ECAN Engineering | UNSW Research

Engineering Early Career Academic Network

The Engineering ECAN (Early Career Academic Network) is working to improve communications between ECAs within Engineering and ensure that opportunities are provided for ECAs to develop networks and gain knowledge in academic career development.

What is an ECA?

UNSW Early Career Academics (ECAs) meet all of the following criteria:

UNSW Academic staff within seven years (relative to opportunity) of having been awarded a PhD or recognised equivalent;
Appointment is at Level A-C.

The term ECA includes any employee who fits the requirements above, irrespective of whether the employment is:

in a research-focused role, an education-focused role, or a combined research and education role; and
in a continuing or fixed-term position.

Additionally, you must also take into account your relevant career opportunity and interruptions.

If you have any questions, please email us at ecanexec@unsw.edu.au

What does ECAN do?

We provide support to ECAs and opportunities for young academics to create new collaboration within the Faculty and across Faculties.

We run a lot of events throughout the year including a promotions event and speed mentoring. To stay up to date subscribe to our email list by contacting HR or contact us via email.

Stay Connected!

Join the Eng. ECAN's Teams here!

Networking Morning Tea

[COVID-19] Morning coffees are moving online! Join us for a morning coffee to meet your fellow Engineering ECAs.

Our virtual coffee breaks are hosted on the Eng ECAN Teams.

Other events

Becoming a Leader in Academia

[Join on Teams]

You have a PhD, you do great research, you teach well, but how do you move to the next step – attracting and leading other researchers to grow your own group, or leading change or programs within the University? (especially challenging during the pandemic) Join us to hear from 4 fellow academics at UNSW who can share insights and advice from their experience, identifying and overcoming key challenges, and answer your questions.

Date/Time: 28th October 11am – 12pm

Panel members (bio’s):

Prof Laura Poole-Warren: Currently leading and growing a Biomedical Engineering research group. Laura has held various leadership appointments at UNSW including Faculty of Engineering Associate Dean Research, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Dean of Graduate Research and Chair of the inaugural Athena SWAN self-assessment team (SAT).
Dr Vidhyasaharan Sethu: is a Senior Lecturer with the School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications and co-director of a new UNSW Network lab – the Signal, Information and Machine Intelligence Lab. Vidhya is also currently the Associate Dean (Research & Training) of Faculty of Engineering.

A/Prof Rob Taylor: is an Associate Professor in the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering.
Prof Guangzhao Mao: is the Head of the School of Chemical Engineering. Prior to joining UNSW in 2020, Professor Mao was a professor and Chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at Wayne State University, Detroit.

CONNECTIONS Seminar Series

We run the seminar series CONNECTIONS. The seminars are around the faculty of Engineering priority areas: Biomedical and Health, Civil Environment, Enabling Technologies, Energy, and Water. The speakers are early ECAs and everyone across the faculty is invited to attend.

[COVID-19] The seminar series will be hosted as webseminars. Stay tuned more information to come on this page as well as through our mailing list, Yammer and Eng. ECA Teams.

If you are interested to present your work, don't hesitate to contact us by MS Teams or email us at ecanexec@unsw.edu.au

Past Connections