I applied for the Early Career Travel Grant from BSSS. I found out about this grant through looking on the BSSS website. I knew that societies often gave out grants to early career researchers, and so I looked up what grants were available through BSSS. I applied for the funding to help me attend the British Ecological Society (BES) annual conference.
My PhD project has been on investigating simple spectral technology, and how and if it could be used by farmers to monitor environmental outcomes. This conference was important for me to go to, as it came at the very end of my PhD project. I went to the conference in the middle of December and submitted my PhD in early February, so this conference was a final chance to share my results while still doing my PhD. Getting to attend this conference allowed me to share the findings from my PhD with attendees from a wide range of scientific backgrounds. It was particularly interesting for me to share soil and farming knowledge with people outside of the discipline, as different people were interested in different aspects of my work, depending on their own studies.
As this conference came at the end of my PhD and I did not have enough money left in my project grant to go. Therefore, the funding provided through this travel grant enabled me to attend. Going to this conference allowed me to share my project with a wide range of people and develop my professional career through the networking opportunities available at such a large conference. My conference highlights were definitely reconnecting with friends from different universities who I had met at previous events, and the wonderful, inspiring conversations I had with them, and their colleagues. Every time I go to a conference I and have those conversations I can feel my network growing, and it is a wonderful thing to experience. There was a talk on rewilding across the UK which I particularly enjoyed, I felt I learnt a lot about the topic, but also picked up tips on how to give a really engaging presentation. My PhD has been focused on farming and agriculture, so it was great to broadened my horizons and see talks from different areas – I saw interesting talks on rewilding, forestry and biodiversity loss.
My attendance at this event was made possible by the BSSS supporting me with an early career grant. I also received funding through my departments PGR fund. My PhD project has been part of the SCENARIO DTP, and I received my funding from NERC and Affinity Water.
