Sussex Researcher School

ECR Symposium 2023

Our first Early Career Researcher Symposium was held at Sussex on 6 July 2023

As part of the Summer of Research, the aim of the Symposium was to bring together ECRs (including postdocs, research assistants and other researchers on fixed term contracts) to showcase and celebrate their success.

This was an opportunity for researchers to network across disciplines, think about career progression through the Career Development Roundtable discussion, share their work through the Research Image competition and be inspired by the researchers in our Dragons' Den final. 

Explore the full programme and some images from the day on Sway below.

List of winners

Congratulations to everyone who took part in the Symposium competitions in 2023! 

Dragons' Den 2023 Results

2023 Dragons' Den presenters

Winner: Ulla McKnight (Law, Politics and Sociology)

2nd Place: Eleanor Jayawant (Brighton and Sussex Medical School)

People's Choice Award: Amanda Ferrell and Su Morris (Psychology)

Research Image Competition 2023 Results

2023 Image competition entries [opens in Sway]

Winner: Simon Williams (Media, Arts and Humanities)

2nd Place: Henry Dore (Engineering and Informatics)

People's Choice Award:Ulla McKnight (Law, Politics and Sociology)

Learn more about the Symposium day on our news stories below:

A great start to the Early Career Researcher Symposium with Keynotes and a Careers Roundtable

Research Image competition and Seed Fund awardees showcasing ECR Research

Early Career Researchers Win Funding at Sussex’s First Dragons’ Den

Keynote Speech-10:00-11:00

In this session, we celebrate and promoted the excellent research led by our Research Centres and Programmes, and stimulated collaboration across campus. 

The talks were focused on the subject:

Empowering Early Career Researchers: Unleashing the Potential for Research Impact and Exploring Diverse Career Pathways

Each talk were 25 minutes long, followed by a five-minute Q&A .

  • 10.00-10.30 - Dr John Thompson from the Sussex Sustainability Research Programme
Careers Roundtable- 11:15-12:45

The engaging careers roundtable offered valuable insights into research journeys inside and outside academia and benefited from the experiences of industry professionals and expert academics. Whether you are an Early Career Researcher at the beginning of your career or a seasoned researcher, this session has provided with valuable knowledge and guidance.

We were delighted to announce our experienced panelists who joined us to share their expertise in research and beyond. They delved into various career routes available to aspiring researchers and discussed life-work balance.

 

  • Dr. Sarah Lilley, Research Fellow in Sussex Drug Discovery Centre, University of Sussex

Sarah Lilley is a Research Fellow in Biochemistry and an accomplished electrophysiologist. She earned her PhD in Neuropharmacology from King's College London in 2001. Sarah's extensive background encompasses diverse experiences, starting with her involvement in the neuroendocrinology group at the National Institute for Medical Research. With a transition to the pharmaceutical industry at the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research in 2006, Sarah later joined the Sussex Drug Discovery Centre to contribute to a commercial partnership in 2015. Currently, Sarah is actively developing further commercial and academic collaborations.

 

Dr. Peter Hurley, originally from Brighton, completed his PhD in Astronomy at Sussex in 2014. His research journey led him to hold positions as a postdoctoral research associate (PDRA) and as Project Scientist for the REA FP7 funded Herschel Extragalactic Legacy Project (HELP). With a passion for data science, Peter co-founded a Data-Science Consultancy, where he served as Chief Technical Officer for 2.5 years. In 2020, he returned to Sussex as a part-time research fellow and an Innovations Partnership Fellow. Peter is currently spearheading the development of a Knowledge Exchange strategy for the Data Intensive Science Centre (DISCUS), facilitating access to Sussex's data science expertise and research for businesses.

 

Dr. Bente Bjornholt, a Research Development Manager in Research & Enterprise Services, completed her PhD in Byzantine art history at Queen's University Belfast in 2002. Her research focused on analyzing images of spectacle in the Madrid Skylitzes manuscript and understanding how public events were constructed in relation to textual descriptions. Following her doctoral studies, Bente served as a Research Fellow in the AHRB Centre for Byzantine Cultural History at Sussex. She later transitioned into the role of Research Facilitator in the Sussex Institute and also served as a Network Facilitator on the Leverhulme International Network in the art history department.

 

  • Dr. John Thompson,Co-director of the Sussex Sustainability Research Programme (SSRP)

Dr. John Thompson, co-director of the Sussex Sustainability Research Programme (SSRP), has dedicated nearly 25 years to studying power, policy, and sustainability issues in food and agriculture, water resource management, and rural development. He possesses extensive experience working in both developing and industrialized countries. In October 2006, John joined IDS as a Research Fellow and now serves as the Joint Coordinator of the Future Agricultures Consortium. This consortium aims to foster critical debate and policy dialogue on the future of agriculture in Africa and other developing regions.

 

Dr. Katherine Parker-Hay is an Editorial Officer for the Open Library of Humanities, where she oversees editorial processes and production. She holds an Mst in Women's Studies from the University of Oxford and earned her PhD in English from the University of Sussex. Katherine has actively participated in various research projects aimed at promoting equity and accessibility within universities. Additionally, she has collaborated with the NHS, contributing to the design of creative writing programs to address anxiety and depression.

Research Culture Seed Fund Showcase, SSRP Funding opportunties and Networking Lunch
  • Grab some lunch, network with fellow researchers and explore the showcase event from the Research Culture Seed Fund awardees. 

The Research Culture Seed Fund (RCSF) is part of a range of initiatives that the University of Sussex has launched to foster a more creative, inclusive and collaborative research culture. Learn more about their projects on the Seed Fund Showcase webpage. 

  • Additionally, the Sussex Sustainbility Research Programme(SSRP) is again relaunching their annual small grants funding opportunity up to £20k for interdisciplinary projects, to help Sussex researchers tackle global and local sustainabilty challenges in local, national and international locations. Further information regarding the scope, eligibility, key dates and review criteria can be viewed on SSRP’s funding webpage. 

If you missed a chance to chat about any query about the funding call with Katie Hiscock, SSRP Programme Manager on the day, drop an email at k.hiscock@sussex.ac.uk.

ECR Dragons' Den

Audience: ECRs, PIs and managers, PGRs, School and central PS staff and faculty

Description:

The Sussex ECR Dragons' Den was held on 6 July as part of the one-day ECR Symposium, in the main hall of the Student Centre.

It was an opportunity for early career researchers, either as individuals or groups, to bid for research funding, and to gain experience in bid-writing and pitching to a non-specialist audience.

Funds of up to £3,000 were available to resource projects and activities which, in line with Sussex Research with Impact Strategy, support the development of knowledge that challenges conventional wisdom, extending the boundaries of research drawing on technological and intellectual advances.

The Dragons' Den prioritise bids that support the development of external funding applications either by an individual or by an interdisciplinary group of researchers that identify new and exciting research ideas.

Find out more information and look out for next round via the Dragons' Den webpage.


Research Image Competition and Exhibition

Research staff from all disciplines were invited to submit one image that encapsulated or represented their research, accompanied by a title and 150-word caption that explains what your image shows and how it relates to your research - and to win up to £250 towards your research! 

As well as an online gallery of shortlisted entries, an in-person exhibition were held as part of the ECR Symposium on Thursday 6 July at the Student Centre. 

This year’s shortlist was judged by Maggie Symes (Research and Open Scholarship Librarian), Aline Amorim Graf (Research Staff Rep for Engineering and Informatics) and Susanna Broom (Head of the Doctoral School).

Find out more information and view all the entries, and the captions that tell the story behind them via the Image Competition webpage. 

 Find out more on The Sussex Researcher- ECR Symposium edition 

The ECR Symposium Gallery 

 

Sussex Researcher School

E: researcher-school@sussex.ac.uk