It has never been a more exciting time to be an EMCR. Our sector is undergoing significant reform at the moment, including the Structural Review of NHMRC’s Grant Programme and announcement of Australia’s National Innovation and Science Agenda by the Prime Minister late last year. As Nikola Bowden, incoming Chair of the Australian Academy of Science’s EMCR Forum, discusses in her inaugural welcome, the Forum is working hard to represent the interests of EMCRs to key decision makers. I hope that many of you had your say on the issues that you would like us to take to NHMRC CEO Anne Kelso as part of the structural review.
We are also pleased to include an inspiring but sobering message from Australia’s new Chief Scientist, Professor Alan Finkel, on making a fulfilling and successful research career.
A new article, What have we been up to?, highlights the activities and achievements of the Forum. If you are interested to know how the members of the EMCR Forum executive spend their time, who they talk to and what they campaign for, then give it a read.
We also bring the second in our ‘On the Job with…’ series (previously Career Pathways) profiling exceptional researchers working and thriving in areas outside the traditional academic research career. It is my pleasure to introduce Dr Moira Clay who works in Research Strategy Management. The Forum experienced Moira’s exceptional talents earlier this year as she assisted us to develop our 5-year Strategic Plan. You will hear more about this shortly.
Science Pathways 2016 is just around the corner. As anyone who has been to one of the three previous EMCR Forum conferences would know, these well attended events are challenging, uplifting, informative and a fantastic opportunity for networking. This year’s theme is Future Leaders.
I hope that you enjoy Issue 7 of EMCR Pathways. Many thanks to Sandra Gardam for her assistance in putting this newsletter together. This will be my final issue as Editor of the newsletter. It has been a pleasure to bring you news and views about opportunities for EMCRs in Australia and beyond. It is with even greater pleasure that I introduce Hamish Clarke who will be taking over the reins of the newsletter. Hamish is a natural communicator and will bring that flair to EMCR Pathways. You can find out more about Hamish in the first of our new Getting to Know … series where we speak to inspiring EMCRs to hear how they made a career in research. If there is someone you know who has an interesting story to tell, please get in touch with us. Or if there is something that you would like to read in Pathways, please contact the Pathways Editor.
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