What started as a bold idea has made a real, lasting impact on supporting Early Career Researchers (ECRs) at the University of Leeds. A team of exceptional postdocs, Jessica Swanson, Laurin McDowall and James Warren led a collaborative project that tackled some of the biggest challenges ECRs face: fragmented information on professional development, the need for greater awareness of opportunities, a route to gain formal project management qualifications and/or become chartered.  With professional services staff Taryn Bell, Anisha (Parsotam) O'Hagan, Nazia Nasir and Ruth Winden supporting (not leading!) and generous Research England funding, they  📌 created a central digital ECR Hub,  📌 ran a packed fellowship fair,  📌 enabled over 35 postdocs to go through the Prince2 project management certification,  📌 and helped a sizeable group of researchers on their way to become Chartered Scientists.  Key learnings of this 9-month project:  1⃣ When postdocs are empowered to lead, innovation follows. “Listen to the postdocs—they know the challenges they face.”  2⃣ Cross-team collaboration (professional services and postdocs) unlocks impressive results. 3⃣ Building strong professional relationships and networks accelerates positive change.  4⃣ Recognition matters: the three postdocs earned the FBS Partnership Award for its cultural impact.  If you are interested in how this project got started - listen to this episode from September 2024 (Season 9/Episode 3): https://research-culture.captivate.fm/episode/-postdocs-as-innovators-shaping-research-culture-at-the-university-of-leeds/All of our episodes can be accessed via the following playlists: Research Impact with Ged Hall (follow Ged on Bluesky and LinkedIn)Research Impact Heroes with Ged HallOpen Research with Nick Sheppard (follow Nick on Bluesky and LinkedIn)Research Careers with Ruth Winden (follow Ruth on Bluesky and 

Ver todos los episodios