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ECR Newsletter - October 2025
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Spotlight On ... GW4 Crucible
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GW4 Crucible 2026 - apply today!
Celebrating its 10-year anniversary, the theme of GW4 Crucible 2026 is 'Imagined Futures'. This leadership development programme offers the opportunity for early career researchers across a broad range of disciplines to come together to create innovative, multifaceted and radically interdisciplinary approaches to research which will shape future generations, while developing as a researcher, collaborator, and leader. If you are a researcher with an interest in or expertise applicable to any aspect of futures research, we want to hear from you!
You can hear more about the programme from past participants here.
The deadline for expressions of interest is 15 October 2025. The final deadline for completed applications is 12 noon 22 October 2025.
If you would like to discuss GW4 Crucible and how participation will help you make the next steps in your career, please contact Dr Chris Wood: c.b.wood@exeter.ac.uk
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Research Staff Development Programme
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Learning and Development Opportunities: University of Exeter and Beyond
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Managing being a Parent and a Researcher
Monday 13 October 2025 (10.30-11.30am)
In-person, Streatham campus, Old Library room 4
Being a researcher while raising a family can feel overwhelming, but it is absolutely possible with the right strategies, support, and expectations. This short, interactive session will share practical approaches to balancing academic work and parenthood, covering topics such as time and energy management, setting boundaries, building support networks, and effective communication with supervisors and colleagues. Participants will also hear from peers and the facilitator about personal experiences, tips, and resources available at the University of Exeter and beyond.
Martina Egedusevic, PhD, is an Impact Fellow at the University of Exeter, based within the Land, Environment, Economics and Policy Institute. She is passionate about sharing strategies to make academic life more inclusive and sustainable for parents.
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Creative Skills in Research – Adaptability and Flexibility
Tuesday 25 November 2025 (10am - 4pm) - Streatham Campus, Creative Quadrant (in grounds of Streatham Court, Exeter Business School)
Wednesday 3 December 2025 (10 am - 4 pm) - Penryn Campus, Peter Lanyon, Seminar Room 06
Forging an academic career is highly demanding, requiring both a rhino hide to survive the slings and arrows of unsuccessful grant applications and missed opportunities, and wide-eyed wonder to sustain passion and curiosity for a subject. How does one stay creatively malleable in a potentially ossifying environment? In this session, we will explore the roles of adaptability and flexibility in the creative process – both are required for creativity and are strengthened through creative habits. We will explore related themes of ambiguity, iteration, failure and confidence, and introduce practical tools to challenge path dependency and encourage reframing. The session will be interactive, discursive, informal and – if we get it right – enjoyable and informative.
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Public Engagement workshop - Streatham campus, 11th Nov
Dr Dreolin Fleischer will lead this interactive workshop, guiding participants through public engagement with research. Topics covered will include:
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Reasons you might want to engage the public with your research
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Types of outputs, outcomes, and impacts achieved from engaging the public
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How to decide who should be involved
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Ways to reach the publics you want to engage with
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How your research fits into a wider picture
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Benefits to researchers from engaging with publics
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Benefits to publics from engaging with research
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Planning for evaluation of the engagement
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How to Overcome Imposter Syndrome (19th Nov)
& Making Decisions in your Career (3rd Dec)
Dr Vikki Wright is an ex-Professor and certified life coach.
After a 20+ year academic career, Dr Wright founded The PhD Life Coach where she runs a coaching membership programme for PhD students.
Dr Wright will deliver two online sessions this term:
How to Overcome Imposter Syndrome - 19th November, 2-4pm
Do you ever feel like everyone else knows what they're doing and that you are somehow 'winging' it? Or that you don't really fit in and one day someone might find out? Imposter syndrome is really common at every level of academia but that doesn't stop it feeling really difficult.
In this online workshop, we will explore what we mean by imposter syndrome, how it affects our behaviour, and what we can do about it.
We'll discuss some of the structural causes, as well as learning some specific tools that we can use to learn how to respond to this critical inner voice.
Making Decisions In Your Career - 3rd December, 10.30am-12.30pm
Do you feel 'stuck' or confused about your career and uncertain how to move forward? In this two hour online workshop, we consider why it can feel difficult to make career decisions, how to overcome those concerns, and I teach a decision making process that helps you make a decision you love.
It's not a 'there are these options available' or a 'you SHOULD do this' workshop - instead we focus on the thoughts and beliefs that are making choosing difficult and give you a tangible route forward.
I'll also share my journey from first generation PhD student to researcher to teaching focused professor to life coach!
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Coding for Reproducible Research training
The Coding for Reproducible Research training initiative - which runs free-to-access programming training for Staff and Students - is pleased to release details of the initial courses in their workshop programme for this academic year.
If you have any questions, get in touch with the Coding for Reproducible Research initiative via CodingForReproducibleResearch@exeter.ac.uk. Further information on our full range of courses, self-assessment quizzes, and self-study learning resources are also available on the programme's website
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The Impact team is excited to launch the screening of our upcoming Exeter Impact Podcast series: ‘From Cornwall to the World: Research with Global Impact’.
Thursday 13 November 2025, 15:30 – 17:15
The Environment and Sustainability Institute, Penryn Campus
Series 2 will feature insightful conversations with research leaders based at Penryn, showcasing how their work is making a global impact. Each episode explores research approaches, impact strategies, and real-world outcomes—providing inspiration and practical guidance for planning and developing your own impact portfolio. The event will be opened by Professor Andy Jones, Assistant Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research Quality and Impact).
A refreshment reception will take place after the event from 17:15- 17:45. We are delighted to invite our PGRs and ECRs to register through the Eventbrite page and join us for an evening of Impact emerging from research at our Cornwall campuses.
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Creativity and Communication: Changing Perspective
Thursday 27 November 2025 (10 am - 3 pm) - Penryn Campus
Friday 5 December 2025 (10 am - 3 pm) - Streatham Campus
How can creative thinking enhance your research communication?
This one day in-person workshop will give you the opportunity to explore and experiment with creative techniques for communication alongside other ECRs in a cross-disciplinary, and collaborative environment.
This workshop will emphasise the central role of perspective. The perspectives of both audiences and researchers need to be understood if research communication is to be successful. You will learn key concepts and skills, explore how these can be applied, and begin to plan future creative communication projects associated with your own research. From team building to media engagement, the skills you will develop are highly transferable, in and outside of academia. All materials and will be provided. Please bring lunch and a reusable cup.
This activity is a Researcher-led Initiative funded by the University of Exeter Researcher Development and Research Culture team.
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Human Tissue Act training
Human Tissue Act (HTA) training is mandatory for anyone using or storing human tissue samples at the University of Exeter.
The next session is on Monday 13 October 2025, 10 am – 11 am (online).
Anyone collecting informed consent as part of their research needs to attend the Informed Consent training, Monday 13 October 2025, 11.15 am – 12.15 (online).
Both sessions are online and open to everyone (ECRs and PGRs). We also welcome anyone to join for a refresher if they haven’t attended the training for over two years. There is no registration deadline or booking limit.
Please email HTA-return@exeter.ac.uk for further enquiries or to book a place.
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Guidance for use of AI Notetakers in Researcher Development Workshops
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.
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Research Grants, Funding & Competitions
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Application Deadline: Tuesday 14 October 2025
Starting Grants support talented early-career researchers who have already produced excellent supervised work, are ready to work independently and show potential to be research leaders.
What's funded? Research, in any field, conducted in a public or private research organisation in one of the EU Member States or Associated Countries. Starting Grants may be awarded up to €1.5 million for five years.
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Leadership & Advancement SHAPE Programme -
British Academy
The BA ECRN's new Leadership and Advancement Programme, funded by Wellcome, is now live and open to applications by 29th October!
This is a competitive opportunity, with only 62 Early Career Researchers selected annually over the next three years. Participants will receive tailored leadership training aligned to their career stage:
• Early–early
• Early–mid
• Early–late
The stream requires a six-month commitment, beginning in February. Coaching and courses will run from March to June, followed by a nine-month window in which each participants from the cohort will deliver an event or activity for the Network to demonstrate impact. The programme is CPD-accredited.
To apply for the Leadership Stream, you’ll need a Flexi-Grant account. Please use the link here to access the application form. Applications close on 29th October.
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MSCA Postdoctoral Programme for Interdisciplinary Research Addressing Regional Challenges
First Open Call Deadline : Friday 31 October 2025 (5 pm)
Running from 2025 to 2030, IRIS (Interdisciplinary Research In Societal challenges) will recruit 36 international postdoctoral researchers through two open calls, each for a period of 30 months.
The project is currently looking for 18 researchers. The call is eligible for researchers with a PhD for maximum 8 years who have not resided or carried out their main activity in Belgium for more than 12 months over the last years, before the call deadline (31/10/2025).
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Dr Andrew Cunliffe has created this Funding Finder platform which signposts hundreds of funding opportunities that will be of interest to current community members looking to undertake research, fieldwork, conference visits or exchanges with our partner organisations worldwide. It has easily searchable listings and awards ranging from £100 to £10,000,000.
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New Pivot-RP Searches for the ECR Community
As part of ongoing work to develop our university-wide support for fellowship applicants and active fellows, we have established two curated Pivot-RP searches targeted at this ECR community that can be readily accessed and tailored to individual’s needs. Guidance on how to do this can be found on the button below.
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Research & Researcher Networks
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Pictured above: Prof. Camille Bonneaud, Dr Rich Crane, Dr Katy Sheen
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ECR Town Hall - Penryn
Research and Leadership: Paths and Pitfalls
Tuesday 14 October 2025, 11.00 - 12:30
Daphne Du Maurier Postgraduate Seminar rooms 1 & 2
We are looking forward to next week's Penryn campus ECR Town Hall following the Streatham Town Hall that took place earlier this week!
In Penryn next Tuesday, a panel of guest speakers will share their research journeys and explain what leadership means for them. We will hear about paths for progression and how important leadership is at every stage of the research journey, as well as thinking about pitfalls to avoid when developing as a research leader.
Our panel of guest speakers at Penryn campus include Prof. Camille Bonneaud, Director of ESI, Dr Rich Crane, Associate Professor in Sustainable Mining and Dr Katy Sheen, Associate Professor in Marine Science (all pictured above).
The session will include:
1. Panel discussion on Research and Leadership
2. Q&A
3. Opportunities to discuss ECR issues
4. Networking opportunities
All research-active staff, technicians and research-enablers are warmly welcomed.
Registration Essential.
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What do you want from IDSAI ECRN?
The IDSAI (Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence) ECRN aims to provide engaging and valuable sessions for early-career researchers from across the University who share an interest in research around data science and artificial intelligence. We are in the process of planning our programme of events for the coming year and want to give you the opportunity to make sure our plans reflect what ECRs want.
Please complete our short survey to indicate your preference for event types and anything else you would like to get out of the IDSAI ECRN. The survey will remain open until 18/10/25.
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A busy autumn is underway in the Southwest & South Wales cluster of the British Academy ECRN.
NEW IN-PERSON SWSW WORKSHOP
• Reaching Out: Forming Interdisciplinary Connections, 18th November, University of Exeter (You must be a member of the BA ECRN to join - free to join and event attendance is funded. Network membership has other benefits in terms of funding, meetings and community support. Contact Linda Lanyon for more information.)
SWSW Connect
The SWSW Connect is an online monthly community meeting where we connect and inspire one another.
• Tuesday 14th October 12-1300: October’s topic: Creative and non-traditional outputs in relation to REF
Development Fund Workshops
• The impact of the 'impact agenda' on professional development and career opportunities of ECRs working in humanities, arts, and social sciences. 30 October 10am-12noon online, and 27 November 10.30-17.30 at the British Academy in London (more info. available via BA ECRN portal for network members)
Join the BA ECRN for updates about events, funding and other opportunities.
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Mila Graham from Trinity College Dublin has created BenchHub, a free tool to instantly digitise handwritten lab notebooks into clean, shareable protocols. It’s designed to save time when writing methods sections and make reproducibility easier.
They're running a pilot with early-career researchers and want to share the app with you.
Download link: BenchHub: The protocol place on the App Store
Website: https://benchhub.net
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ECR Community on Viva Engage
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.
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Health, Wellbeing & Support
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English and Culture: Free Course: the Family Class
Streatham campus
What is it about?
This is a course on English language, which we run in every academic term. We focus on English for communication and cultural understanding, with special emphasis on getting the most out of living in the UK.
Who is it for?
A course for the partners/spouses of international students, and is open also for Early Career Researchers and PhD students.
When does it start?
Start date is the first week of October and the classes run on Tuesdays and Thursdays; each session being 2 hours with a break in the middle. It finishes at the start of December.
How do I find out more?
Just email one of the two addresses below and ask for more information about the Family Class:
Insessional@exeter.ac.uk or J.D.Hughes@exeter.ac.uk
This is a friendly, social class, so come along an enjoy learning with us.
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EURAXESS - free resources & support for researchers
EURAXESS UK provides comprehensive support and resources for researchers moving to or from the UK. Access a funding database, job search tools, and career development resources.
Join our network to enhance your research career today!
You are encouraged to sign up for the EURAXESS newsletter which includes a wealth of information about job & funding opportunities
All EURAXESS services are free.
EURAXESS UK is part of the European Commission’s initiative to support researcher mobility and career development.
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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.
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