Early Career Scientists Initiative: Promoting the future of science

What is the Early Career Scientists (ECS) Initiative?

Since 2020, EUMETSAT has been running the Early Career Scientists (ECS) Initiative, a celebration of the excellent research and operations work done by those in the beginning of their careers.

The ECS initiative, which takes place at our annual EUMETSAT meteorological satellite conferences, consists of two major parts.

The first part, a special ECS event at the conference, is arranged by early career scientists, for early career scientists. It invites guest speakers to discuss their own career paths, giving advice and answering questions from those seeking to blaze their own trail.

The second part promotes scientific excellent through competition, offering some fantastic awards for the best talks and posters given at the conference.

Just as the EUMETSAT conference is a forum for organizations and space agencies from all over the world, the ECS initiative invites and encourages young researchers from meteorological services, research and academia, or space agencies from all over the world to take part.

ECS event at the conference

The ECS main event is organized by a team of early career professionals from EUMETSAT, the hosting meteorological agency, researchers and previous ECS competition winners.

The event itself is a lunchtime session where the team interviews a panel of senior scientists, engineers, managers and host of other interesting characters about their lives, careers and opinions on the future of work, live on the plenary stage. Throughout the year, the ECS team takes gathers the topics of interest from the young professionals participating in ECS initiative, along with specific questions to the panel.

The ECS is a forum, where young professionals can gather ideas about how to chart the path of their careers, which skills are in demand, and what it’s like to work in a meteorological service, university, or international organisation.

Best ECS posters and talks

To apply for the awards for best ECS posters and talks, applicants should submit an abstract to the conference through the [conference page]. Applications are open to anyone aged 32 or younger, who has less than two years of work experience.

Previous winners are not eligible to apply again, though they are welcome – and encouraged – to present their work again at the next conference.

Abstracts should cover the use of EUMETSAT satellite (or simulated) data, or the data of its partners, and should broadly align with the main themes of the conference.

Awards

ECS initiative participants are eligible to win one of the five awards available. Awards are given out to the best oral presentations or posters, according to the members of the Scientific Programme Committee. No differentiation is made between oral and poster presentations for the purposes of giving out the award.

The Scientific Programme Committee agree on the scoring mechanism ahead of the conference, meaning that is it is always a little different, year-to-year. However, there are certain things that the committee always likes to see:

• Originality / Novelty of the work
• Scientific accuracy of information
• An attractive design of your presentation slides or poster
• Clear and confident presentation of your work
• Responding to questions and comments

Committee members might not always reveal themselves so always remember to give it your all during your allocated speaking space or during the poster session!

What do winners receive?

The five winners of the oral/poster presentations awards will each receive free attendance to a future EUMETSAT meteorological satellite conference, covering their transportation, accommodation and registration costs. They will also receive a per-diem stipend for their future conference and may be asked to join the Scientific Programme Committee, to select the future ECS winners!

Need some inspiration? Check out the gallery of past ECS winners below:

Overall, the ECS initiative seeks to build a global community of talented, hard-working researchers. ECS participants are invited to take part in our networking events throughout the week.

You’ll get to meet and chat with your fellow early career scientists on tours through beautiful European old towns; over lunch in cozy cafes; and with a drink in evening at one of our famous icebreakers.

If the Early Career Scientists Initiative sounds like it’s for you, make sure you submit your abstract in time!