The RAS Early Careers Network are delighted to have received well over 300 registrations for the Early Career Poster exhibition. We have received dozens of enquiries about the exhibition, some more info is given below.
I’ve registered, when will I find out what happens next?
The ECN committee are filtering registrations for appropriate content and content that fits the scope of Astronomy and Geophysics. If you are an undergraduate student and your abstract was quite brief/unclear, you may hear from us asking for a little more information. Everyone will hear by Monday 31st August whether or not they have been accepted to take part in the RAS poster exhibition.
If accepted, what will I be expected to do?
Those accepted will receive a link to upload a ‘poster’ PDF made of up to 4 slides, with A4 dimensions in landscape orientation of no more than 10 MB in total size. Accepted authors will also have to include a plain language plain text summary of up to 600 words. These summaries will be linked, alongside poster PDFs, under each primary author and the poster title. These summaries should describe the key information in the poster, and describe any key figures/diagrams in the poster. The purpose of these summaries is to make #RASposter2020 as accessible as possible to all; since some PDFs cannot be read by the visually impaired.
Are there any rules for how my poster should look?
Other than the total file size (10 MB) and the dimensions (A4 landscape) there are no rules, you may design your maximum of 4 slides however you wish. Please do not include any moving content such as GIFs or videos in your slides. Please note that the poster judges will be assessing the quality of the content, creativity demonstrated, and communication skills in both the poster and the summaries.
Can I register late?
Unfortunately we can no longer accept registrations.
What if I am accepted and I want to drop out?
We understand this is a difficult time for everyone, so if you no longer have time to participate, please don’t worry. Please just let the ECN Chair, Aine O’Brien know at a.obrien.1@research.gla.ac.uk .
How can people contact me if they have questions about my poster?
When invited to upload your poster, you will have the opportunity to include a URL/email address so anyone who comes across your poster can find out more. This could be a link to a paper, LinkedIn profile, Twitter account, personal blog/website etc. You may also wish to include such information on your poster itself.
How can I acknowledge co-authors?
We are only asking for primary authors (ie the poster creators) to register but we understand that very little work done in Astronomy and Geophysics is done alone. Please acknowledge your co-authors/contributors any way you wish in your slides and summaries.
What is the competition element all about?
The RAS have assembled a team of senior Fellows to judge posters in the exhibition. Winners and runners up in each broad career stage category will be chosen by these judges, based on the quality of content, communication and creativity shown. Due to the huge numbers of participants, and the considerable stresses faced by everyone at this time, judging will around 8 weeks and we expect to announce the winners online in November with a subsequent feature in A&G magazine.
I’m not entering a poster, can I still be involved?
Yes! All posters will be public on the RAS website from 14th September and we encourage everyone to get involved, looking at posters, tweeting about them etc. If you mention the exhibition on social media please feel free to use the #RASposter2020 hashtag and tag the RAS in tweets etc.
When will I be able to see the posters?
The posters will go live on 14th September and will be public. They will be fully searchable and filterable by name, with filterable tags for sub-fields such as Astrobiology, Planetary Atmospheres, Cosmology, etc.
Are there any examples of previous winners to go by so I know what to do?
This is the first year this exhibition has been run, so we cannot give you an example of a previous winner. For an examples of a similar competition, and its submissions, check out the STEM Village’s poster session on Twitter by searching the hashtag #SVVS20 on Twitter.
Does my poster need to contain previously published work/can it include previously presented work?
There are no rules on whether or not you have presented this work elsewhere and it does not need to be published. Please note that this content will be public. Your poster must follow the guidelines for format (A4 landscape, up to 4 slides, maximum total file size of 10 MB).
I registered, but I’ve not heard back, what should I do?
All those who registered have now been contacted, if you have not received an email, please check your spam/junk folder. If there is no reply there, please get in touch with Aine as a few emails bounced, probably due to incorrect spelling. If you can send Áine your name and your abstract/the rough gist of it, we can let you know.
I still have questions that aren’t answered. What should I do?
Please contact the RAS early career network chair Aine O’Brien at a.obrien.1@research.gla.ac.uk if you have any more questions. Or check back here as more questions may be added later!