Early Career Researcher Noticeboard

STEP‑UP invites applications for 1–3 month funded placements that develop specialist skills in research software, data, and computing infrastructure. Participants will work within a digital Research Technical Professional (dRTP) team at Imperial College London, King’s College London, UCL, or the University of Westminster.

STEP-UP – a Strategic TEchnical Platform for University technical Professionals – is a UK-based research project funded under the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)’s 2023 Strategic Technical Platforms call.

What you gain

• Build advanced technical and professional skills.
• Exchange best practices across institutions.
• Use placement time to bridge gaps between projects.
• Strengthen future career opportunities.

You can apply if you are:

• A dRTP (i.e. working on research software, data or computing infrastructure) in any role at one of the four STEP‑UP partner institutions, or
• A UK‑based PhD student or postdoc seeking experience as a dRTP and not employed during the placement.

All placements must occur within a partner‑institution dRTP team.

Funding

STEP‑UP provides up to £15,550, covering 80% of salary and on‑costs, plus eligible fees such as visa or bench costs. (Overheads and indirect costs are excluded.)

If you want to grow your technical capability and collaborate across the London dRTP community, this scheme offers a high‑impact route to do so.

Find out more and apply: https://step-up.ac.uk/placements/

Read Apply now: STEP UP Digital Research Technical Career and Bridging Placements in full

The Imperial CREST Academy helps to match academic mentors to teams of Year 12 students who are undertaking a CREST Gold Project (or an Extended Project Qualification), which can be thought of as a scientific Duke of Edinburgh award, run by the British Science Association. The projects help the students go beyond school curriculum and get a small taste of scientific research. It is also hugely helpful for the students when applying to university as it helps with their personal statements and also gives them more breadth of knowledge and understanding should they be interviewed for a place at University.

The CREST Academy is run by Prof Cecilia Johansson (National Heart and Lung Institute) and myself, Simon Foster (FoNS & Imperial Space Lab). The Academy has been running for 13 years and has helped hundreds (possibly now thousands) of students undertake a CREST project and have gained a vital glimpse into the world of scientific research and academia.

The role of the mentor is to guide the project, initially helping to shape the project into something that can be conducted by the students in 70 hours (the rough allotted time for the project) and to give general scientific guidance. This is usually quite light touch and involves 2-3 meetings (in person or virtually) along with occasional emails. You will not be required to ensure the students are working on the projects or ‘push’ them, along, as this is the responsibility of their teacher. I have mentored a number of projects over the years and always found them immensely satisfying and they have had a huge impact upon the students. Based up my experiences, the time commitment is approximately 3-5 hours over the academic year (20 – 30 mins per online meeting and reading and responding to occasional emails).

If this might be of interest we will be holding an introduction an online Teams meeting on Friday 24th October at 11am top take you through the scheme: This link will take you to the meeting  Join the meeting now and if you email me, I can add you to the meeting invite. A recording of a previous intro meeting can be found here:  CREST chat-20221104_113001-Meeting Recording.mp4

You can also look at the projects interested and submit your interest in mentoring a project here https://imperial.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0cz4YjDGrPemOlo

Read Imperial CREST Academy – Mentor Year 12 Students in full