Young Scientist Working Group | Euromarine Network

Activity Overview

Type: Working group
Start Date: January 31, 2018
End Date: January 31, 2019
Venue: Remotely, Second meeting (venue tbc), final session in conjunction with the EuroMarine General Assembly 2019
Website: OYSTER Homepage
E-mail: OYSTER [at] euromarinenetwork.eu

Funding Call: EuroMarine 2016 Call for Proposals
Decision Body: EuroMarine Steering Committee
Total Budget: €7,500
Funds Granted: €7,500

Manager(s): David Murphy
Co-organiser(s): Eva Greene, Tim Deprez, Ann Vanreusel, Nicolas Pade, Joanna Piwowarczyk

Application/registration deadline: February 16, 2018

Summary

January 2018 - Jan 2019
Young scientists: PhD students or individuals in first post-doctorate contract
Full or Invited Member Organisation
One candidate per organisation
Develop the network's capacity to improve the marine landscape for early career scientists
To apply, please see the call for nominations

Scope & Topic

The proposers of this bid have a vision for a EuroMarine network that has an active Young Scientist community engaging and exchanging with each other and the wider EM member network, providing inputs on the future direction of the network, as well as deriving maximum benefits from the current and future network activities and services.

Objectives

To set up a permanent Working Group for Young Scientists in EuroMarine
For the WG to be designed and driven using a bottom-up approach by the Young Scientists themselves
For the WG to be representative and a voice for young scientists within the EM governance structures
For the WG to establish dynamic and innovative bottom-up Young Scientist Forum
Empower and assist YS in leading international, interdisciplinary and intergenerational dialogue
Provide perspectives to shape the development and progression of the network and its goals
Defining a roadmap of their role within EuroMarine

Expected Outcomes

Building on the resources and talent available and allowing the bottom-up and openness aspects of EuroMarine to foster a holistic feedback to further develop and facilitate the future of the network, its Member Organisations and its researchers.
Creating a WG to contribute to supporting a long-lasting EuroMarine network based on collaboration and sharing of knowledge and experience across Europe.
Including all levels of researchers, from early career to senior scientists in the EuroMarine network to provide networking and collaborative opportunities for all career levels.

Timelines

YSWG application deadline: 16 February 2018
YSWG selection announcement: 21 February 2018
YSWG launch: 28 February 2018
YSWG 1^st Meeting (virtual): 24 April 2018
YSWG 2^nd Meeting (virtual): May 2018
YSWG 3rd Meeting (face-to-face): June/July 2018
YSWG working deadline for deliverables: next SC meeting, September/October 2018

EuroMarine Young Scientist Working Group

EuroMarine is committed to helping early career researchers and promote bottom-up science from the marine science community. The Young Scientist Working Group (YSWG) was funded under EuroMarine 2016 call for propoals. It actually launched its activities at the beginning of 2018 to engage with young scientists and soon expanded to include a forum of eighteen PhDs and post-docs from member institutions. As the Working Group was designed with a bottom-up approach, the Young Scientists themselves have been providing operational governance on behalf of the EuroMarine Steering Committee. This has included contributing to the cohesive outreach to and capacity building of young scientists across EuroMarine member organisations.

Beyond strengthening the outreach capacity of the EuroMarine network, the YSWG has also been working on the development of initiatives to improve the ability of EuroMarine to integrate early career researchers into the European Marine Landscape. Their outputs may be found here.

This activity has also led to the successful call for a follow-on working group titled Orienting Young Scientists of EuroMarine (OYSTER I). The OYSTER I WG will serve to further the findings of YSWG and explore options for long-term integration into EuroMarine.

Locations of Young Scientist Representatives

The 18 representatives are located through 13 countries. The members help represent the views of early career scientists in the EuroMarine network and act as a conduit to other young scientists in their own institution.

YSWG Accomplishments to Date

Demonstrated how a future permanent working group for young scientists in EuroMarine would function, when designed and driven by the young scientists themselves.
Provided new perspectives to shape the development and progression of the EuroMarine network and its goals.
Engaged with the early career marine scientist community.
Established the foundations of a platform where young scientists can share their needs and ideas in order to empower and assist young scientists in leading international, interdisciplinary and intergenerational dialogue.
As a group, the Young Scientists represent EuroMarine-affliated early career researchers from a variety of fields of speciality, and are well-placed to inform the Network on matters of concern regarding education.
Developing advice for EuroMarine in matters pertaining to the support and development of student and early career researchers membership and ways the network can assist to meet their future needs.

Based on their own experiences, the Young Scientists have mapped the concerns they've identified as entrants to the research sector.

In order to understand the professional context, motivations and concerns of young researchers within the marine sciences, the YSWG also recently ran a survey spanning institutions across Europe. The feedback collected from this survey will help them learn more about current issues concerning young scientists' working environment, financial situation, research interests and future perspectives in science, and facilitate the development of a supportive network to address some of these issues.

If you are a young marine scientist or simply want to learn more about the Young Scientists' activities and how you might get involved, please contact the OYSTER group: oystereuromarinenetwork [dot] eu.