Welcome to Incoming EPEC Co-Chair – Nimisha Verma

EPEC is thrilled to announce the appointment of a new co-chair, Nimisha Verma!

Joining current co-chair Jessica Hogan, Nimisha is taking over the post from Melissa Merino, who has been in the position since late 2023.

An introduction from Nimisha:

Hello! My name is Nimisha Verma. I am a 2nd year PhD student at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Berlin and working as part of the MERTIS Team for BepiColombo. During my PhD, I work in trying to combine Geology and Computer Science to study the surface of planet Mercury. Apart from my studies/work, I have always been interested in being involved in extra-curricular activities. I became actively involved with Europlanet in 2024 through the EPSC2024 organizing team and events like the EPEC Annual Week, which deepened my interest in the organization and inspired me to contribute further. I am thrilled to take on the role of Co-Chair for the Europlanet Early Career (EPEC) network. Thank you for this incredible opportunity, and I am eager to embark on this exciting journey!

Call for Applications for Europlanet Early Career (EPEC) Committee Co-Chair

Call for Applications for Europlanet Early Career (EPEC) Committee Co-Chair

The EPEC network is organised by early career researchers, for early career researchers, and includes volunteers from across the global Europlanet community. EPEC strives to form a strong network of early careers by organising events and creating a platform for early careers to engage with the wider scientific community. 

The EPEC Committee, composed of chairs responsible for leading our activities and events, is led and coordinated by two Co-Chairs, whose duty is to make sure all the active events and activities are functioning nominally, fill periodic reports on ongoing activities, and liaise with the Europlanet Society Executive Board. You will be the primary point of call for EPEC queries about joining, membership, activities and events for both committee and members. EPEC’s Co-Chairs play a crucial role in coordinating the community and its activities, making key decisions that benefit the EPEC network as a whole, encouraging new and innovative ideas and actively expanding the community. 

EPEC’s Co-Chairs are responsible for: 

  • Communications: 
    • Acting as a central contact node within EPEC and directing people through the network 
    • Managing and posting consistently on social media 
    • Liaising with other EPEC members and Europlanet representatives via email 
    • Creating and updating EPEC sections of the Europlanet website 
    • Building relationships with other early career networks, like AbGradE 
    • Operating a shared email inbox and participating proactively in email exchanges relating to EPEC
    • Consistent presence on social media, particularly on Discord
  • Coordinating with other EPEC members to stay up-to-date with new and existing EPEC activities 
  • Reporting to the Europlanet Executive Board and providing input for Europlanet’s annual report 
  • Representing EPEC at events: academic conferences, webinars, outreach presentations etc.
  • Gathering feedback from participants after events like EPEC Annual Week and EPEC @ EPSC. 

EPEC is looking for one elected Committee Co-Chair for the next term to help sustain the Committee activities. The term of the elected EPEC Committee Co-Chair will be two years with an option to extend for an additional year. The expected time commitment of the elected EPEC Chair is approximately two hours per week, with increased commitment expected during EPEC Annual Week and around EPSC.

This is a great opportunity to join a vibrant community of early career researchers, learn valuable leadership skills and work closely with another experienced Co-Chair to help each other make the most of the experience. Europlanet is passionate about providing a supportive environment and a great platform for raising the profile of its early career members. 

Eligibility to apply: 

To be eligible for this position, you must meet the following requirements: 

  • You must be a member of the Europlanet Society; 
  • Leadership: In working with our diverse community, you must ensure that all points of view are heard and respected. If needed, both Co-Chairs must be able to facilitate discussions and make decisions in the best interests of the community; 
  • Availability on Discord: Europlanet and EPEC use Discord as our main platform for brainstorming, community-building and exchange. Please ensure that you engage as consistently and proactively as possible; 
  • You must be an early-career planetary scientist and/or space professional whose last degree (e.g. MSc or PhD) was obtained a maximum of 7 years ago (excluding parental leave, serious illness and similar delays). 

We encourage applications from a diverse early career community (undergraduates, graduates, doctoral researchers and postdocs).

How to apply:
If you are interested in becoming an EPEC Co-Chair, please submit your application via the form below by 25th November 2024. 

After the deadline, the EPEC Committee will meet for a discussion and will then proceed with a formal vote.  

The new Co-Chair will be announced in early December.

Call for Applications for Europlanet Early Career (EPEC) Committee Co-Chair

Call for Applications for Europlanet Early Career (EPEC) Committee Co-Chair

The EPEC network is organised by early-career researchers, for early-career researchers, and includes volunteers from across the Europlanet international community, with the support of the Europlanet Society. The focus of EPEC is to form a strong network among young professionals by organizing early-career-relevant events and by engaging in different projects through Working Groups (WGs).

The EPEC Committee, composed of all the WG Co-Chairs, is led and coordinated by two Chairs whose duty is to make sure all the working groups are working nominally, fill periodic reports on ongoing activities, and liaise with the Europlanet Society Executive Board.

The Chair of the EPEC Committee plays a key role in bringing the WGs and their activities together, making key decisions that benefit the EPEC network as a whole, encouraging new and innovative ideas, and expanding the Early Career Network.

The EPEC Committee is looking for one elected Committee Co-Chair for the next term to help sustain the Committee activities. The term of the elected EPEC Committee Co-Chairs will be two years with an option to extend for an additional year. The expected time commitment of the elected EPEC Chair is approximately two hours per week averaged over one year. However, an increased commitment is expected during the EPEC Annual Week and the run-up to EPSC.

This is a great opportunity to join a vibrant community of early career researchers and learn leadership and managing skills alongside an experienced Co-Chair who can help you make the most of this experience. The Europlanet Society is a developing community that values its early career members and can help raise their profile in a supportive environment.

Key responsibilities of the elected EPEC Chair:

  • Liaising with WG Chairs and keeping up-to-date with EPEC WG activities
  • Engaging in the EPEC forums on WG activities and discussions
  • The EPEC Committee Chair acts as the main contact person with the Europlanet Society Executive Board
  • Represeningt EPEC at EPSC (General Assembly) and at the EPEC Annual week 
  • Writing twice yearly reports on EPEC Committee activities (with help of WG Chairs)
  • Guaranteeing smooth transition with the next EPEC Committee Chair*

*In case the Co-Chairs need to leave EPEC, they should give enough notice to organise the transition

Eligibility to apply: 

The candidates for the EPEC Chair position must fulfil the following requirements:

  • The candidate must be a member of the Europlanet Society
  • Leadership: You will work with a diverse community and need to make sure all points of view are heard and respected, but if needed you and the other Co-Chair are expected to move the needle towards the best decision for the network;
  • Weekly availability on Slack: EPEC uses Slack as the main platform for brainstorming and exchange. You should check new messages at least twice per week;
  • The candidate must be an early-career planetary scientist and/or space professional whose last degree (e.g. MSc or PhD) was obtained a maximum of 7 years ago (excluding parental leave, serious illness, and similar delays).

We encourage applications from a diverse early career community (undergraduates, graduates, doctoral researchers, and postdocs)!

How to apply:
If you are interested to become EPEC Co-Chair, please submit your application via the form below by 8th September 2023.

After the deadline, the EPEC committee will meet for a discussion, and will then proceed with a formal vote among the candidates. 

The new Co-Chairs will be announced at the joint EPSC-DPS meeting, taking place in San Antonio (TX) between the 1st and 6th of October 2023.

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS FOR EPEC COMMITTEE CO-CHAIR

The EPEC network is organized by early-career researchers, for early-career researchers, and includes volunteers from across the Europlanet international community, with the support of the Europlanet Society. The focus of EPEC is to form a strong network among young professionals by organizing early-career-relevant events and by engaging in different projects through the different Working Groups (WGs) such as EPEC annual week, EPEC@EPSC, Future Research, Early Career Support, Outreach, Diversity, and Communications.

The EPEC Committee, composed of all the WG Co-Chairs, is led and coordinated by two Chairs whose duty is to make sure all the working groups are working nominally, fill periodic reports on ongoing activities, and liaise with the Europlanet Society board.

The Chair of the EPEC Committee plays a key role in bringing the WGs and their activities together, making key decisions that benefit the EPEC network as a whole, expanding the EPEC Committee by encouraging new and innovative ideas from the EPEC Committee, facilitating progress across the whole Early Career Network.

With the exponential growth in EPEC activities across EPEC working groups since its launch and with the term of our current EPEC committee Co-Chairs ending, the EPEC Committee is looking for one elected Committee Co-Chair for the next term to help sustain the Committee activities. The term of the elected EPEC Committee Co-Chairs will be two years with an option to extend for an additional year. The expected time commitment of the elected EPEC Chair is approximately two hours per week averaged over one year. However, an increased commitment is expected during the EPEC Annual Week and EPSC organizing weeks.

This is a great opportunity to join a vibrant community of early career researchers and learn leadership and managing skills alongside an experienced Co-Chair who can help you make the most of this experience. The Europlanet Society is a developing community that values its early career members and can help raise their profile in a supportive environment.

Key responsibilities of the elected EPEC Chair:

  • Liaising with WG Chairs and keeping up-to-date with EPEC WG activities
  • Engage in the EPEC forums on WG activities and discussions
  • EPEC Committee Chair acts as the main contact person with the Europlanet Society Executive Board
  • Represent EPEC at EPSC (General Assembly) and at the EPEC Annual week 
  • Writing bi-yearly reports on EPEC Committee activities (with help of WG Chairs)
  • Guaranteeing smooth transition with the next EPEC Committee Chair*

*In case the Co-Chairs need to leave EPEC, they should give enough notice to organize the transition

Eligibility to apply: 

The candidates for the EPEC Chair position must fulfil the following requirements:

  • The candidate must be a member of the Europlanet Society
  • Leadership: You will work with a diverse community and need to make sure all points of view are heard and respected, but if needed you and the other Co-Chair are expected to move the needle towards the best decision for the network;
  • Weekly availability on Slack: EPEC uses Slack as the main platform for brainstorming and exchange. You should check new messages at least twice per week;
  • The candidate must be an early-career planetary scientist and/or space professional whose last degree (e.g. MSc or PhD) was obtained a maximum of 7 years ago (excluding parental leave, serious illness, and similar delays).

We encourage applications from a diverse early career community (undergraduates, graduates, doctoral researchers, and postdocs)!

How to apply:
If you are interested to become EPEC Co-Chair, please submit your application via this link by 31st of May 2023 at 7 PM CEST.

After the deadline, the EPEC committee will meet for a discussion, and will then proceed with a formal vote among the candidates. 

The new Co-Chairs will be announced at the joint EPSC-DPS meeting, taking place in San Antonio (TX) between the 1st and 6th of October 2023.

We wish you all the best with the applications!
If you have any questions, please write us via epec.network@gmail.com
 

The EPEC committee

Europlanet Early Career Network (EPEC)

Europlanet Early Career (EPEC) Network

The Europlanet Early Career (EPEC) network is organised by early-career researchers, for early-career researchers, and includes volunteers from across the Europlanet international community. The EPEC network is open to all students, doctoral candidates and early-career planetary scientists and space professionals whose last degree (e.g. MSc or PhD) was obtained a maximum of 7 years ago (excluding parental leave, serious illness and similar delays).

One of the main objectives of EPEC is to form a strong network between young professionals by organising early-career-relevant events and by engaging in different projects amongst the different working groups (see website for more details on working groups). Furthermore, the EPEC community aims to bring a young voice into Europlanet Society to shape the future of planetary and space sciences and engineering.

EPEC was officially launched during EPSC 2017 in Riga.

Check out the latest EPEC news and activities.

Get involved with EPEC!

The EPEC Committee and the nine EPEC Working Groups are constantly looking for interested early-career professionals who are willing to spend some of their academic time with the organising elements of various EPEC activities. By getting involved with the EPEC Committee or one of the Working Groups, you not only get a chance to build a diverse professional network across Europe and abroad, but also build important soft-skills such as leadership qualities and management experience by working with a very friendly and energetic community. 

You can also get involved in EPEC via the Early-Career Officers of your Europlanet Society Regional Hub.

For any questions and enquiries, and interest to join us in building a stronger early career network, please contact epec.network@gmail.com

Upcoming events

See EPEC News.

EPEC Newsletter

If you would like to receive news (e.g., about the annual EPEC week or the next activities planned at EPSC), sign into your Europlanet account (the account is free) and toggle the Early Career (EPEC) option in the Subscriptions tab. We will not spam you with mails but send only relevant information regarding signups to major events and activities (co-)organized by EPEC.

EPEC Logos

Download the EPEC logo pack.

Call for applications for two EPEC Committee Co-Chairs

Call for applications for two EPEC Committee Co-Chairs

Submit your application by 28th June 2021, 7 PM CEST

Europlanet Early Career Network (EPEC) Committee is proudly announcing the ‘Call for applications for two EPEC Committee Co-Chairs

EPEC was officially launched at EPSC 2017 in Riga. EPEC network is organised by early-career researchers, for early-career researchers, and includes volunteers from across the Europlanet international community. The strong focus of EPEC is to form a strong network between young professionals by organising early-career-relevant events and by engaging in different projects amongst the different Working Groups (WGs) such as EPEC annual weekEPEC@EPSCNew FrontiersFuture ResearchEarly Career SupportOutreachDiversityCommunicationsFinances

The EPEC Committee is the management body (Chairs and Co-chairs of each WG+ EPEC Committee Chair) of the Europlanet Early Career (EPEC) Network who lead the respective WGs of the EPEC Network. EPEC Committee acts as a strategic and operational body to advise, coordinate and champion Early Career activities across the Europlanet Society that further the Society’s commitment to building and sustaining Europe’s planetary science community. The Chair of the EPEC Committee plays a key role in bringing the WGs and their activities together, making key decisions that benefit the EPEC network as a whole, expanding the EPEC Committee by encouraging new and innovative ideas from the EPEC Committee, facilitating progress across the whole Early Career Network. 

With the exponential growth in EPEC activities across EPEC working groups since its launch and with the term of our current EPEC committee Chair ending, the EPEC Committee is looking for two elected Committee Chairs for the next term to help sustain the Committee activities. The term of the elected EPEC Committee Chairs will be two years with an option to extend for an additional year. Expected time commitment of the elected EPEC Chair is approximately three hours per week, averaged over one year. However, an increased commitment is expected during the EPEC Annual Week and EPSC organising weeks.

Key responsibilities of the elected EPEC Chair:

  • Liaising with WG Chairs and keep up-to-date with EPEC WG activities
  • Engage in the EPEC forums on WG activities and discussions
  • EPEC Committee Chair acts as the main contact person with Europlanet Society Executive Board
  • Represent EPEC at EPSC (General Assembly) and at the EPEC Annual week 
  • Writing bi-yearly reports on EPEC Committee activities (with help of WG Chairs)
  • Guaranteeing smooth transition with the next EPEC Committee Chair*

*In case the chair needs to leave EPEC, they should give notice (6 months) in advance to organise the transition.

Eligibility to apply: 

The candidates of the EPEC Chair must fulfill the following requirements:

  • The candidate must be a member of Europlanet Society
  • The candidate must be a EPEC member 
  • The candidate must be an early-career planetary scientist and/or space professional whose last degree (e.g. MSc or PhD) was obtained a maximum of 7 years ago (excluding parental leave, serious illness and similar delays).

We encourage applications from a diverse early career community (undergraduates, graduates, doctoral researchers, and postdocs)!

How to apply:
If you are interested to become EPEC Chair, please submit your application via this link by 28th of June 7 PM CEST. 

Personal note from our current EPEC Chair:

“I personally believe that taking responsibilities at a young age allows us to learn the professional elements in a more stress-free environment and EPEC allowed me exactly that!! At EPEC, we are a team who are not only passionate about the research we do but also equally passionate in engraining varieties of soft skills including leadership and management qualities that benefit our early career fellows in becoming young professionals. It’s a rewarding and unique experience to work with early-career researchers across Europe and the international community across various working groups under common goals. I strongly believe that new EPEC Chairs will bring fresh air and new strengths to the ever growing EPEC Committee activities. I wish you all the best with the election. In case you wish to discuss with me personally regarding the tasks involved with the open position, please feel free to reach me via indhu.varatharajan@gmail.com

– Indhu Varatharajan, EPEC Chair  (since Feb. 2018)

We wish you all the best with the applications!

If you have any questions, please write us via epec.network@gmail.com
 Looking forward to reading your applications !! 

Thank you 

EPEC Committee