The main activity of the Network usually happens at the ECER conference. The ECER conference was cancelled last April, Nevertheless, the Network held an informal gathering during the ‘Reconnecting EERA Week’ on 27 August.
The informal gathering was convened through MS Teams. Laurence, as Link Convenor, hosted the gathering from the University of St Andrews, UK. All Network 14 members and all researchers whose ECER submissions to Network 14 were successful were invited to participate in this informal gathering. This alternative (and virtual) event allowed us to come together. We discussed our research activities around our Network’s main research themes.
47 researchers from across the world registered for the online informal gathering. Up to 30 people participated in the gathering. There were two main items on the agenda.
- ECER2020 – review process and outcomes. Laurence, as link convenor, gave participants detailed information about the reviewing process of all ECER2020 proposals to Network 14 and its outcomes. She emphasised that all submissions to SS
- Potential Network Activities
Researchers were first invited to join breakout rooms in they briefly presented their activities and how the latter could be fostered by the Network. All reassemble to the main session to discuss the outcomes of their respective breakout groups.
It transpired that there was a strong appetite from all to continue to develop our community through virtual meetings over the coming months. These meetings would aim at pursuing the exchange and the development of research ideas. One of these virtual meetings could be dedicated to early career researchers; another one could be related to the Network 14 Special Call. There was a sense that the Network could prepare a funding bid to facilitate these virtual meetings. Finally, there was a desire to contribute to the EERA blog.