The student and ECR Welcome Event and workshop incorporates a mixture of a social gathering, mentoring, and an open discussion of the issues which matter most to students and ECRs.
This year's workshop will be led by American Physiological Society President, Prof Sue Bodine. With a career spanning academia and industry, Prof Bodine has a wealth of experience navigating complex research environments and evolving career pathways.
A research career rarely follows a straight path and navigating it today requires more than scientific expertise. In this session, APS President Professor Sue Bodine shares candid insights from a career spanning academia, industry, and scientific leadership.
With a focus on the current funding and policy landscape, this workshop explores how early-career researchers can engage beyond the bench: building a voice in advocacy, communicating the value of science to policymakers, and positioning their work in a challenging funding climate.
The worksohp will precede the Conference Invited Lecture and Welcome event starting at ~2pm (TBC) on Sunday
The 'Savant Thakur ECR Workshop' will be presented by Dr Andy Stapleton and is intended for junior researchers (honours, PhD and up to 10 years post-PhD).
A PhD opens more doors than most researchers realise, but navigating them takes more than talent. In this session, Andy shares an honest account of a career that has spanned industry, postdoctoral research, entrepreneurship, and science communication, drawing out the lessons that only come with experience.
Along the way, he'll explore how to recognise and build the transferable skills embedded in your research training, why communicating your work to broader audiences matters more than ever, and how to approach career uncertainty not with anxiety, but with strategy. Most importantly, he'll make the case that a fulfilling career isn't something you stumble into, it's something you can deliberately design and engineer.
A practical, candid session for early-career researchers thinking seriously about what comes next.
The AuPS council have named the event the Savant Thakur ECR Workshop to honour the memory of Savant Thakur, an active student member of the AuPS Society. Savant was a brilliant, dedicated and high-achieving student who overcame considerable adversity to become an inspirational scientist, undertaking research to find a cure for DMD and be a help to so many others. While he had faced challenges over the years to treat his condition, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Savant had an amazing impact on all he met.
The student and ECR event will take place on the Monday night at The Regatta Hotel (Toowong), an iconic heritage-listed riverside pub dating back to 1874. The venue is just a short trip from UQ St Lucia by ferry or bus (approx 5-10 min), making it a convenient and uniquely Brisbane setting for our students and ECRs.
Student & ECR Prizes & Travel Grants
AuPS offers a number of prizes and awards for PhD students and Early Career Reserachers (current AuPS members only), including prizes for outstanding publications and best oral and poster presentations at the conference (please nominate during the conference registration process).
AuPS student members presenting at the Hobart Conference are also eligible to apply for travel support. Visit the Travel Claim page for more information.
We wish to thank our sponsors for their continued support of AuPS and our annual scientific meeting
