U21's unique series of workshops committed to enhancing international networking and encouraging collaborative research for those in the early stages of their career. The Early Career Researcher workshops are the genesis of the Research Leaders' Group, which strives to use the U21 network for the benefit of U21's young researchers.
Each workshop's main aim is to encourage international networking, but also tackles career developmental topics such as grantsmanship, journal editing and innovation and knowledge exchange. Pecha Kucha-style presentations are also encouraged to highlight to the researchers the different skills required when presenting to a non-expert audience.
Workshops are interdisciplinary but each year focuses on a different UN Sustainable Development Goal. The key target groups for the annual ECR workshop are early career researchers/junior faculty who are establishing international research networks and who are at the beginning of their career, i.e. within 8 years of their PhD being awarded.