Early Career Researcher Noticeboard

The Postdocs and Fellows Committee from the Department of Life Sciences is organising an event about parental leave and time management at Imperial.

The event is divided in two sessions:

Session 1: Tuesday 13th of May, from 12:00 to 1.00 pm, South Kensington Campus, Flowers Building, Room G47A/B

This session will feature a panel discussion, where staff across different career point will share their personal experiences and thoughts on parental leave. The aim is to facilitate a conversation about the realities of balancing parenthood and a career, and ways to create a more supportive environment for working parents at Imperial.

Panel discussion:

Victoria Male (Imperial College London)

David Riglar (Imperial College London, Francis Crick Institute)

Vanessa Sancho-Shimizu (Imperial College London, Francis Crick Institute)

Session 2:  Tuesday 17th of June, from 12 to 1 pm, South Kensington Campus, Flowers Building, Room G47A/B

The second session will involve a discussion with HR representatives, Principal Investigators (PIs), and, if possible, funding agencies. This will provide an opportunity to present the ideas, concerns, and suggestions gathered from the first session, and to hear the perspectives of those involved in policy-making and support systems.

Panel discussion: 

HR representative

Union representative

Funding agencies

Submit questions for the panelists and topic of discussion here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSclv6s60fRNXiihym9tEoGTROyw6mo0JS0cjXSWv9Al1Jib4Q/viewform

Coffee and snacks will be provided at the event.

Read Parental Leave and Time Management at Imperial in full

The registration for the Women and Non-binary Doctoral Researchers in STEM (WoNDRS) Conference is now open! This is the second year of the WoNDRS Conference which began at the University of Liverpool in 2024.

The WoNDRS Conference will be held at the University of Liverpool on Monday 7th July and aims to foster a sense of community among PhD and postdoc students from minority demographics.  Registration for the conference is £10. The proposed programme combines a mix of both industry and academic talks followed by a discussion panel. There will be a focus on outstanding work across all STEM subjects, encouraging students to engage in networking and allowing space for women and other gender minorities to be celebrated for their achievements.

The agenda begins at 10am in the Central Teaching Hub and concludes at 4:30pm when we will move to the Oliver Lodge Laboratory for a networking event with drinks and ice cream. The agenda also includes a tea and coffee break and lunch. In line with our effort to reduce our environmental impact, please bring your own water bottle to make use of the refill stations around the facilities.

Registration will be open from 9:45am.

The agenda of the conference:

Welcome and Introduction

Talk I – Rachel Bearon (Mathematical Biology)

Talk II – Holly Reeve (Inorganic Chemistry)

Talk III – Dominika Vasilkova (Particle Physics)

Lunch and Poster Session

Talk IV – Diane Hardy (Chemistry)

Talk V – Saba Khan (Life Sciences)

Talk IV – Esther Garcia-Tunon Blanca (Materials Science and Engineering)

Coffee Break and Poster Session

Panel session

Networking and drinks event on the Oliver Lodge roof.

The event has been sponsored by The Institute of Physics (IOP), Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), Liverpool Women in Science & Engineering (LivWISE), PGR Wellbeing Liverpool and, The University of Liverpool.

For any accessibility requirements; questions regarding our diversity, data protection, or sustainability practices; or general concerns, please see our additional information page or contact us.

Registration is £10. Registration closes 19/05/2025 at 5pm!

Registration Link WoNDRS 2025 Registration

Website:  https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/science-and-engineering/outreach/WoNDRS/

Email: WoNDRS_conference@proton.me

Read Women and Non-binary Doctoral Researchers in STEM (WoNDRS) Conference – 7 July in full

We need your support to better understand and alleviate the precarious nature of fixed-term contracts.

The Action Research on Research Culture project at the University of Cambridge is conducting an online Discrete Choice Experiment to examine how postdocs and ECRs make career choices. The results from this survey will inform policy recommendations aimed at increasing job security at the postdoctoral level.

With only 10-15 minutes of your time, you can contribute to the conversation about contract precarity in the academic sector and help us improve job security for ECRs. As a token of our appreciation, we will donate £2 to a charity of your choice for completion of our survey!

Survey can be completed here.

Read Exploring precarity in research careers survey in full