Two exciting opportunities have arisen for an enthusiastic PhD Student and an Early Career Researcher to join the Board of the Regional Studies Association.
The RSA is an established global Association and a place on the Board will enable successful candidates to engage with colleagues, from students and early career researchers through to high profile academics and policymakers, internationally at meetings, conferences and social events.
The successful candidates will be actively involved and participate not only in the discussion and exchanges among the Board members at their (normally) three meetings per annum but will be expected to participate with them in the delivery of the Association’s aims and objects. These posts are observer posts and carry no right to vote and no associated liabilities but in practice post holders will be encouraged to participate openly in meetings.
During the term of office, the post holders will meet distinguished scholars, develop their organisational and interpersonal communication abilities and benefit from our Board Members’ experience. These positions offer a unique opportunity for career and network development.
Reasonable travel and accommodation expenses will be covered by the Association to attend the Board meetings two of which are normally held in London and third is usually linked to the Association’s annual conference which moves around Europe.
Student and Early Career Representatives have the following deliverables:
- to actively engage in RSA Board meeting either in person or by sending in papers for discussion;
- to proactively develop ideas on how to strengthen the RSA’s early career networks and how to engage early career members;
- to work strategically with the RSA office and Board to improve and refine the membership benefits for early career members;
- to proactively post, and encourage others to post, on the RSA Student and Early Career Facebook platform facebook.com/groups/156406957851069;
- to write a minimum of one short article per year for the RSA Blog https://blog.regionalstudies.org/
- to proactively, with support of the RSA office team, develop student/ECR sessions at RSA conferences;
- to champion the RSA to suitable networks and individuals to help the RSA grow its network and reach globally.
The Student Representative position is open to current PhD Students who are members of the RSA. Early Career Representative position is open to Early Career members of the Regional Studies Association who are within 3 years of the date on the PhD certificate or equivalent to allow time to achieve the deliverables.
Feedback by Donna Carmichael, PhD student at London School of Economics, UK
My role as the Student Representative on the Board of the Regional Studies Association provided me with an incredible learning and networking experience. The opportunity to work with a dedicated high-performance Board of senior scholars and the remarkable RSA staff provided me with valuable leadership and strategic planning experience which will benefit me throughout my academic career.
Feedback by Dr Camilla Chlebna, Postdoc Researcher, University of Oldenburg, Germany
Becoming an Early Careers Representative with the RSA has contributed greatly to my personal as well as my career development. Understanding the core challenges of early career researchers and speaking up on their behalf on the board has been a unique opportunity to learn. I am proud of what we (myself and the Student Representative) have managed to achieve and hope that the voice of ECRs and students will continue to be heard in the Association.”
Additional information for both posts:
Candidates are more likely to be successful if they have already engaged with the Association through attendance at an event, applications for grants or through publication in any of our channels including Facebook and the blog.
Proposed dates for RSA Board meetings for 2020:
- February, London, date TBC
- 17th June 2020 attached to the RSA Annual Conference in Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Board & AGM 11th November 2020 attached to the Winter Conference in London
Each appointment is for a one-year term with the option to extend for a second term depending on the deliverables being met.
To learn more about the current RSA Board, visit: www.regionalstudies.org/about/committee/rsa-board
Application process:
Please send a letter of application (up to 500 words) in which you describe why you would be the ideal Student or Early Career Representative on the RSA Board, what initiatives you would plan to undertake to promote the RSA and engage with the regional studies/ regional science community, your CV and a reference from your line manager to Daniela Carl at daniela.carl@regionalstudies.org. The deadline for applications is 29th November 2019, 10am GMT.
Applications will be shortlisted by the RSA Chair, RSA Secretary and CEO with input from the RSA staff team.