A great start to the Early Career Researcher Symposium with Keynotes
 

As part of the Summer of Research held across campus, the Research Staff Office hosted the inaugural Early Career Researcher (ECR) Symposium on 6 July, bringing together early career researchers and research staff at Sussex to celebrate their successes.

The Symposium started with two keynotes from Dr John Thompson, deputy director of the Sussex Sustainability Research Programme (SSRP),and Professor Chris Bird, co-director of Sussex Neuroscience.

Their talks explored how the work in these Centre of Excellence can empower ECRs, and introduced the potential for research impact and diverse career pathway opportunities.

We learned about inspiring and collaborative SSRP projects such as CLARITY, looking at ways to co-create and share novel approaches to climate adaptation in different locations, as well as hearing Early Career Research stories within SSRP-funded projects. If you are interested in finding out more, visit the SSRP early career stories webpage.

Prof Chris Bird shared insightful career pathway suggestions and offered advice to researchers whatever stage they’re at, as follows:

During the Early Career Researcher Symposium, we welcomed a group of industry professionals and expert academics in our Researcher Careers Roundtable:

In a lively discussion with the audience they shared insights into their very different career journeys, and the diverse ways they have got to where they are now.

Highlighted advice to researchers :  

Develop and highlight transferable skills. Take time to consider which skills you currently possess that can be transferred to a new employer. Your research role allows plenty of opportunities to develop things like communication and organisational skills so ensure you highlight them in applications and interviews. These skills will be useful whether you stay in or move beyond academia.

Connect to other researchers and be proactive. Being an early researcher, networking with other postdocs at Sussex will help you increase your research visibility and profile. It may lead to potential interdisciplinary collaboration opportunities.

Stay as close as possible to your passion and be positive. The job market is always challenging and sometimes you don’t end up where you expected. Learn to accept the flow and find connection with research.

Roles beyond academia aren’t second class. There are various career pathways for researchers - while you may not stay in academia for the next step, you might find it surprising that your area of knowledge is a great skillset in a different role. You may even prefer it! Take advantage of any opportunities for work experience. The experience you gain in a ‘non-research’ role is part of your learning journey and will shape who you are.

Early career researchers from Schools across Sussex had the opportunity to pitch their research ideas and bid for funding at the University’s inaugural Dragons’ Den competition on 6 July.

The event, part of the ECR Symposium organised by the Doctoral School, saw seven finalists bid for up to £3,000 to fund their next steps in research. The programme also included training in bid-writing and communicating to a non-specialist audience.

Our ‘Dragons’ for the day, tasked with quizzing presenters after each talk, were Prof Debbie Keeling, Deputy Pro Vice Chancellor Knowledge Exchange; Dr John Thompson, Deputy Director of SSRP; Dr Martin White, ECR lead in Engineering and Informatics; and Dr Lincoln Colling, ECR lead in Psychology.

It was a closely fought contest but Ulla McKnight (Law, Politics and Sociology) won out on the day, with a clear presentation and a research proposal that takes a creative and innovative approach. Ulla received £3,000 for a project combining AI and embroidery-based workshops to co-create speculative participatory research exploring the possible effects of sexual self-care practices with young cis-trans women of colour in Brighton. 

Eleanor Jayawant (Brighton & Sussex Medical School) came second, winning £1,500 for her pitch about her scoping project to identify novel therapeutic targets in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, conveying complex information particularly well to the non-specialist audience!

Psychology duo Su Morris and Amanda Ferrell took the £1,500 People’s Choice Award for their pitch for a large-scale survey aimed at identifying opportunities to improve PSHE education, which will hopefully set the groundwork for Amanda’s PhD project. Gemma Aellah (Brighton & Sussex Medical School), Laurence Bush (Engineering and Informatics) and Henry Dore (Engineering and Informatics) completed the line-up.

The abstracts from all of this year’s finalists can be found on the Dragons’ Den webpage and we’ll be adding recordings of their pitches soon. 
 

Recipients of this year’s Research Culture Seed Fund (RCSF) held a showcase of their projects over a networking lunch. The RCSF is part of a range of initiatives that the University has launched to foster a more creative, inclusive and collaborative research culture.

This year’s projects included a writing retreat, a journal reading group, training in interdisciplinary techniques, lived-experience participatory research, and artwork for an exciting ethno-graphic novel. For more details of the scheme see the Seed Fund webpage. The next round of RCSF funding will launch in Spring 2024.