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Festival of Early Stage Researchers (FESR)
FESR 2026 - Building a community with interdisciplinary curiosity
What is FESR?
The Festival of Early-Stage Researchers is UCL’s annual celebration of you – your talent, your creativity, and the impact you are making as an early career academic, research staff member, technical professional, or doctoral researcher. It is a moment designed to shine a spotlight on the invaluable contributions you bring to research and innovation across UCL and beyond, while giving you inspiration, support and a community that fuels your career development journey.
What can I expect this year?
Each year, FESR brings a fresh theme to the forefront – and this year, we are stepping into a transformative moment for research and innovation. In celebration of UCL’s bicentenary, UCL200, and in step with our international interdisciplinary conference, FESR 2026 will dive into the power of interdisciplinarity.
We are teaming up with the Grand Challenges team and the Academic Careers Office to bring together ECRs from across UCL and beyond for a day designed to spark ideas, build confidence, and forge lasting connections. Expect an energising programme: an ECR panel sharing real experiences of working across disciplines, hands‑on workshops to stretch your thinking, a thought‑provoking keynote lecture, and a vibrant marketplace showcasing the wide range of support available at UCL for interdisciplinary work. It is an opportunity to immerse yourself in new perspectives, meet collaborators you have not met yet, and take your research in exciting new directions.
FESR 2026 Programme
| Time | Session Title |
|---|---|
| 9:30 - 10:00 | Arrival with coffee and pastries |
| 10:00 - 10:15 | Welcome |
| 10:15 - 12:00 | Panel: Tackling challenges in the real world through interdisciplinary approaches |
| 12:15 - 13:00 | Networking lunch and Marketplace |
| 13:00 - 14:00 | Panel: The impact of interdisciplinary collaboration - reflections from UCL ECRs on skills gained, career progress and venturing into the unknown |
| 14:15 - 15:45 | Parallel session I Panel: Funding your interdisciplinary research idea |
| 14:15 - 15:45 | Parallel session II Workshop: Developing a positive research environment to support interdisciplinary collaborations |
| 14:15 - 15:45 | Parallel session III Workshop: Citizen Science - the Why, the Who and the How |
| 14:15 - 15:45 | Parallel session IV Game: Interdisciplinary map making |
| 16:00 - 17:00 | Keynote 'Achieving significant collaboration across disciplines and sectors' Prof Barry Smith (Institute of Philosophy, Centre for the Study of Senses, School of Advanced Study) |
| 17:00 - 18:30 | Reception with networking |
| 17:20 - 18:30 | Walking tours around campus |
Why focus on interdisciplinarity?
Legacy
When UCL was founded 200 years ago, we broke the mould: a university open to people of all religions and none, soon after to women, and to those beyond the British Isles. From the start, UCL set out not only to expand knowledge but to ensure that knowledge could be applied to improve society. That spirit of openness, curiosity, and practical impact has shaped our institution ever since.
Today's challenges
Today, the world faces a convergence of complex and urgent challenges - often described as ‘grand challenges’ - from the climate and nature crises to rising inequality, geopolitical conflict, nationalism, and threats to truth, democracy, and the rule of law. These are not isolated problems. They are systemic, interconnected, and resistant to simple solutions. Addressing them demands teams that bring together diverse expertise, working from multiple angles to develop responses that are workable, sustainable, and lasting.
Increasingly, governments, institutions, and communities are transforming these challenges into mission‑driven agendas that accelerate innovation across sectors. Multidisciplinary research, cross‑sector collaboration, and partnerships between academia and industry are becoming central to how societies tackle their most pressing issues.
Future-proofing
But this way of working is far from effortless - especially for ECRs. It can feel daunting to navigate new disciplines, integrate knowledge across sectors, lead collaboratively, manage uncertainty, strategise effectively, and communicate with clarity. Yet these are exactly the skills that will shape the next generation of impactful research and innovation. The generation you are at the forefront of.
Join us at our UCL East campus in the heart of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, UCL’s flagship home for interdisciplinary study and research. Discover why it is never too early to stretch your thinking beyond the boundaries of your immediate discipline. Explore how, as an ECR, you can strengthen your personal and professional skill set to contribute to - or even lead - an interdisciplinary team united by a shared mission to drive meaningful change on the complex challenges shaping our world. Gain practical insights into how interdisciplinary approaches can unlock fresh ideas, spark new partnerships, and amplify the impact of your work.
Embrace the challenge. That is where growth begins.“
FESR Hub
Explore our Festival of Early Stage Researchers Hub for the FESR 2025 resources to catch up on what you have missed.
The hub stores also resources from previous years that you can review and engage with.
