GW4 Early Career Symposia Scheme 2020

Press release issued: 6 October 2020

The GW4 Alliance invites applications to its GW4 Early Career Symposia Scheme, now in its second year. The purpose of this award is to create a space for postgraduate researchers and early career researchers to showcase their research, develop their management skills, and raise their profile by leading a Climate or AMR online symposium.

The GW4 Alliance invites applications to its exciting initiative to bring together Postgraduate Researchers (PGRs) and Early Career Researchers (ECRs) to deliver a series of flagship PGR- and ECR-led online symposia. Now in its second year, the scheme aims to create a space where PGRs and ECRs can showcase their research, gain experience in managing the delivery of an online symposium, broaden their networks and form new collaborative, cross-cohort interdisciplinary research communities.

This year, the GW4 symposia will focus on two themes: Climate, and Antimicrobial Resistance. We encourage a broad interpretation of these themes to harness a wide range of expertise and interests from anthropology through to zoology. We want to ensure diverse and stimulating events which reflect the breadth of research excellence across GW4. If you are a GW4 PGR or ECR with an interest in any of the above themes and interested in this exciting development opportunity, we would like to hear from you!

For more information and application forms please visit https://gw4.ac.uk/gw4-early-career-symposia-scheme-2021/

Deadline for applications is Wednesday, 21 October 2020 at 11.59pm. If you have any questions do not hesitate to get in touch at talentandskills@gw4.ac.uk.

Eligibility and further details:

To be eligible you will be a PGR or ECR at Bath, Bristol, Cardiff or Exeter universities.

To support the successful delivery of your online symposium, the GW4 Talent and Skills team will be hosting two planning and delivery online workshops:

Management team planning online workshop: for successful applicants to meet and share ideas. During the workshop, you will network with other participants to identify an organising theme for the symposium (one per theme), as well as discuss what type of event you would like to hold. The outcome of the workshop will be an agreed management structure for the symposium’s management team and a plan of action for delivering the event. Participation in the workshop is a requirement of eligibility to join the management team. We expect the workshop to be held on Thursday, 26 November 2020.
Digital delivery planning workshop: for the management team of both symposia to plan for the online delivery of their event. During the workshop, you will explore the key challenges and benefits of delivering an event online, including discussion of relevant platforms and techniques. You will also participate in a hands-on, practical session to help you map content and themes to activities and platforms. It is strongly recommended that you attend this event, although it is not a requirement for participation. We expect the workshop to be held on 19-20 January 2021.

It is intended that the symposia will take place in early summer. The delivery of these symposia will be led by the PGR and ECR management team in terms of topics, content and speakers, and supported, where necessary, by the GW4 Talent and Skills team.

The management team of each symposium will be expected to submit a short report on their event by the end of July.