NECTAR Events and Initiatives

NECTAR provides a professional development program aiming to enable ECAs to be successful.

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This list is updated as events are confirmed. Note, that your family members are welcome at all NECTAR events.

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WED

7

Dec
 9.30-10.30am
Thesis to Book - writing club/ peer group
Wednesday 7 December
Meeting at Room 1176(John Warhurst Room) - Building 22, Haydon-Allen
RSVP here
Want to turn your thesis into a book? Have no idea where to start, or got part-way through? Let’s share the burden! Join our ‘Thesis to Book!’ Early Career Peer Group, where ECRs can come together to support each other through the process of adapting doctoral theses into book manuscripts. Come along whatever stage of writing you’re at.
Simon Clews will join us for this session. Simon works with writers and academics around the world to help them improve their written and oral communication and develop their careers as effective communicators and providers of creative, well-written outputs. While Simon specialises in commercial/trade writing and publishing, not academic publishing, this is a great opportunity to pick his brains about writing in general, creating a narrative, and communicating with different audiences! He says that there are certainly things that can be taken from non-academic publishing and applied to academic publishing to improve our chances of publication. Find out more about him at www.simonclews.com.
WED

7

Dec
 Wednesdays 1pm -2pm
EMCR walking group
Joplin Lane l ANU Acton Campus
Last walk will be Wednesday 7 Dec 
Join us for a social walk and an opportunity for EMCRs to connect and expand their networks, get their steps in or just take a little break from their desks. Given the difficulty of the last few years, we know there are a lot of new staff who maybe haven’t met anyone outside of their immediate teams. Come and meet us! How to get involved? Meet us at 1pm Wednesday in the very end of Joplin Lane (outside the Bakery). This is an ANU early career researcher-led initiative.RSVP by email to Lillian.Smyth@anu.edu.au.

PAST EVENTS

WED

30

Nov
 9.30am-10.00am
How not to go crazy as a researcher? - in 30 minutes
Wednesday 30 November
Being an early career academic can be intense at times. Join us for a 30 minute session to hear from Michelle Linmore from ANU counselling who will present about practical methods and tools that you can use when feeling under pressure.
Registration is now closed.
TUE

22

Nov
 9.30am-10.00am
How to plan grant budget? - in 30 minutes
Tuesday 22 November
Grant budgets are often a small part of the proposal with a big impact. Writing the budget can be time consuming, especially if you are not sure how to structure it and make a good case. Join our 30 minute session to learn tips and tricks from Kelsey Scarlett from ANU Research Office. Registration is now closed.
WED

16

Nov
 2pm-3pm
Thesis to Book - writing club/ peer group, second meet up!
Wednesday 16 November
On zoom initially - possible optional face to face meet ups later
Want to turn your thesis into a book? Have no idea where to start, or got part-way through? Let’s share the burden! Join our ‘Thesis to Book!’ Early Career Peer Group, where ECRs can come together to support each other through the process of adapting doctoral theses into book manuscripts. Come along whatever stage of writing you’re at.
Registration is now closed.
Thu

10

Nov
 10 am - 12 pm
Developing your research career beyond academia
Face to face on Acton campus
Do you want to do research with, or for people in non-academic organisations? Presenter Zoe Piper, an entrepreneur with extensive experience working with government & businesses, will help you get started. Zoe regularly mentors' researchers with an interest working outside academia, including via IMNIS (STEM PhD students looking to work in industry) and CSIRO’s ON Prime program (supporting researchers to commercialise their research). This workshop will condense advice that she regularly gives mentees looking to secure opportunities outside academia. It will include new models which work, communicating as an expert with non-academic audiences, and engaging and building connections beyond academia.
Registration is now closed.
Tue

8

Nov
 4.30-7pm
Tour of the ANU Classics Museum for NECTAR and EMCRs
ANU Classics Museum, Acton campus
NECTAR members and ANU Early and Mid-Career Researchers EMCRs are offered a bespoke tour of the ANU Classics Museum collection, led by the new Curator Dr Georgia Pike-Rowney. This catered social event includes a tour of the ANU collection of ancient Greek and Roman artifacts and a briefing on how academics at the ANU can engage with the museum’s collection for their research and teaching, or purely for their own interest. Participants will also have the opportunity to handle some ancient objects that are a part of a brand-new hands-on teaching collection!
Light refreshments provided.
Registration is now closed.
FRI

28

Oct
 4.30-7pm
ANU NECTAR Halloween party
Badger & Co. Kambri
ANU NECTAR warmly invites all members and friends for a long-overdue face to face Halloween social networking event. Dressing up is optional but encouraged. Stranger things have happened.
There maybe a prize for the best/scariest/most innovative/most culturally dressed attendees, but will it be a trick or treat?
Snacks are provided, so please RSVP.
Colleagues and friends from across and beyond ANU and family members are welcome.Dress code: Interesting, Imaginary, Halloween-themed, Traditional, Cultural, or just anything you wish to wear to express yourself/tell a story.
Registration is now closed.
WED

5

Oct
 3.30-4pm
How to publish for free in open-access journals?
On Zoom
Open Access publishing is becoming more and more significant for scholars, but the ways we can publish our research in reputable outlets without paying steep author's fees can be confusing. ANU has recently entered into major agreements with several publishers which means that you might already be able to publish Open Access for free in some of the leading journals in your field. This session will be presented by Erin Le Nevez and Bee Shumway from ANU Library.
Registration is now closed. Watch a recording of a similar event same content here.
WED
14
Sep
 9.30 am - 2.00 pm (Includes Optional sessions, Morning tea and Lunch)
NECTAR Researcher Connect Day
59 Mills Rd Acton Campus (Building 160) AKA The new Physics building - exclusive lake views
This is an event on ANU Campus so all attendees will be requested to please wear a mask except when eating.

Program
Build a grant-winning team, over coffee

9.30-11am (including morning tea)
Impactful, field-advancing and dogma-disrupting research is often a result of cooperation between researchers from different fields. Teams are more likely to win grants and to produce impactful research when their co-investigators span across groups, disciplines and career stages. Are you a scholar seeking to engage with cross-disciplinary research and funding opportunities? Would you like the chance to meet others across and beyond your discipline? Who knows what connections you might find? Join us over coffee, meet other scholars, learn about their research directions, ideas and challenges ... and build a grant-winning team!

Collaborators beyond ANU are welcome. Feel free to invite your contacts.

Opportunities and support for transformative research teams

11.00am - 12.00pm (followed by lunch)
Meet your support team leads at Innovation ANU and the Business Commercialisation and Engagement BEC Team, Keats Nelms and Karen Jackson. This will include a short presentation on the support offered at ANU, followed by a round table discussion on enabling EMCRs to be successful in the transformative research space. The main focus will be on supporting and incentivising all ANU staff to work innovatively and collaboratively by enabling teams to build and gain funding and inform beneficial solutions for society.

Reflect and brainstorm on what EMCRs need

12.30pm - 2.00pm (includes afternoon tea)
Brainstorm what success for transformative research teams looks like and what outstanding support and opportunities EMCRs need to get there. This session will give you the opportunity to connect with others; reflect on what you and your teams need to be successful, and contribute to improving the ANU so that it better enables early and mid-career academics to be successful so that they can lead a better future.
Registration is now closed.
THU

18

Aug
 11am-12pm
NECTAR Annual General Meeting AGM
On Zoom
Are you curious about what NECTAR has been up to in the last 12 months, what's up next and who has nominated to represent you as NECTAR Co-Chair? Show your support by coming to NECTAR's AGM. All researchers and teachers and partners of NECTAR and your family members are welcome. Agenda here. Registration is now closed.
TUE
May-June

 

 ANU Programming Community of Practice
Tuesdays in May and June
Do you use programming for data analysis, teaching, or other applications? Would you like to connect with peers and learn from more experienced developers? Join NECTAR Custodian Matt Thompson and others for a new weekly programming community of practice. Here, participants can work alongside peers on their programming-related tasks, sharing your tips and tricks of the trade.
TUE
21 June

 

 10am-11am
R-Ladies Canberra and ANU NECTAR Morning tea A social morning tea with R-Ladies Canberra, hosted by The Australian National University’s network for early career academics, ANU NECTAR. This is an opportunity for peers working in statistical computing and graphics environments, including R, to connect across boundaries. R-Ladies is a Global Network of R users promoting gender diversity in the R community, and people of all genders are welcome. Guest speakers will talk about research challenges they solved with R:

  • Alice Richardson - ANU Statistical Support Network
  • Danielle Barth - ANU College of Asia and the Pacific
  • Francis Hui - ANU College of Business and Economics

If you are curious about R, ANU NECTAR, the ANU Statistical Support Network or would like to support early career researchers at ANU - join us.
TUE
Mar
 10.30am-11.30am
ANU NECTAR Mentoring Program Drop-in Sessions
Research shows mentoring reduces stress, increases job satisfaction, and is a game-changer for career success. Find out more at these info sessions on Tuesdays.
Come and find out about the ANU NECTAR Mentoring Program. No RSVP necessary.
• Every Tuesday until 8 March, 10.30-11.30am
WED

9

Mar
 9.30am-10.30am
Learning and ‘early-career’ teaching strategy ANU 2022 – 2025
Join Professor Grady Venville, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), and Professor Maryanne Dever, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Education and Digital) in a discussion on Learning and Teaching success at ANU; the Academic Strategy supporting the ANU Strategic plan 2022-2025, and how it affects early-career teachers. Grady and Maryanne welcome your questions and ideas.
THU

10

Mar
 10am-11am
Strategy to enable Early-Career Researchers at ANU
Join Professor Keith Nugent, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation), and Professor Ann Evans, Dean of Higher Degree Research, in a discussion with NECTAR on setting ANU early-career researchers up for success in 2022.
Keith and Ann will share their vision for enabling optimal research performance at ANU, with particular reference to early career researchers. They welcome your questions, ideas and perspectives.
THU

12

May
 10.30am-11.30am
Researchers and the Australian Government
On Zoom
Meet Nicole Henry, Chief of Staff - Office of the Chief Scientist - in conversation with ANU Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation), Professor Keith Nugent, about researchers working with the Australian Government. Nicole will talk about the purpose of the Office of the Chief Scientist and how researchers, like yourselves, help fulfil and support its purpose. This will be an opportunity to ask Keith about research funding strategy in this space. Let's discuss the possibilities. Come and ask your questions. This event will not be recorded.
TUE

17

May
 10.30am-12.30pm
Win at research grants with Statistical Methodology support
On Zoom
What does your research plan look like, on a grant application? To win you want a viable, feasible and well-thought-out plan right from research design to clear communication of results. You can do that with clearly described statistical design and analysis elements. People who win at this don’t tend to do so in isolation. Alice Richardson from the ANU Statistical Support Network is keen to meet you. She will deliver a workshop aimed to help ANU researchers get set on the path to clear results right from the research design stage. Limited placements apply.

Please click here to see a list of 2021 events.