What we plan to run
The things that helped us most as early-career researchers, and the ones nobody else offers. Each starts when a member steps up to own it.
We are collecting members first. No dates are promised yet; you will hear when each activity starts and how often it runs.
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Invited talksSenior researchers and members, alternating. Recorded only if the speaker wants it.
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Journal clubOne new paper paired with the foundational one it depends on. A rotating leader, a one-page guide, a public reading list.
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Presentation practiceTwelve minutes, conference format, written feedback on a fixed rubric. Members only, never recorded, timed before the big deadlines.
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Reviewer trainingA senior walks through a real review. Because everyone gets asked and nobody gets taught.
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Digest of new papers and opportunitiesWeekly or monthly, you choose. Five papers picked by a member, grants and access calls, jobs. A name on every mail.
Who it is for
PhD students
Especially in year one, when you are learning blanks, digestion and spectra the hard way.
Postdocs and early-career researchers
Anyone within about eight years of their PhD, career breaks not counted. Self-declared, no proof asked.
Mentors
Senior researchers who want to give a talk, run a reviewer session, or just listen. Welcome, without a vote.
Join the community
Tell us who you are and what you want to hear about. You can change every choice from any email we send. Nothing here is shared outside the community.
One more step.
We sent a confirmation link to your address. Open it within seven days and you are in. Not there? Check spam, or sign up again.
About
The Microplastics ECR Community is volunteer-led and international. It is run by its members through an elected steering committee, with at most one seat per institution and at most two per country, so no lab or country sets the tone.
It was started by the Aquapoll lab at Istanbul University in 2026, after good years in the AQUACOSM early-career network and the wish for the same thing in microplastics.
Code of conduct
- Work in progress is confidential. What is shown in a practice session or a members-only talk stays in the room.
- Feedback is about the work, specific, and offered to help.
- No harassment, no discrimination, no dismissal of anyone for stage, language or institution. English is the shared language; nobody is judged on it.
- Credit people. Ideas raised in discussion belong to the person who raised them.
- Recordings are made only with the speaker's stated consent and shared only as the speaker chose.
- Concerns go to the coordinator or any steering member, in confidence. Breaches lead to a warning, then removal.
How your data is used
- We hold what you gave at sign-up: name, email, ORCID if given, country, career stage, your topics, and your mail preferences.
- It is used to send you the mails you chose and to plan events. If a members-only directory is ever made from it, you will be asked first.
- Nothing is sold, shared, or shown outside the community.
- Every mail has a per-stream unsubscribe. Leaving deletes your record within thirty days.
- Recordings belong to the speaker. The community owns nothing a member presents, writes, or discusses.