Please see below information about the new SHAPE Futures network which will be of interest to those of you at the early and mid-levels of your careers. SHAPE – Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts for People and Environment – is a new framing for the disciplines developed by the British Academy as a more outcomes-focused alternative to HASS (Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences).

The SHAPE Futures Network has been established with the support of the Australian Academy of the Humanities (AAH) and the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) to advocate for early and mid-career researchers (EMCRs) in the humanities and social sciences within and beyond the academy. Their goal is to act as a voice for EMCRs, to build a network among the cohort, and to foster opportunities for scholars to contribute to the strengthening of these disciplines.

The network has recently launched their website (https://shapefutures.com.au/), which explains the Network further, and includes useful resources for EMCRs as well as a portal to sign up to the SHAPE Futures newsletter. A crucial part of their work is their EMCR cohort survey, which will help build their understanding of the needs of this diverse group, informing their strategies for representation, advocacy, opportunities and network-building. The survey can be found on the website homepage.

The Australian SHAPE EMCR Network defines an EMCR as any person in Australia who self-identifies as an early- or mid-career researcher (typically up to 15 years post-PhD, excluding career interruptions). The term researcher is interpreted broadly, and the EMCR Network strongly believes that the humanities, arts and social sciences research community includes research and teaching academics, professionals and practice-focused individuals both within and outside of academia. Many early and mid-career researchers work in a variety of fields in industry and community and the SHAPE Futures network explicitly includes these researchers.