2024 EMCA Week: Being an Academic, What Now and What Next?

A special week focused on topics of interest to Early and Mid-Career Academics (EMCAs) in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences was held between 28 October and 1 November 2024.

Organised around the theme of “Being an Academic, What Now and What Next?”, the week included a series of online workshops featuring a range of speakers, with the week culminating in an in-person networking event in Parkville. The week was co-hosted by the Faculty’s Early Career Academic Network and the Melbourne Medical School’s EMCA Advisory Committee, with overall planning and coordination being led by the latter group.

Pictured: Participants at EMCA Week.

The opening session of the week was an online panel discussion involving EMCAs with different experiences and career pathways, who offered their reflections, insights and strategies on how to navigate a successful career. In the second online workshop, professional staff at the University provided information and advice about social media and how EMCAs can utilise different platforms for networking and promoting their research projects and achievements. The other online offerings involved presentations from the Melbourne Data Analytics Platform on how to generate research efficiencies via data-driven collaboration and a session exploring different funding avenues for EMCAs, such as commercialisation and industry partnerships, beyond traditional competitive grant funding programs.

A special online workshop on creating infographics for research impact was also offered during the week, with a limited number of places available. After an engaging week of diverse online offerings, the final in-person event was a ‘Brainstorm and Brew’ networking opportunity, where EMCAs had the chance to build new connections, discuss potential collaborations, and workshop future support initiatives by and for EMCAs. Attendees at the networking event received a coffee voucher, enjoyed morning tea, and were in the running for a limited number of travel awards (for those who were engaged throughout the week). Overall registration and attendance numbers across the week were very high, especially with MMS researchers, which is a good sign for the potential to run future EMCA weeks.

Special thanks go to Dr Kevin Lee (Medicine – Royal Melbourne Hospital) for leading the initiative, Mariam Hachem (Medicine – Austin) and Dr Natasha de Alwis (Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Newborn Health) from the MMS EMCA Advisory Committee, and a number of EMCAs from the Faculty’s ECA Network including Kevin, Dr Varun Venkatesh (Medicine – Austin), Dr Alec Jamieson (Psychiatry), Dr Belinda Lawford (Physiotherapy), Dr Lucy Bartho (Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Newborn Health), Dr Travis Haber (Physiotherapy), Dr Sarah Tashjian (Psychology) and Dr Catarina Almeida (Microbiology and Immunology). Thanks also to the MMS Research Support team, especially Tasbeeh Raza, for supporting communications, registrations and logistics for the week.