Dr Suzie Sheehy discussed effectively conveying research, and using pre-presentation fear for good.
The FLEET Students and ECRs working group organised a workshop at UNSW on the 19th and 20th of October for FLEET early career researchers (ECRs) and students. Over two days, invited speakers shared lessons and experience on diverse skills essential for a researcher’s career development, such as profile building, science communication, mental health, and academic writing.
On the first morning, Professor Inger Mewburn provided valuable insights and advice for attendees looking to forge a career in academia based on data and her own journey climbing the academic ladder. After lunch, Dr Narjes Gorgizadeh stressed the importance of stress management and as not only does stress affect academic performance, it can also cause health issues. Armed with tips from Dr Narjes on managing stress and mental health, attendees were ready to face the next session to learn about one of the most stressful part of a researcher’s career: job hunting. With real-life examples, Naren Chellappah showed attendees the process of searching and applying for a job, and how having an effective resume and LinkedIn profile could be the difference between being shortlisted for an interview or being rejected right off the bat.
In the evening, attendees relaxed and enjoyed food, drinks, and bowling at Manhattan Superbowl. At the end of the night, Julian Ceddia emerged as the champion and took home a trophy!
The next day, Dr Cally Guerin guided attendees through the process of publishing a paper, providing advice on how to craft a better paper title and abstract, based on her experience as a journal editor. The workshop then ended on a high note with a session on science communication skills presented by Dr Suzie Sheehy. She demonstrated good public speaking skills and regaled attendees with her experience and mishaps in science communication, inspiring attendees to not fear mistakes when speaking in public and encouraging them to always seize opportunities to share their science.
Feedback from attendees indicated that the workshop was appreciated and beneficial to students and ECRs. Yow-Ming (Robin) Hu said, “The sessions were quite useful. In particular, the careers masterclass made me think more about the importance of LinkedIn and gave me more insight into the job seeking process.”
The FLEET Students and ECRs working group are grateful to FLEET for providing the opportunity and funding to organise this workshop. This workshop would not have been possible without the help and guidance of FLEET COO Tich-Lam Nguyen and all the behind-the-scenes efforts of UNSW node coordinator Katherine Tajer. And of course, thank you to all FLEET members who attended in-person or virtually.
—Written by Dr Yik Kheng Lee (RMIT)
The FLEET ECR 2023 workshop was planned and organised by FLEET’s ECR Working Group. Big thanks to Yik Kheng Lee, Abhay Gupta, Bianca Fabricante, Maedehsadat Mousavi, Mitko Oldfield and Yasufumi Nakano.
