Introducing the Early Career Researcher Hub

The Early Career Researcher Hub aims to provide a regular forum for discussion on all things relating to the life and work of Early Career Researchers working in the Humanities.

We are: Charlie (works as a lecturer on a fixed-term contract, with eight years of lecturing experience in the UK); Rachael (several years of experience in academic and related fields, including lecturing, and currently working as a postdoctoral researcher); and Olivia (several years of work experience prior to beginning a PhD, which she is in the final year of writing). You can find links to our social media accounts in the 'About Us' section of our homepage.

We record a podcast most weeks, and each one lasts about an hour. We discuss particular topics that we think are relevant to the life of an ECR in the Humanities. Sometimes, we talk about themes relating to processes happening at that time (for example, our first pod was about how to apply for a PhD), while other times we reflect on things that we are currently working on and trying to figure out at that time (such as our pod on How to Start a New Research Project). Each pod is linked to a blog which you will find on this part of our website. We are keen to receive guest blog posts and contributions to our podcast, so if you have an idea that you would like to explore, then do please get in touch to help build our community.

We know that the life of an ECR can be stressful, daunting, and difficult: this is part of the reason why we wanted to share our experiences! But is is also important to note that in most cases, we only offer reflections on our own experiences. We try not to give 'hard rules that guarantee success' because, sadly, there are none. We are here to share our feelings on some difficult topics, and by doing so we hope that our listeners will feel solidarity from us and the rest of the ECR community.

We that hope you enjoy our site!