ECR Events
The ISEK Congress program will include a series of ECR workshops and social events. Please see the various descriptions below.
Registration
You can select these events and sessions when registering for the conference or even after you’ve registered. Simply login to your registration, choose edit registration and add the workshop of your choice.
ECR session: The Modern Researcher Roadmap
Wednesday June 24, 2026 10:00 – 12:00
Organizers: Sophie Jenz and Giacomo Valli
Presenters: Sophie Jenz, Giacomo Valli, Tamara Valenčič, Drew Beauchamp
Brief Description:
This session provides early career researchers (ECRs) with a practical roadmap to survive and thrive in modern science. It will cover building meaningful scientific networks, defining their research identity, expanding impact beyond publications, and leveraging emerging tools such as AI responsibly, through real-world examples and interactive discussion.
- Starting Your Journey: Building Connections (Tamara Valenčič)
- Extending Your Reach: Expanding Research Impact Beyond Publications (Giacomo Valli)
Publications are the necessary output of your work, but not the full expression of your impact. In this session, Giacomo Valli will share his experience developing openhdemg. What began as a practical need, something that did not have a clear place in a traditional paper, evolved into an open and collaborative project, leading to new collaborations, increased visibility, and new research directions. This session will highlight how sharing research beyond publications, through tools, data, and open practices, can extend the reach of your work and create new opportunities. - Defining Your Research Identity (Sophie Jenz)
This interactive session will help ECRs answer the question: “who are you as a researcher?” and translate it into a clear, memorable research identity.
Through real examples and a hands-on activity, participants will create a concise “scientific identity” they can use for networking, grants, and communicating their work. - Looking to the Future: Navigating AI in Research (Drew Beauchamp)
This section will feature a panel discussion with established researchers and ECRs actively using AI in their work. The discussion will focus on how AI can be used effectively in research, while also addressing its potential benefits and limitations for future research careers. Attendees will gain insight into how AI use varies across disciplines and leave with practical guidance on how to incorporate it responsibly into their research workflows.
READ OVERVIEW
TBD
MCA Event – Personal value workshop for mid-career academics
Wednesday June 24, 2026 09:00 – 12:00
Organiser(s):
Kylie Tucker, The University of Queensland
Presenters:
Kylie Tucker, The University of Queensland
Sandra Hunter, University of Michigan
Allison Hyngstrom, Marquette University
Taija Finni, University of Jyväskylä
Madeleine, Lowery, University College Dublin
READ OVERVIEW
This workshop is targeted to mid-career academics – approximately 5-15 years post PhD. In this tailored workshop, you will be guided through a series of activities designed to help you to: Thoughtfully reflect on your career journey, and identify personal values, strengths and drivers: Identify and then highlight how your values and strengths contribute to outcomes and your impact, at an individual, organisational unit, and University level (and beyond): Apply your values and strengths to craft a compelling career narrative that highlights your values, impact, and aspirations – across all areas of your academic career: Build upon your current academic network and interact with peers from other institutions at similar career stages who are navigating similar organisational structures Whether you are preparing to apply for promotion, positioning yourself for new opportunities, or just wanting to take time to reflect on your journey – we aim for this workshop to give you the tools to develop and communicate your unique value and showcase your contributions to your field, the University and wider society. Workshop participants will need to complete a (free online) pre-work quiz https://www.viacharacter.org prior to attending the workshop. This will take ~20 minutes, and the results are sent just to you. It will provide you with information to help you formulate your own strengths based narrative. We look forward to working with you.
ECR Nightless Night with ReC Bioengineering Laboratories
When: Thursday June 25, 2026 19:00 – 22:00
Where: Finlandia Hotel Alba, Ahlmaninkatu 4
The event is organized by Local Early Career Researcher (LECR) Committee.
Pre-Registration by May 20 is required. Be quick to ensure your place: the number of participants is limited to 100. You can sign-up when registering for the conference, or edit your existing registration here.
Join us at Hotel Alba for the ECR Nightless night and embrace the Finnish cottage and sauna lifestyle right on the shores of Lake Jyväsjärvi! This relaxed and playful event is all about connecting with your fellow early-career researchers, including PhD students and postdoctoral fellows. The event is sponsored by platinum sponsor ReC Bioengineering Laboratories.
The night starts with traditional Finnish summer games, often played at summer cottages (mökki). It is here where we offer our guests a genuine, Finnish summer experience, including a variety of Finnish lawn games such as mölkky (skittle scatter), tikka (darts) and more. These activities are central to the Finnish summer experience, providing entertainment in the long daylight hours. Dress according to the weather – Finnish summer might be surprising. In case it’s raining cats and dogs, we might change the program indoors. The games are often followed by sauna and grilling, like this time too.
There are separate sauna sessions for women and men. Take a shower before the sauna and wear a swimsuit or cover yourself with a towel during sauna bathe. Seat towels are provided. More tips how to experience sauna in Lakeland, Finland can be found here. Remember to bring a swimsuit and a towel with you! Rental towels are available for 5,50 € / piece. When taking a sauna, you can have a refreshing dip in Lake Jyväsjärvi from the hotel’s own pier. Please note that there is no swimming supervision at the lake.
Sauna and evening snacks will be provided. The menu includes grilled sausages with mustard, ketchup or aioli, coleslaw, country potato salad and baguette with various spreads. Remember to bring card or cash to purchase refreshments and alcoholic beverages.
The venue is easy to reach. It is approximately 15-minute walk from Paviljonki Conference Centre along the direct Rantaraitti pedestrian route. Buses no. 5 and 5K arrive from the city center right next to the hotel.