For many current PhD students and Early Career researchers, a large proportion of their studies/career so far has been dominated by COVID-19 lockdowns and therefore virtual events. It can be intimidating to step into an environment full of established academics at the best of times, not least after 2 years of isolation and Teams meetings. It is for this reason we wanted to host an associated ECR day ahead of the main CEDS conference, to bring together students and early careers to introduce them to the world of in person conferences.

After a welcome lunch, day 1 began with a discussion on common challenges we face in our research. These included: how to deal with missing data, lack of validation data, disseminating results effectively and virtual labs for environmental data science. It was a great way of getting attendees to introduce their work in an informal setting, sharing their different issues and ideas of how these challenges can be overcome.

The second session was an informal careers discussion, led by people with experience in academia, industry and working whilst completing your PhD, with representatives from Miralis Data, Lancaster University, and the Met Office. Hearing from such an array of career pathways in a smaller setting was really beneficial for the attendees, and it made for a much more conversational careers workshop.

Lancaster is rich in history, so when thinking of a social for our ECRs, a tour of the Castle seemed like an obvious choice! So on Monday evening we made our way to the Castle gates, where we had such a knowledgeable tour guide who showed us round the old castle cells and court rooms. It was great to see so many “local” students in attendance as well!

Day 2 started with Industry vs Academia Panel session, with panelists from UK CEH, Lancaster University and the Met Office. The premise behind the session was to offer a different perspective of a careers talk, with the panel arguing for the opposite career they currently have. We heard from the panelists how education and academia could be considered a noble pursuit, with the freedom to research your own ideas, or how careers in industry can make be more fast paced and make a direct contribution at a quicker pace. There were some brilliant questions from the audience too!

The final session of the ECR day was a “speed networking” session, giving the opportunity for attendees to chat with as many people as possible, as well as a chance to practice introducing themselves and their research in under 3 minutes. We also had some more experienced academics who were attending the main conference pop by, and it was great to chat with them too. The room was full of conversation and it was great to see so many expressive conversations happening all at once! The main conference started with a welcome lunch, where many of the conversations overflowed too.

Over the ECR day, it was fantastic to see a community of ECRs coming together and forming connections ahead of the main conference – especially as for many of us it was the first time we have been to a conference in person.

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