IGSD’s ECR Away Day was held on March 17, 2026 at Bartholome House, providing ECRs working in global sustainable development, broadly defined, the opportunity to meet, dialogue, and share experiences.
Attendees came from the School of Sociological Studies, the School of Information, Journalism and Communication, and the School of Geography and Planning. The Away Day comprised four knowledge sessions focused on career development (led by Dr Philipp Horn), REF for ECRs (led by Prof Simon Rushton), identifying grant opportunities (led by Laura Jow) and applying for grants (led by Prof Mike Thelwall).
These sessions facilitated a good level of engagement on aspects of academic life and practice that matter most to earlier career researchers as they make their way into academia. Participants expressed further interest in staying connected and were keen about similar future events to explore networking opportunities and career prospects/growth. The IGSD ECR community now has a dedicated mailing list to share news and opportunities (link https://groups.google.com/a/sheffield.ac.uk/g/igsd-ecr-group). If you work in global sustainable development, broadly conceived, and self-identify as an ECR, please write to our ECR co-reps Dr Preeti Raghunath and Dr Vincent Obia to join the mailing list.