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Early Career Development Group call for 3 new members

As a professional association, the EISA aims to provide its members with opportunities for career development and engagement with other colleagues. While the main vehicles for that aim are the events and conferences organized by the association, with emphasis on the Pan-European Conference on International Relations (PEC) and the European Workshops on International Studies (EWIS), other activities in-between conferences are also provided to members as a means to create a dynamic, inclusive and living network of scholars in the field of International Studies and related disciplines, to boost their careers and push the boundaries of research and innovation through exchange and collaboration.

The EISA is mindful of the specific challenges faced by early career scholars, either during their PhDs or in the first years after the award of the degree. These professionals are usually faced with high(er) levels of work precarity, lack of funding and scarce job positions, while still needing to comply with the overall competitive environment of academia that affects scholars in all career levels, pushing them to publish more and faster, attract funding for their own research, teaching and supervising, as well as taking over administrative tasks. The transition to the labor market entails the existence of opportunities for CV building and career development which sometimes cannot be met without a support network. For this reason, the EISA’s contribution to its members who are early career researchers includes not only specific events, grants and awards (Early Career Researchers Workshop, Best Dissertation Award, Best Graduate Paper Award, Postdoctoral Bridge Grants, Dissertation Fieldwork Support Grant, online events and activities, the Mobility Fund available for all members to attend EISA conferences), and a dedicated portfolio in the Governing Board structure, but also counts on a peer-to-peer group created to provide specific opportunities for early career development to EISA members.

Purposes of the group

The Early Career Development (ECD) group was established as part of the overall professional development support and activities that the European International Studies Association provides to its members. Its aim is to build a network of early career scholars in International Studies and related disciplines, to create clustering opportunities and collaborative projects, and to promote leadership within early career researchers. To that end, the ECD group creates online and offline communities and spaces where early career scholars feel welcome; it also organizes meetings and activities where thematic discussions and learning can take place, on topics that are of particular relevance to early career scholars – at the PEC, EWIS, and beyond.

Constitution of the group

ECD Group is comprised of up to seven members – who are volunteers selected for a two years mandate based on periodic calls for new members (see 3. recruitment process) – and an EISA board member who holds the portfolio for Early Career Development (hereafter “the group convenor”). ECD group members must be early career scholars with an active EISA membership. The notion of ‘early career scholar’ is broadly defined, including PhD fellows, postdocs, and those starting out in Lectureship positions or similar, up to six years after the award of the degree. As an elected member of the board, the group convenor is responsible for guaranteeing fluid communication with the ECD group and the EISA board, and to make sure that the group works in conjunction with the board’s principles. All communications between the ECD Group and the EISA Board are a responsibility of the group convenor. ECD Group members benefit from their involvement in the group by building up networks, visibility and organizational experience.

Activities

The ECD group organizes events that are of specific interest to early career scholars, for example concerning publishing, writing, diversity, methods, ethics and so forth. The agenda and activities of the group are always under development and open to the ideas of new ECD group members as well as the wider community.

Activities include:

  • The creation of an online community through regular contributions in EISA newsletters, webinars, social media, and other activities;
  • The creation of an offline community through ECD events, including special panels and a welcome reception at the annual EISA-PEC;
  • Advising the EISA board in matters concerning ECDs.

Organisation

The group convenes at least once a month via an online platform to plan activities and discuss group progress. It convenes at least once a year physically, normally at the EISA-PEC.

Minutes of these meetings are kept by the group Secretariat, to ensure continuity of activities. These minutes will be added to the notion by the group convenor (the elected Governing Board member who holds the ECD Portfolio) after approval by group members to ensure a continuous communication of activities to the board.

The group will be attributed a yearly budget by EISA board to sponsor their offline events.The group needs to report on the budget every 3 months.

Portfolios

(include, but are not limited to):

Secretariat

The secretariat is composed of two members of the ECD group. They are responsible for organizing the internal meetings, drafting the agenda and keeping minutes. They organize the overall internal communication flow.

Communications & public relations 

The communication & public relations portfolio is composed of at least two members of the ECD group. They are responsible for external communication: informing members and interested early career scholars about events and activities of the ECD group. They draft the newsletter contributions, social media presence following the social media strategy document, and manage the email account.

Online and offline events

Online and offline events portfolio holder is composed of at least two members of the ECD group. They are responsible for planning and executing ECD group activities online, through digital platforms, and offline, especially at PEC and EWIS.

Recruitment and Membership Principles

 

  1. Basic membership principles
    1. The core of the group consists of at least seven and at most ten people, in addition to the group convenor who is an elected member for the EISA Board and who holds the Early Career Development portfolio.
      1. Temporary variation in the size of the group is allowed, depending on the circumstances including but not limited to recruitment periods .
      2. Membership suspension may occur in cases of parental / sick leave.
    2. The length of ECD group membership is two years.
      1. Membership may be extended up to an additional year, subject to the interest and agreement of the member (or members) in question. The extension period must be backed by the majority of the group members.
      2. The member intending to extend their membership extension should notify the group three months in advance of termination of the membership by written notification.
  • Membership extension will not impact the regular recruitment process.
  1. ECD group members are expected to:
    1. Proactively contribute to the group’s work for the duration of their membership;
    2. Attend the monthly group meetings and the yearly in-person meeting at EISA-PEC;
  • Make themselves available for online group discussions and present ideas conducive for early career research development;
  1. Implement and carry out tasks for which they are responsible within a portfolio;
  2. Coordinate with other members to make sure that burden-sharing is in balance across the group;
  3. Help identify prospective members for the group and participate in the selection process as necessary;
  1. Recruitment process
    1. Ideally, ECD Group members are recruited every two years, corresponding to a complete mandate of half of the group members. In addition, this process can be extraordinarily triggered by the group convenor whenever necessary, based on group needs.
    2. Step 1 –The call is published on the EISA website as well as advertised on social media and through the individual networks of group members.
    3. Step 2 – Prospective members submit their application materials to the ECD group. The application is to include the following documents:
      1. A short CV;
      2. Letter of intent indicating the prospected contributions to the group;
    4. Step 3 – ECD group members review applicants online in an internal group discussion and prepare a shortlist of candidates (numbering at least one, preferably two, more than the number needing to be recruited) and invite prospective candidates no later than one month after the call’s final date. These select candidates are then invited to participate in an interview with the remaining ECD Group members.
    5. Step 4 – Having interviewed the shortlisted candidates, the ECD group members give an assessment of each shortlisted applicant.
    6. Step 5 – ECD group members cast their votes online anonymously in a two-step voting procedure.
      1. In the first round, the candidate(s) who received the least votes is/ are eliminated. If this satisfies the recruitment process, voting ends after the first round.
      2. If a second round is needed, ECD group members decide over the remaining candidates. If there is a tie, the Group Convenor can break the tie.
  • If no suitable candidates are found, the call can be renewed and opened for new applicants.
  1. Step 6 – Selected candidates must be ratified by the EISA board before publishing the results of the process.
  2. Step 7 – The chosen applicant(s) is/are invited to an inaugural online meeting with the ECD group.
  1. Recruitment principles
    1. The ECD group’s recruitment process is transparent and democratic, with each member allowed an equal say in decision making. The process is meant to identify and select candidates dedicated to helping ECD’s aims. The group’s composition takes into account diversity in terms of countries, regions and university systems in and beyond Europe (broadly defined).
    2. When assessing a candidate, the following criteria are to be taken into account:
      1. Demonstrable commitment to the ECD aims and to the group’s activities;
      2. All levels of career experience and academic enrollment pertaining to early career development;
  • Willingness to follow and work according to membership principles established under 1. c.;
  1. Expected impact on ECD group composition, including its diversity (geographic, ethnic, gender, other);
  2. Availability to participate in the monthly meetings and to actively engage in the organization of activities.
  3. At least one third of the members must be PhD students.

The Members of the Group are:

António Leitão
University of Coimbra
Itsasne Allende Sopelana
University of the Basque Country
Justinas Lingevičius
Vilnius University
Tasniem Anwar
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Leonie Felicitas Jegen
University of Amsterdam
Franca Elena Kappes
Geneva Graduate Institute
Matteo Cianforlini
University of Bologna
Marion Foster
University of Texas

The main contact for the ECD portfolio is Francesco Ragazzi f.ragazzi@fsw.leidenuniv.nl

 

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Online Writing Retreat for Early Career Scholars

Feb 16, 2026 |

WEDNESDAY, 25 FEBRUARY 2026, 13:00-16:00 CET – ZOOM EVENT Description   The EISA ECD Group is organizing an Online Writing Retreat for Early Career Scholars aimed at sharing writing strategies and creating a friendly, encouraging environment for writing. The...

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