Advisory Group Members

Our Advisory Group shapes the direction of the Early Career Researcher Network and its activities. Its membership consists of four members of the Network and four of the Society’s Fellows.

Advisory Group members will assess the current Welsh research environment, its opportunities and barriers, and will explore how the Society can expand its activities to develop researchers’ careers.

 

Our Fellows

Professor Alma Harris

Cardiff School of Education and Social Policy, Cardiff Metropolitan University
I have worked internationally on research and writing to understand and support educational leadership, education policy and school improvement. I’ve been a Senior Policy Adviser to the Welsh Government assisting with the process of system-wide reform and led on the development and implementation of a master’s qualification for all newly qualified teachers in Wales. With the World Bank I contributed to development and research programmes aimed at supporting schools in challenging contexts in Russia. I’ve supported Early Career Researchers in a variety of ways over my career and shared panels with them. I’m looking forward to creating opportunities for the Society’s Fellows to work with ECRs in our Network.

Professor Raluca Radulescu

Bangor University
I have extensive experience in mentoring PGR/ECRs through my different roles as Director of Graduate Studies (for more than ten years), running PG events and training. I have also held leadership roles, such as Director of Research, Impact and Engagement and REF unit coordinator. I have undertaken a number of training schemes and acted as a mentor on the WUMS scheme. I am part of a number of relevant committees and discussion groups including the Concordat for Researchers and the Athena Swan accreditation committee. I sit on national funding bodies by request (having been an AHRC peer review member for 11 years) and advise on external/ international funding bodies. As I am the author of two impact case studies (for 2014 and 2021), I am well aware of the need to work with entities outside academe and I would like to facilitate that for the Early Careers Researchers Network. I welcome this opportunity to contribute to developing the careers of these key researchers in Wales, and look forward to help develop networking opportunities for both ECR and MCRs

Professor Simon Hands

University of Liverpool
In my view, the toughest transition any ECR has to overcome is acquiring research independence, indicated by both access to resources and publication profile. My experience has been in theoretical areas of science, where a key skill is organising thoughts, ideas and workload to produce independent (perhaps even single-author) publications. Sometimes it’s hard to recognise longer-term research priorities, especially in a world apparently dominated by REF, bibliometrics, ever-increasing teaching loads, and social media. I have also worked closely with younger experimental colleagues and understand all too well the huge difficulties involved in equipping a research laboratory. I want to be able to guide ECRs to make the optimal choices and decisions to advance their careers.
Professor Andrew Rowley

Professor Andrew Rowley

Swansea University
I have over 35 years in HE in Wales and have seen the constant difficulties in attracting and retaining talented post-docs in Wales. I have first-hand knowledge of this from training large numbers of research students and post-docs over my career. A lack of career progression and poor success rates in attracting UKRI funding in Wales are key issues. Our loss of EU funds will severely affect all the research-driven universities in Wales at both research student and postdoctoral levels. As part of the Advisory Group, I want to look at how Wales and the Learned Society can help address these issues that will become critical in the next few years.

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