Early Career Researcher Network

The Early Career Researcher (ECR) Network provides support and advice to researchers in the early stages of their career within the UCL Division of Medicine.

We provide a friendly and inclusive forum for PhD students, postdocs, research fellows, research assistants and technicians to discuss issues concerning research careers and researcher wellbeing. We also explore alternative career options through the information events and workshops.

Your ECR Committee Members

The committee acts as your representatives in the Division of Medicine Athena SWAN self-assessment team. We want to meet the needs of early career researchers and we welcome comments and suggestions on issues and events you would like us to consider.

Contact us: med.ecr-network@ucl.ac.uk

George Robinson, Senior Research Fellow, Inflammation (Co-chair, 2023-)
Angela Tam, Senior Research Fellow, Rheumatology (Co-chair, 2023-)
Lizzy Rosser, Senior Research Fellow, Inflammation (ECR Lead, 2023-)
Marie-Belle El Mdawar, Research Fellow, UCL Respiratory (Previous co-chair)
Sandra Gomez Lopez, Senior Research Fellow, UCL Respiratory (Previous co-chair)
Puja Mehta, Clinical Research Fellow, UCL Respiratory (Clinical chair, 2021-)
Pilar Acedo Nuñez, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Liver and Digestive Health

Adrian Brown, NIHR Lecturer and Senior Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics
Zoe Whiteman, Postdoctoral Researcher, UCL Respiratory
Jude Holmes, PhD student, Imaging (Research Assistant ECR Representative)
Claire Beesley, PhD student, Inflammation
Efstathia Papada, Lecturer, Nutrition
Connar Mawer, PhD student, Respiratory
Rym Abida, PhD student, Inflammation

Spotlight on early career researchers

Early career researchers within the Division of Medicine share their interests, experiences, challenges, and successes. Nominate an early career researcher at med.ecr-network@ucl.ac.uk.

Dr Lizzy Rosser, Inflammation

Lizzy talks about her groundbreaking research, advice for early career researchers (ECRs) and life outside the lab.

Thomas McDonnell, Inflammation

Dr Thomas McDonnell shares his recent fellowship success and career journey in academic research.

Nishkantha (Nish) Arulkumaran

Nish shares his recent publication success and career journey as a clinical scientist in research.

Mariana and Leo, Infection and Immunity

Dr Mariana Diniz and Dr Leo Swadling share their achievements in the fields of immunology and infection.

George Robinson, Adolescent Rheumatology

George tells us about his Versus Arthritis Career Development Fellowship award and plans for the future.

Pilar Acedo, Institute for Liver and Digestive Health

Pilar tells us about how she became Junior Principal Investigator and co-head of the Pereira/Acedo Lab.

Masahiro Yoshida & Kaylee Worlock, UCL Respiratory

Masahiro and Kaylee discuss their new work on immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection in children and adults.

UCL resources

Twitter/X: @DoMEarlyCareers

LinkedIn: EarlyCareerResearch UCL

ECR Events

We organise events relevant for early career researchers from both basic science and clinical backgrounds.

International Women’s Day 2024: Women’s Health Research Spotlight Seminar

Keynote speaker Dr Nicky Keay: Female sex hormones and exercise during the life cycle
Dr Hannah Peckham: Complex interplay between sex chromosomes, sex hormones and class-switch recombination of B lymphocytes.
Dr Julia Zollner: Is genetics the key to understanding intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy?
Florence Rowe RD: Investigation into the Association Between Hormones Levels, Vitamin D, and Muscle in Peri and Post-Menopausal Women.

Watch again (MS Stream)

How-to guide: Fellowships at UCL (October 2023)

Dr Jenny Cowan discusses life as a post-doc abroad, applying for independent fellowships and choosing a good sponsor institute.

Dr Lizzy Rosser offers insights into her journey and top tips she's learnt from applying for UCL fellowships.

Watch again

Navigating the internal UCL Fellowship Application Process

Marion Atkinson (Deputy Director of Ops, Faculty of Medical Sciences)
Prof Derek Gilroy (Scientific Director, Division of Medicine)

Watch again (MS Stream)

Fellowship applications for ECRs

Featuring speakers from the BHF, MRC, CRUK and NIHR.

Watch again (UCL Zoom)

Is allyship even possible?

July 2023

Dr Naftali Kaminski views the role of men in the fight for gender equity in medicine. He is Boehringer-Ingelheim Endowed Prof. Internal Medicine and Chief of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at Yale School of Medicine.

Watch again

Communicating science

June 2023

Portrait Photo of Christina Pagel with dark background

Prof. Christina Pagel (UCL Faculty of Maths & Physical Sciences) tells us about using information to help people within the health service make better decisions by presenting data in a more intuitive way.

Watch again

Chasing my cure to our cures

March 2023

David Fajgenbaum is author of 'Chasing My Cure: A Doctor's Race to Turn Hope into Action'. While battling idiopathic multicentric Castleman disease (iMCD), he discovered a treatment that is saving his life and others.

International Women's Day 2022

For the 2022 International Women's Day (IWD) celebration female researchers in the Division of Medicine joined forces to invite reflection and inspire everyone in academia to 'Break the Bias'.

MediaCentral Widget Placeholderhttps://mediacentral.ucl.ac.uk/Player/ICI28Ijf

The ECR Network also released the first edition of its new Podcast with Prof Liz Jury and Prof Rachel Batterham, who shared their inspiring stories with Dr Puja Mehta and Dr Adrian Brown.