Launch of the Early Career Researcher Network

On December 2nd 2024, the Early Career Researcher Network of the Housing Studies Association held its first event, kickstarting the initiative to support, develop and grow ECRs.

ECRN is a member network within the Housing Studies Association and was launched to support the association’s diverse and talented researchers. It was announced at the HSA’s Autumn lecture on 28 October 2024. Since then, HSA member ECRs were encouraged to attend the launch event to feed into the development of the activities for the year!

Our early career researchers who joined the online [feedback] event shared enthusiasm in joining the network and expressed areas requiring support and engagement within the scope of the ECRN. To gauge the needs and development activities the members will gain the most benefit from, we asked them to express their challenges and expectations of the ECRN. We were pleased to see that our goals for the year and the launch of this network aligned well with the needs of the HSA ECRs. We asked them:

What do you hope to get out of the ECRN?

As we envisioned it, members saw this as a platform to improve and increase opportunities to meet other people and expand networks. Hearing about other’s research and also gain inputs and feedback on their own work was key. Members thought that having a friendly, informal space to present their work before heading off to a big conference could be beneficial. We look forward to creating opportunities for smaller-scaled engagement and frequently held sessions outside of the friendly HSA Annual conference. It will provide the opportunity to informally present and bounce ideas and research findings off of each other.

We want the ECRN website and discussion forum to be a central space for sharing information on training, talks, events, networking, conferences and so on. There was an appetite, through such a space, to signpost to relevant opportunities, events, latest literature and reading lists, and any other things that may support research activities like training on reaching out to stakeholders.

A big or daunting tasks for all of us is finding the time to write! And actually, do it effectively when the time comes around. We discussed the possibility of hosting writing sessions to check this box off the list in unison. Having attended many writing sessions myself, I realise support and accountability can be a massive motivator!

Applying for jobs, grants and fellowships, career guidance, and (alternate) career paths

We of course welcome and want to support researchers outside of Academia and identify similar support and opportunities for development.

Any challenges we can help you with?

We saw three key areas where ECRs needed support. 

As researchers continually developing our professional skills, ECRs identified areas such as writing interview topic guides, running focus groups, research theory, methods and writing, ethics application, ontology and epistemology(!) as areas needing focus. At the ECRN, we hope to signpost to existing resources, share our knowledge and experience, and identify further research development skills as we go along.

The more general professional development skills such as writing, research communication, inter-disciplinary research fields and cultures were also seen as challenging to navigate. We are mindful about the important role a mentor plays in the development of an early career researcher and are looking to explore how and where we may be able to accommodate it. 

We very much welcome further ideas, needs, support to help us curate activities and events for the next year. Do you have anything to add?

We look forward to seeing you for our next event most likely in March – in the run up to the HSA Annual conference in Sheffield in April 2025

Sadhana and Nia

Co-Chairs of the HSA Early Career Researcher Network (ECRN)