Shortly before Christmas, research support professionals, librarians, and researchers came together in wintry Vienna for the first CU.ecr platform workshop. The two-day workshop offered networking opportunities, presentations of career development services at Circle U. universities, and a keynote speech by Dr. Fiona McBride (University of Liverpool), who presented the innovative PROSPER self-assessment tool, which served as a source of inspiration of a creative hackathon that was the heart of the event.
Working together for the careers of Early Career Researchers
Fostering young researchers and empowering them to shape their own careers: this goal united all participants of the CU.ecr workshop. Whether from the perspective of researchers mentoring ECRs, or librarians facilitating access to literature and raising awareness of good scientific practice.
Hackathon: Five innovative self-assessment tools for ECRs
For the hackathon, participants were split up in groups, with members representing different expertise and consisting of both research support staff and researchers. Each of those groups had four hours to first review different self-assessment tools for ECRs, to try them out and discuss various aspects of the tools. Based on the discussion, each group designed their “own” self-assessment tool; based on their own preferences and likings. After four hours of working in the most concentrated atmosphere, five new tools were developed:
- LEAP (Learn Engage Advance Progress), with a jumping frog as the logo, an initiative of Circle U. in cooperation with the GUILD.
- OpenSkills, a clever combination of an online tool and 1:1 consulations and networking opportunities.
- Envision ECR: Discovering New Prospects, assessing interests to find a perfect job match.
- Circle Out by Circle U., targeting mentors to prepare them for annual reviews with their PhDs and Postdocs, a system developed by Circle U. and shared across other alliances, that prepares young researchers to leave academia.
- Career For U., collecting existing tools and making them accessible to young researchers at Circle U. universities.
The results of the December workshop will be turned into a joint Circle U. project on career empowerment for PhDs and Postdocs. Stay tuned also for the next CU.ecr Workshop, which will take place in October 2025!
The CU.ecr platform, which evolved from the ECR Forum of the ERIA project under the coordination of Université Paris Cité, marks an important step towards supporting ECRs within the Alliance.
