter Computational Communication Methods Spring School will provide training at introductory and advanced levels, catering for both social scientists and data scientists.  To find out more and to apply click here.

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Pint of Science 2022
Event Date/s: 9-11 May 2022 (7 - 10 pm)
A new exciting initiative for researchers of the university to present their work to a broader audience in town. As part of the "Tech me out" team, speakers are being sought that would like to give a talk for 20/30 minutes on topics related to Technology, Engineering and Computing.  If you are interested in becoming a speaker and presenting your research please get in touch to discuss in more detail.  For those interested in attending, click here. 

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Soapbox Science Exeter – call for speakers
Soapbox Science Exeter is taking place on Saturday 11 June 2022 on the Quayside Plaza, Exeter. We are currently looking for female scientists to speak at this year’s event.  Get details and apply.

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New Newsletter for The Turing-Roche Partnership 
The Turing-Roche Strategic Partnership are pleased to announce that they have created a newsletter, with the aim of establishing a world-leading collaboration in advanced analytics between Roche and the Turing, focusing on enabling the transformative benefits of personalised healthcare to become a reality for patients around the world over a 5 year period.  The Newsletter will also include information about Turing-Roche projects and opportunities, jobs, events and funding calls from both The Alan Turing Institute and Roche. To sign up, click here.
Details of all Turing Events, Seminars and Workshops can be found by clicking here.

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.

This COVID quick reference guide. This has been developed to help colleagues find key pieces of COVID 19 information and links quickly. It also includes information on what will happen in the event of COVID 19 case(s).

Information updated 15 February 2022!
Please remember to check the University Travel Policy for Colleagues before booking any travel for work purposes.  Due to the ongoing uncertainty and changes surrounding the pandemic, our travel advice is regularly updated and therefore might change. 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.