BSMS > Research > Research Staff and Early Career Researchers

Research Staff and Early Career Researchers

Our highly collegial research community drives many of our future ambitions. We are delighted that so many researchers and Early Career Researchers (ECRs) have chosen to join our community.

Welcome from the ECR Lead

A photo of BSMS staff member Elizabeth Ford standing with mountains in the background on a sunny day

Dr Elizabeth Ford

– Dr Elizabeth Ford, Reader in Health Data Science and BSMS Early Career Researcher Lead

"I am the Early Career Researcher Lead for BSMS. My role is to work with the ECR reps to develop and provide a programme of support for ECRs across BSMS. Some of the things we do are: promoting training courses for ECRs, coordinating career development and grant funding workshops and social events, to organise events that showcase the achievements and successes of BSMS ECRs, and to mentor and support ECRs as they pursue their academic careers. My background is in academic psychology, and I held postdoc roles in psychiatric epidemiology and primary care epidemiology, in which I worked with NHS electronic health records as research data. My job role is now Reader in Health Data Science. I’m happy to speak to any current or prospective BSMS ECRs and offer support, please email me at e.m.ford@bsms.ac.uk."

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ECR definition

There is no one single definition of an Early Career Researcher (ECR), however at BSMS we define Early Career Researchers as members of staff who are on a research contract (fixed or indefinite), are not registered for a higher degree e.g. PhD, are not clinically qualified. In terms of what research contracts entail (which is primarily, but not exclusively research), please look up the Sussex role profiles here, under Research.

In terms of what Early means, that is usually self-defined, and tends to include people within the first seven years after completing a PhD. They normally (but not always) have a PhD. Some people feel this definition does not apply earlier or later than that stage of their career, and in principle we are here to support all members of the research staff community who can benefit from training, representation, career development and other relevant opportunities.

Further definitions of ECR from the perspective of the REF and UKRI are as follows:

REF definition:

“For the purposes of the REF an individual is deemed to have started their research career from the point at which they held a contract of employment of 0.2 FTE or greater, which included a primary employment function of undertaking ‘research’ or ‘teaching and research’, with any HE or other organisation, whether in the UK or overseas, and they undertook independent research, leading or acting as principal investigator or equivalent on a research grant or significant piece of research work. Individuals qualify as early career researchers if both of these criteria were satisfied for the first time on or after 1 August 2009, even if one of these criteria had been satisfied prior to 1 August 2009".

Source: www.ref.ac.uk

UKRI definition:

When we provide information to help the development of early career researchers, we are speaking to anyone who defines their role as that of an ECR.For the purpose of grants eligibility for most of our schemes, Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) defines an ECR as someone who is either:within eight years of their PhD award (this is from the time of the PhD ‘viva’ oral test), or equivalent professional trainingwithin six years of their first academic appointment (the first full or part time paid employment contract that lists research or teaching as the primary function).These periods exclude any career break, for example due to:family carehealth reasonsreasons related to COVID-19 such as home schooling or increased teaching load.

Source: www.ukri.org

See some of the specalties and methodological expertise of the ECRs at BSMS in the images below.

A word cloud showing the specalties of the early career researchers at BSMS, including words like systems biologists, social psychologists, dermatologists, biomedical scientists, research technicians and medical anthropologists

A graphic showing keywords to demonstrate the methodological expertise of our early career researchers, including creative methods, research, tissue culture and clinical trials

three people sat around a table listening to a speaker. one is making notes

Useful information

Induction

We value our research staff and offer a range of activities as part of the induction. Induction within the School has three main objectives:

To help new members of research staff settle into their new environment
To help them understand their responsibilities
To help ensure the new research staff are introduced to other members of staff (academic faculty, doctoral researchers and other colleagues)
To help familiarise new colleagues with the available (conference funding, grants, fellowships, etc) support at BSMS, at the two Universities along with those offered by other units and institutes.

The Academic Lead for Early Career Researchers, name, is responsible for delivering an induction to new ECRs joining BSMS.

Within the first couple of weeks, you will be meeting your Principal Investigator/Line Manager to discuss your work objectives and career development goals. In due course, you will also meet the Director of Research, Head of the Department, Research Lead and School Research Manager.

Start of contract discussion

Once you have settled into your new role and the School, the ECR Lead will get in touch with you - and your Principal Investigator/Manager - to remind you to have your ‘start of contract’ discussion. It is recommended that this discussion takes place fairly quickly - ideally within the first month of your research contract - for the agreement of initial research and career development objectives. To support you in planning your professional development you should refer to the Research Staff Professional Development Guidance.

The process will help you to establish yourself quickly in your new role, and identify any training/developmental requirements needed to support you in your role and future career aspirations. You might want to look at the guidance and templates to support your start of contract objective-setting and career development discussion to help you prepare.

Work in progress meetings

The Work In Progress (WIP) meetings provide an opportunity to present your work and hear updates from research happening across BSMS. They are a great opportunity to present to a friendly and helpful audience, to get presentation practice, and get broad input into your research. The WIPs are primarily designed to support PhD students and ECRs, and talks can be used to describe research plans for new projects, present research updates and challenges for ongoing projects, or get input into more complete projects before conferences attendance/publication. Due to the supportive audience, we encourage you to use the WIP as a chance to generate ideas on how to overcome challenges. Show us your failed experiments! Pizza is provided to aid discussion following the presentations. There are other seminars organised by the Departments on a regular basis which are open to all, including ECRs. Details are available from the ECR reps.

Appraisals

All ECRs should have an appraisal once a year. This will be performed by your line manager (usually your principal investigator). Please contact the ECR Lead if this does not happen for any reason. For further details on the appraisal process, see the Organisational Development webpage here >

News and events

Nadezhda Velichkova, an Early Career Researcher at BSMS, next to a poster at the Neurofly conference

Neurofly conference report

Nadezhda Velichkova, an Early Career Researcher (ECR) at BSMS, recently attended the Neurofly conference. Nadezhda said: “The conference provided me with the opportunity to explore a broad spectrum of research focused on the neurobiology of Drosophila, an invertebrate model organism that provides unique research opportunities due to its vast genetic tools. The conference covered diverse topics, including developmental and cellular neuroscience, brain homeostasis and metabolism, brain disease, injury, aging, gene expression and function to neural circuits, behaviour and neuroplasticity. It brought together researchers from across the world, including UK, Europe, the USA, China and Japan. As an attendee, I got the opportunity to learn about the latest findings on the importance and the effect of RNA localisation in space and time and its contribution to the formation and retainment of short- and long-term memories. Additionally, I gained insight into the effect of nutrient homeostasis on the up and down regulation of genes and about the effect of starvation on vesicular release at the synaptic active zone. Another key highlight was learning about the neural circuit mechanisms underlying flexible sensorimotor decision in Drosophila. During the poster sessions, I had the chance to engage directly with the work of fellow researchers, discussing their methodologies and findings in details. I also presented a poster showcasing the work from our lab, receiving valuable feedback and fostering discussions that may lead to future collaborations.” This was funded by the ECR conference fund at BSMS.

Saeideh awarded Medical Research Foundation grant

Dr Saeideh Babashahi, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Health Economics, has been awarded an Impact of Climate Change on Health Research grant by the Medical Research Foundation. She will be co-leading the £300K study to evaluate the social and economic impact of extreme weather events in people living with HIV in South Africa in collaboration with the Africa Health Research Institute and the University of the Witwatersrand. The study extends their previous work on the impact of droughts on HIV treatment to estimate the economic impact of floods on people with HIV (PLHIV) and evaluate high-priority policy interventions using participatory methods and multi-criteria decision analysis. Extreme weather events like floods can result in acute interruption of HIV treatment and care and competing livelihood priorities, resulting in chronic disengagement from care and associated increase in morbidity, economic losses, and mortality. The study aims to i) understand the impact of the recent floods on healthcare utilisation, lives and livelihoods amongst PLHIV; ii) quantify economic productivity losses and healthcare costs associated with the floods; iii) identify and create a priority list of sustainable and adaptive actions to reduce the health, economic and social impacts of floods on PLHIV.

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Early career development conference fund

A conference fund is available to BSMS Early Career Researchers (ECRs) to facilitate their attendance at conferences or training courses. Funding for each financial year is limited to a maximum of £500 per ECR. All applications must be approved by the ECR's line manager.

Note that this funding might not be enough to cover the full cost of the conference/course therefore the ECR will need to find funding from another source (e.g. from scholarships available directly from the conference, from learned societies (such as the Biochemical Society) or the University of Brighton Conference Support Fund) in addition to the BSMS funding.

For further details on the conference fund and advice about applying please contact ECR lead Dr Elizabeth Ford here.

Applications will be assessed and funds awarded four times a year (1st March, 1st June, 1st September and 1st December).

To make an application, please download the application form below and email it, with your supporting information, to Dr Elizabeth Ford via E.M.Ford@bsms.ac.uk.

Download the form here >

Two researchers Ben Hicks and Kat Wheatley wearing orange t shirts stood on a stall in a shopping centre promoting Alzheimers Research

Mentoring and counselling

BSMS offers a one-to-one mentoring scheme for academic and research staff including early career researchers which is open for applications from both mentees and mentors at the start of each academic year. Mentors and mentees are paired up dependent on grade, specialism and the needs of the mentee and it is ensured that matched staff work in different departments. Please email inclusivity@bsms.ac.uk for further information.

All ECRs should have a mentor and/or have access to a mentoring programme. As well as the internal BSMS scheme, Early Career Researchers can also apply to be mentees or mentors at the University of Sussex. Further information can be found here >

Senior Research Fellows, who are more advanced in their research career, can also take part in the mentoring scheme and be a mentor themselves.

A mentor would be available to meet with you periodically for advice and support as part of your five (pro rata) career development days allocation. Some of the benefits of a one-to-one mentoring relationship are:

Having a supportive relationship with someone outside of your line management, with whom you can explore and progress professional development goals
Having the opportunity to learn from a more experienced colleague(s)
Tailored support and guidance appropriate to your situation/career stage
Confidential and objective discussions

Informal mentoring can be done by the BSMS Early Career Researcher Lead.

Counselling

Mentoring is a professional relationship, and the role of mentor is not to be a counsellor or therapist. In case these become relevant here are links for more specialist services that can provide that support to staff:

the Sussex Employee Assistance Programme, Care First. Find out more here >
the University of Sussex Occupational Health can be found here >

Other practical support

The Sussex Research Office has put together a very comprehensive list of practical support here and a policy and resources library here >

oncoloy cell bio

Research staff office

The University of Sussex Research Staff Office (view more here) coordinates university-wide provision and support for research staff. They have produced Welcoming and Managing Researchers guidance here to provide information for PIs/Research Staff Managers during induction. The University has also signed the ‘Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers’ committing us to an appropriately managed and supportive environment for research staff, with opportunities for professional development.

See further details about training and development, one-to-one support and career planning here >

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Researchers' journeys

Read more about our researchers on our dedicated researcher journeys page.