Special Interest Group for

Early Career Investigators

This Action put a particular emphasis on voicing the interests of Early Career Investigators in SSH and strived to provide a platform for the discussion of opportunities and threats this position entailed especially within the context of research evaluation.

Early Career Investigator (ECI) was defined by COST as a researcher whose career spun less than 8 years between the date of the PhD/doctorate (or similar experience) and the date of involvement in the COST Action. A transversal Special Interest Group, composed of ECI, was created in ENRESSH with a purpose to gather experiences and reflections of early career researchers from different countries and across different disciplines of SSH, on career paths and opportunities, funding and research trends, evaluation policies, visions of the next generation science, most compelling challenges they face, and other issues relevant for young scholars in SSH.

Participation in the Action and in the Special Interest Group provided an opportunity for early career researchers to join a network of established scholars from multidisciplinary fields, an opportunity to create a networked community of their own, and was beneficial in various other respects. Here are some testimonies of early career participants of ENRESSH:

ENRESSH for me served as an amazing opportunity to get acquainted with numerous people working in different European countries, a platform to discuss and develop my ideas, and also a source of inspiration and information on the topics I am interested in. The professional international network I have acquired while being part of ENRESSH will, I am sure, benefit my work also in future. Besides this, thanks to the two ENRESSH STSMs, I had a chance to gain experience from international collaboration and work in different environments abroad.

Linda Sīle, University of Antwerp, Belgium

ENRESSH helped me to streamline my career in research support by focusing more clearly on the SSH, responsible research and innovation as well as on societal impact, all of which are extremely important and challenging issues important for the future.

Ondřej Daniel, Ph.D., Department of Science and Research – European Centre
Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

Participation in ENRESSH gave me a lot: professional development (including possibility to discuss methodological nuances in SSH and practice professional English language), new contacts both in Lithuania and in international area, great experience in academic activities (2 summer schools, 3 interdisciplinary international research projects) and better career prospects because of that experience and contacts and also because of meeting more formal requirements in my institution, that is, my participation in ENRESSH resulted in one scientific publication, two non-scientific ones and some international and national academic presentations.

Agnė Girkontaitė, Vilnius University, Lithuania

ENRESSH gave me the space to grow as an ECR. I was welcomed by scholars willing to learn from my expertise and eager to work side-by-side with me. With ENRESSH I experienced empowerment, I learned with other, european and non-europeans, ECRs, and networked with more experienced researchers in a friendly, honest and thrilling environment.

Rita Faria, Director of CJS – Interdisciplinary Research Center on Crime, Justice and Security; Assistant Professor, School of Criminology, Faculty of Law of the University of Porto, Portugal

Before joining ENRESSH in the autumn of 2016, my research profile was more or less nationally oriented. It bothered me, but still I had not managed really to promote the international aspects of my work. ENRESSH changed the situation and currently I am glad to say that I consider myself an international researcher. I have also received positive feedback from reviewers on my international research profile and networks.  The nicest thing is that I have now good colleagues in several European countries with whom we share the same interests in studying the questions related to the evaluation of SSH research.  

Dr. Reetta Muhonen, Collegium Researcher, Turku Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Turku, Finland

Being part of ENRESSH steering group provided me with valuable experience and understanding of how international projects are planned, managed and implemented as I could learn from an experienced international group of colleagues. The dynamic, stimulating and friendly environment helped me develop my leadership qualities and advance my organizing and planning skills.  

Dr. Jolanta Šinkūnienė, Vilnius University, Lithuania

Being a co-initiator and Work-Group leader of ENRESSH has been an incredible experience for me. I could develop my own research program, acquire new skills, such as leadership, negotiation, management skills, widen my network and learn how to interact with high-level policy makers early in my career. Thanks to being a Steering Group member of this Action, I am recognised as an international expert in the field. The five years felt and still feel surreal, like a dream.

Dr. Michael Ochsner, Swiss Centre of Expertise in the Social Sciences – FORS, Lausanne, Switzerland