Meet the Committee

Executive Council

The Executive Council is comprised of 2 co-chairs, 2 co-secretaries, a treasurer and the head of Committees.

Chairs

The Co-Chairs work cooperatively to drive action by the ECR Network Committee and act as an advocate for ECR interests within the Faculty.

Co-Chairs: George Taiaroa (School of Biomedical Sciences) & Makhala Khammy (School of Biomedical Sciences).

Secretary

The Secretary facilitates communication within the Executive Council and subcommittees in close co-operation with our Co-Chairs.

Secretary: Lauren Carpenter (Melbourne School of Population and Global Health) and Ruby Biezen (Melbourne Medical School)

Treasurer

The Treasurer is responsible for coordinating the networks finances. They work closely with Faculty funding sources and liaise with the Sponsorship subcommittee regarding incoming sponsorship funds.

Treasurer: Marilou Barrios (Peter Doherty Institute).

Committees

Sponsorship

The Sponsorship team are responsible for canvasing external sources of funding to generate travel grants and small equipment grants and co-ordinate events to distribute such funds.

Head of Sponsorship: Lucas Calais Ferreira (Melbourne School of Population and Global Health).

Events

The Events team co-ordinate event organisation and execution for the network.

Heads of Events: Raissa Fonseca (Peter Doherty Institute) & Benjamin Schultz (Melbourne School of Health Sciences).

Communications & Outreach

The Communications & Outreach team manage the external communications of the ECR Council/subcommittees to ECR network members and the public. They ensure broad engagement between the ECR network and the Parkville precinct, Australian scientific communities and public groups.

Heads of Communications & Outreach: Darryl Johnson (Peter Doherty Institute)

ECR Network Committee membership will reflect ECRs across MDHS, with representation sought from all Schools, Departments and affiliated Institutes; and across diverse gender and culture.

To distribute the workload, the ECR Network leadership will comprise of an Executive Council and several Committees focused on specific activities.

The council will comprise of two Co-Chairs, a Secretary, a Treasurer, and the head of Committees.

The role of the Executive Council (Co-Chairs, Secretary and Treasurer) will be elected in general meetings open to all members.

The ECR Network Committee adheres to a structure where one co-chair is elected at the beginning of the calendar year, and the other co-chair is elected mid-year, to ensure continuity and knowledge transfer in leadership positions. The council is also committed to diversity where it is represented by one male and one female co-chair. Members who identify as LGBTIQA+ are welcome to apply for all roles.

The Committees will consist of self-nominated individuals.

Council roles would generally entail a two-year commitment:

In Year 1, members would function in their primary role
In Year 2, members would function to support the incoming member, in an advisory/mentoring role.

The Committees will be Sponsorship, Events, Communications and Outreach. While Committees have specific roles, they are intended to work together to facilitate ECR Network objectives.

The Council will initially meet once a month, on a date to be determined at the first meeting. Subsequent meetings may be more regular as necessary. Meetings are open to all.

To distribute the workload, the ECR Network leadership will comprise of an Executive Council and several subcommittees focused on specific activities. The roles each committee member is expected to perform is provided below.

Co-chairs

Convene ECR meetings
Collect items for agenda for ECR meetings (with Secretary)
Set agenda for ECR meetings (with Secretary)
Represent ECR Network to Faculty (on the MDHS Executive Committee)

Secretary

Collect items for agenda for Council meetings (with Chairperson)
Set agenda for Council meetings (with Chairperson)
Collect apologies for meetings
Read previous minutes for approval
Record Council meeting minutes
Distribute minutes to Council with action items highlighted

Treasurer

Report each Council meeting on the finances of the ECR Network
Prepare reports on costs for each event
Handle funds that are generated from events
Prepare a yearly budget for the ECR network
Liaise with Faculty regarding budget

Sponsorship Subcommittee

Sponsorship Officer to report each Council meeting on sponsorship interactions
Committee to meet and manage sourcing of sponsorship
Approach companies to establish funding sources
Work with Treasurer to maintain funding stream
Work with Events Committee to establish appropriate events

Events Subcommittee

Events Officer to report each Council meeting on completed and upcoming events of the ECR Network
Committee to meet and prepare events
Liaise with Treasurer re. event budgets
Liaise with Helen Edwards re. event co-ordination
Prepare advertising for events
Liaise with the Communications Committee re. advertising
Execute/participate in events
Canvas new network members at event
Co-ordinate with all other committees

Communication & Outreach Subcommittee

Communications/Outreach Officer to report each Council meeting on communication-related issues of the ECR Network and on outreach events and relationships
Committee to meet and manage external communications
Create ECR brand
Manage Twitter account
Manage Facebook account
Create ECR website
Manage website
Maintain listserv
Canvas for new members
Run and online suggestion box
Regularly canvas internally for new ECR network recruits
Engage with ECR committees at affiliated institutes
Engage with ECR committees more broadly within Australia
Engage with professional societies and organisations
Engage with the public: schools, community groups
Collect information about opportunities for engagement
Feed information to the Communications committee
Work with Events committee to establish appropriate events