What is #ECRchat?

Welcome to the new home of ECRchat. The purpose of this blog is to collect all of the useful information and discussions generated by the #ECRchat hashtag on twitter.

What is #ECRchat?

#ECRchat is a weekly twitter discussion for early career researchers across the globe. The first chat will take place on twitter at 11:00 BST (12:00 CEST; 20:00 EST, Australia) on Thursday 19th July. This first chat will be a chance to introduce ourselves to each other and to discuss potential future topics and themes. The idea is to create a space on twitter where ECRs can find support and advice, inspired by the wonderful #PhDchat, and is intended to discuss mainly post-PhD career issues. See this Storify for more background.

How do I take part?

You can join in the chat by searching for “#ECRchat” and by adding this hashtag to your tweets. If you are new to twitter, you might want to check out this guide. There are many twitter chat clients to choose from (such as TweetChat, TweetGrid, and TweetDeck), which can make it easier to follow the conversation outside of your normal twitter feed. I also found this post about live-tweeting conferences really helpful for twitter chats, such as making sure to warn your followers in advance about sudden heavier tweeting.

What if I can’t make it at that time every week?

There are lots of other ways to can catch up with your fellow ECRs, if you dont have time for the live chat. For example, you can add #ECRchat to your RSS reader to catch up with the chatter when it suits you. We will post regular updates and Storifys of the chats on this blog. Also, add #ECRchat to your tweets anytime to share useful articles, advice, your latest blog post, job vacancies, or to ask a question.

Can I lead a chat?

Yes! We would welcome guest hosts over the coming weeks and months. There will be more information about this coming soon, along with polls for topics, and a topic schedule for future chats. In the mean time, stay tuned to this blog and to twitter for more updates as the group grows and evolves.

Looking forward to chatting with you soon!