Abstract
Abstract. Acquiring not only field-specific knowledge but also a set of transferable professional skills becomes increasingly important for Early Career Scientists (ECS) in Geosciences and other academic disciplines. Although the need for training in transferable skills adds to the work-load of an individual Early Career Scientist, it is often neglected within the traditional academic environments. International Early Career Networks (ECN) are global voluntary communities of early career scientists aiming (i) to advocate for early stage researchers; and (ii) to advance the careers of their members by raising their profiles and training them in specific transferable skills, such as networking, collaborating and outreach. Accordingly, ECN can be a tool to move beyond institutional barriers and to improve the inclusion of ECS into the international scientific community. In 2019 we conducted three surveys in order to assess ECN from the perspective of its members and regarding the structures of different ECN within a specific discipline and across disciplines. We use the survey results alongside with case studies from well-established and long term networks to elucidate the attributes that make a successful, sustainable ECN. Important characteristics of these international ECN include (1) developing the ECN organizational schemes to promote early career scientists within a specific discipline and across disciplines, (2) scoping for members needs, evaluating the performance of the network, and adapting to feedback, (3) continuity of the organizing committee by ensuring representation of different stages of ECS, and (4) diverse membership to provide strong foundational and personnel support within the network. These characteristics can support the development of best practices for developing ECN successfully, which can guide existing and future networks within Geosciences and other scientific disciplines.
Highlights
Career Scientists (ECS1) are professionals recently trained in their discipline, but who have not been working in their field for an extended amount of time
We find the case of comparatively larger networks with at least a few hundred members (APECS, IMECaN and UK Polar Network (UKPN)) and two smaller networks with fewer members, Ice Core Young Scientists (ICYS) and the special case of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development network (UN) (Ryabinin et al, 2019), which is still in a conceptual phase
Using ICYS and the UKPN as example cases, we aimed to evaluate if the original scope set by the organizing committee after creation of the Early Career Networks (ECN) aligns with expectations by its members
Summary
Career Scientists (ECS1) are professionals recently trained in their discipline, but who have not been working in their field for an extended amount of time. Career Scientists are a critical part of the work force in science (Taylor and Francis, 2015) and participate at all levels of the production of scientific knowledge, including hypothesis testing, grant writing, data analysis and synthesis, publication and project management. ECS participate in extensive professional training, working to acquire the necessary skill set to effectively integrate into the scientific community. Acquiring field-specific know-how and a set of transferable and “soft” skills has become increasingly important for ECS – such as networking, collaborating, outreach and leadership Other professional opportunities and networks are essential for ECS to develop and hone their professional skills more broadly
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