March 2015 – Reports – The Early Career Researcher Network (ECRN)

Published in ESRS Newsletter March 2015

ESRS Early Career Researcher Network (ECRN)

Current Members (2014 – 2016):

Erna Sif Arnardottir (Coordinator), Harald Hrubos-Strøm (Vice-Coordinator), Ashleigh Filtness, Cátia Reis, Bogdan Voinescu

The need for an ESRS Early Career Researcher Network (ECRN) was discussed at the Assembly of National Sleep Societies (ANSS) meeting in Prague in May 2014, based on discussions between the ESRS board and representatives of the 28 national sleep societies present at the meeting. The (ECRN) was launched at the 22nd congress of the ESRS in Tallinn, Estonia in September 2014. Over 80 early career researchers participated.

Following the launch of the network, an advertisement for interested executive committee members was sent out and a committee finalized in January 2015. We believe that the five board members represent the different countries of Europe, different research areas as well as including PhD students, postdoctoral researchers and clinicians to representing different career interests. Information about the new committee members can be found on the ESRS website (Early Career Researcher Network (ECRN).

The executive committee now has monthly teleconference meetings and is generating the bylaws for the network, setting up the structure for an Early Career Day at the next ESRS conference in Bologna 2016 as well as starting a forum on Facebook for online discussions. These actions will be discussed with the ESRS board in upcoming meetings and hopefully launched soon.

Dr. Erna Sif Arnardottir, Coordinator, on behalf of the Executive committee, Early Career Researcher Network