Early Career Researchers Workshop
One of Informatics Europe's goals is to nurture talent, assuring a pipeline of diverse leaders with a broad understanding of the discipline. It is in this context that we organised again the "Professional Development Workshop for Early Career Researchers". It was held on Monday, 23 October, chaired by Dimka Karastoyanova, University of Groningen, and Tobias Grosser, University of Edinburgh. The goal of the workshop was to support early career researchers (PhD students and Postdocs) in the development of their soft skills related to presentation abilities, networking and developing a research plan. We supported networking among like-minded peers, mentors, and industry leaders passionate about advancing the field of informatics in Europe. We invited participants to expand their professional network and cultivate valuable relationships that will shape the future!
Workshop Goals
This year’s workshop focused on the skills and knowledge needed to turn your research career into a success story. The workshop program covered subjects like leadership styles, vision and best practices for planning sustainable growth in research careers, as well as different perspectives on success and the importance of networking. Furthermore, we gave attendees the opportunity to learn from established researchers from different career paths about the knowledge and skills that supported their successful trajectory of development and growth, throughout all stages of their careers. As a result of the workshop, we expected participants to devise a research career plan. This happened in two stages:
- before the workshop: the ECR attendees received reading material and be asked to prepare a description of their current vision of a research career, throughout all its stages;
- during the workshop: participants had the opportunity to update their vision board based on what they learned during the sessions from the interactions with the panellists and peers.
Poster Session
Attendees of the workshop also had the chance to participate in the traditional ECSS poster session, the place to share and highlight your research with all ECSS participants and broaden your research network. Participants received a certificate of attendance at the end of the workshop and poster presenters be listed in the dedicated section of the program.
Important Dates
- Submission of statement of interest to poster session: on or before 22 September 2023
- Notification of poster acceptance: up to two weeks once submission received via EasyChair
Grants for PhD students
A limited number of grants, waiving the ECSS 2023 registration fee, were available for PhD students who participate in the ECSS 2023, in its totality (23-25 October) or just at the Early Career Researchers Workshop. Grants were assigned based on a first-come, first-served basis to non-UK residents who submitted their statements to participate in the ECSS 2023’s poster session. Read more about the grant here.
Workshop Rundown
11:00 - 11:05 Welcome and Introduction
11:05 - 12:30 Session 1: “A Fresh Approach to Research Leadership" by Sara Shinton, University of Edinburgh (UK) [Slides]
12:30 - 13:30 Lunch
13:30 -15:30 Session 2: "How to turn a research career into a success"
A panel of established researchers from academia and industry shared their insights on the reasons for their successes in research, research funding, their research career, or their company/start-up. The session also included a discussion between the audience and the following panellists.
- Marco Aiello, University of Stuttgart (Germany) [Slides]
- Manuel Carro, Technical University of Madrid/IMDEA Software Institute (Spain) [Slides]
- Victor Lomüller, CodePlay (UK)
- Dympna O'Sullivan, TU Dublin (Ireland) [Slides]
- Ambrish Rawat, IBM Research Europe (Ireland)
15:30 - 16:00 Coffee break
16:00 - 17:30 Session 3: "Sustainable growth in research career"
Round table discussions between the workshop participants and the panel speakers were held in small groups. During these discussions, participants had the opportunity to review their career vision board in interaction with both the panellists and peers.
18:15 - 20:30 Welcome Cocktail including the Early Career Researchers Poster Session
Featured Posters:
- "Automated Identification and Analysis of Structures in Large-scale Electron Microscopy Images" by Anusha Aswath, University of Groningen (the Netherlands) [Poster]
- "Machine Learning Predictive Models Applied to COVID-19 Datasets to Estimate the Infection Risk in Specific Geographic Regions" by Diogen Babuc, West University of Timisoara (Romania) [Poster]
- "Qualitative insights into abstraction skills from exam scripts" by Julia Crossley, City University of London (UK) [Poster]
- "Self-Adaptive Smart Grids: A Case Study on EV Charging Stations" by Vick Dini, Politecnico di Milano (Italy) [Poster]
- "ChatterGlove - A healthcare appliance for speech/hearing impaired individuals" by Theodor-Radu Grumeza, West University of Timisoara (Romania) [Poster]
- "Empowering Women in the ICT Sector: Addressing Gender Inequality in Albania and the Wider Western Balkans" by Elva Leka, Polytechnic University of Tirana (Albania) [Poster]
- "An Eternal Dilemma Resolved: The Choice Between Pure Reasoning and Raw Performance" by Anton Lorenzen, University of Edinburgh (UK) [Poster]
- "Challenges and Strategies of Women in STEM. Gender Balance - Albanian Case." by Olgerta Idrizi, Mediterranean University of Albania (Albania) & Miranda Harizaj, Polytechnic University of Tirana (Albania) [Poster]
- "Building A National Spatio-Temporal Datacube" by Alexandru Munteanu, West University of Timisoara (Romania) [Poster]
- "Enabling Efficient Exploration of Linux Configuration Space with Incremental Build" by Georges Aaron Randrianaina, IRISA Rennes (France) [Poster]
*Please note that the photos below are better viewed when applying zoom out.
