Early Career Participant Program

This Program is designed to support Early Career Participants to build their wider community of practice through activities fostering engagement with experienced industry professionals and academics. This year, the program will offer:

• an Early Career Virtual Event to which all Early Career Participants are invited to attend
• a Mentoring Program for Early Career Participants selected via an Expression of Interest who would like to be assigned an experienced mentor for the conference

Call for Expressions of Interest for the Mentoring Program

The Organising Committee welcomes Expressions of Interest for the Mentoring Program from potential mentees.

Who is eligible to express interest?

If you are an Early Career Participant presenting a contributed paper at the conference as lead author, then you are eligible for consideration for mentoring.

An Early Career Participant is anyone who is completing (or has completed in the last 3 years) a research degree in agricultural, environmental, resource, ecological, energy, fisheries, food, agribusiness or development economics. This definition is broader than that typically used to define an Early Career Researcher and is used here to recognise that Early Career Participants may be working in industry roles as well as in traditional academic research roles (including students).

What will the Mentoring Program offer?

Early Career Participants selected for mentoring will be connected with an experienced mentor from either industry or academia. Mentored sessions are intended to deepen a mentee’s understanding of the professional requirements of their industry or academic role, enabling them to accelerate their career.

What next?

Potential mentees should email their Expression of Interest to emilio.morales@une.edu.au by Saturday 15 January 2022, including the abstract of their paper and an up-to-date curriculum vitae. Expressions of Interest should be in a single PDF file (named lastname - EOI ECP.pdf) and be emailed with the subject AARES2022 ECPP.

There are limited places available for mentoring, so a selection process will be applied. Selection will be based on the originality of the paper and the extent of an applicant’s curriculum vitae, as well as the availability of a suitable mentor. All efforts will be made to accept as many Expressions of Interest as possible.

Appeals will not be accepted from applicants not selected for mentoring, who will still be able to join in the Early Career Participant Program through attendance at the Early Career Virtual Event.

What is expected of mentees?

Early Career Participants selected for mentoring will be expected to organise a 30-minute virtual session with their mentor during the conference. Mentees must provide their mentors with their completed paper and up to three (3) questions to guide discussion to ensure maximum value is obtained from the mentoring session.

Early Career Virtual Event

All Early Career Participants are invited to attend this Virtual Event. This will be a 2 hour and 30 minute session, that will have the support of the AARES President Elect, Frank Scrimgeour, and three experienced mentors from industry and academia, who will contribute to a panel discussion about early career topics and followed by open discussion.

For more information on the conference in general, please visit the conference website.

Kind regards,
Frank Scrimgeour (President Elect) and Emilio Morales (LOC Chair)