New kids on the block in the ECMC and opportunities for early career members in 2018

The ERS competence list of early career members

There are many opportunities for early career members in the ERS to engage in the activities of the society. However, in the past it has not been easy for early career members to make themselves visible to the ERS and eligible for tasks that they feel able and competent enough to complete.

In recent years, the ECMC has established a “competence list”. The goal of this list was to create a tool for ERS officers to select suitable early career members and offer them participation in specific processes of the society. Since it is the declared aim of the ERS to involve more early career members in many different aspects of the society’s work, the competence list has gained importance over time. Any early career member willing to take over tasks like abstract reviewing and co-chairing poster sessions for the ERS conferences or volunteering to co-author, for example, review articles in ERS journals can sign up for this list by simply contacting his or her respective assembly’s early career representative.

The ECMC was certain that, despite all the communication efforts in recent years, not all early career members knew of the existence and importance of this list. Therefore, the ECMC together with the ERS office developed an item on the myERS platform where any early career member willing to commit time and effort to the ERS can sign up to the official early career member competence list.

While filling out the online form, early career members will be asked to name their fields of expertise (up to three). It is also possible to link to your published articles in the PubMed database. You will be asked to select the different (or all!) ERS tasks that you think you are most capable of completing. To date, the available activities are: 1) reviewing abstracts for ERS conferences; 2) co-chairing sessions during ERS conferences; 3) co-authoring articles for ERS journals; and 4) serving as reviewer in the evaluation process of applications submitted for ERS fellowships. To highlight early career members that have previously undertaken ERS tasks or who have won ERS poster/abstract awards, we decided to incorporate a section where this can be mentioned, so that chances of being selected again in the future are higher.

The ERS, in general, and the ECMC, in particular, sincerely hope that with this new myERS competence list it will be easier and more transparent for any early career member in the society to have a better chance to become involved in the many tasks and activities that the ERS has to offer.

We invite you to use your myERS account to sign up for the early career members’ competence list and become an active member of the society!

Early career delegates session at the Lung Science Conference 2018 in Estoril, Portugal

It is now an established tradition during the annual Lung Science Conference (LSC) to have a session dedicated to the professional needs of the early career members.

For the past 2 years, we have been able to offer the early career members comprehensive sessions focused on optimising their chances to obtain jobs and funding. This year’s session will address a vital aspect of every scientist’s life: maximising their publication output.

The invited panel of experts, including the new chief editor of the European Respiratory Journal, Martin Kolb, will give the audience an insight on crucial aspects of creating and submitting manuscripts. Improving the visibility of papers once accepted for publication is another aspect the session will address.

These sessions traditionally involve lively discussions between the audience and the invited panel before turning into a networking event. This year, we aimed to increase the interaction even further. As there will be a significant number of experienced editors present during the LSC, we plan to invite the audience to bring along their own manuscripts that were not as successful in the publication process as the authors had initially hoped. The editors will make themselves visible after the panel discussion, creating the opportunity for early career members to get practical advice on the best way to improve their chances of publication.

We hope this combination of lectures and hands-on experience will lead to a spike in publications among early career members after the LSC!