IET to conduct a free seminar to address early career researchers' concerns

This post is authored by Sara Killingworth, Manager, Solutions Marketing at Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). 

A few months ago, a colleague and I at the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) attended a conference for early career researchers at Cranfield University. It was really good to speak to these researchers and hear about their experiences and pain points when it came to the publishing process. We learnt a lot about the different concerns that these researchers (mainly PhD students) had. At the top of the list was how to get published in a journal that is best suited for their piece of work and would achieves the most impact. Other areas of concern included open access, raising their profile on social media and which platforms to use to make the publishing process easier.

But one particular conversation really made an impression on me. When chatting with a PhD student about his current project, he said that “researching is a very lonely place to be.” It was an honest and illuminating response that I had not expected. It got me thinking how publishers such as the IET might be able to help researchers more effectively on the road to publication, and how we could give guidance and support to make the experience a little less isolating. This resulted in the initiation of the Good Researcher’s Guide to Publishing, a completely free seminar which will discuss the issues raised above and more.

We are really pleased to have the support of speakers from Imperial College, London; University of Liverpool; current and past PhD students; editors of IET journals as well as author service providers Kudos and Editage. And we are delighted that Professor Hugh Griffiths will be kicking off the seminar with his advice and guidance for early career researchers.

The seminar will be held at the IET London: Savoy Place on Wednesday 22 February, 2017. Apart from presentations and panel discussions, there will be plenty of opportunities to network post seminar.

Above all, we want you to feel part of a community and use the event to learn from others, share your experiences, and make contacts so that researching no longer remains a lonely place.

If you would like to attend this seminar please take a look at our event website and register.