Our Network

The SERA Early Career Researcher (ECR) Network supports ECRs in Scotland to develop their capacity and capabilities as researchers within a supportive network and to share their research and connect with colleagues in education and the broader academic community.

Our network is open to:

• Postgraduate students (PhD, EdD and Masters)
• Educational practitioners researching any area of Scottish education
• Postdoctoral researchers within 5 years (excluding career breaks/maternity or paternity leave) of completing their PhDs
• Researchers/practitioners new to the field of educational research

Network Activities

Writing Club every Saturday from 10am-12pm

Listen to our podcast ‘ECR Voices‘ on Spotify.

All future updates can be found in the SERA Latest section of this website under the Early Career Researcher category.

2026

24th June: Case Study Open Forum – Online with Key Speakers, Juliam, Guiping, Muttaqin, Wang and Zou

21st May: Espresso Conversations on Students and Supervisors – Online

13th April: Action Research: A Reflexive Thematic Workshop –  Online with Key Speaker, Dr Naheed Akthar

26th March: Interviews Open Forum – Online with Key Speakers, Muttaqin, Zou and Wang

19th & 24th March: Writing Days – Online

19th February: Using Creativity to Spark and Fuel Your PhD Writing – Online with Key Speaker, Dr Carter

22nd January: From Devolution Aware to Devolution Able – Joint Event with the Learned Society of Wales, Online

2025

20th November: Building Research Communities Brick by Brick – Presented at the SERA Conference

22nd May: Ethical Considerations – Researching with Children Online Presentation

15th April: PhD 101 -Navigating the Journey Online Presentation

26th March: Preparing for Your Viva Online Workshop

28th January: Research Poster Online Workshop

2024

21st November at SERA Conference: Road-Mapping Our Journeys: Who Are Early Career Researchers?

13th November: Making the Most of SERA Panel Discussion

29th May with SGSSS Student-Led Training Fund: Role-Playing Your Viva

Conference Activities

• Estelle Brisard Award: the prize is awarded for the best research paper written by an early career researcher based in Scotland and is presented annually at the SERA conference.
• Collaboration with other ECR networks (e.g. EERA and BERA).
• Rapid-thesis competition – prize awarded for most effective presentation of dissertation/thesis in 3 minutes
• Seminars and workshops in collaboration with members, other SERA networks, and external educational partners (e.g. ECR networks in other associations).
• Networking events at the annual SERA conference

Contact Information

For general enquiries, please contact the ECR Team at: ecrsera@gmail.com

To be updated on our activities, please join our mailing list

Social Media 

Bluesky: sera-ecr.bsky.social

LinkedIn: SERA ECR

X: SERA_ECR

Convenors

Jana Chandler, PhD researcher, University of the West of Scotland

Claire Anderson, PhD researcher, University of Dundee

Lixin Li, PhD student at the Centre for Transformative Change in Schools, University of Glasgow

Publications

Boyle, C. and Miao, H. (2024) SERA ECR network: constructing and connecting communities for sustainable peer support. SERA Researching Education Bulletin Anniversary Edition 2. pp. 27-30.