Early Career Professionals
Welcoming the next generation of scientists advancing the life science industry.

We believe that ECPs bring fresh perspectives and energy to our events and the wider life science industry. Our dedicated webinars, resources and awards are designed to uplift your career in life sciences.
Am I an Early Career Professional (ECP)?

Undergraduate student

Postgraduate student (including PhD)

Starting your career in life sciences and drug discovery
Career breaks will be recognised, as will individuals whose career has spanned a break due to caring responsibilities or personal circumstances e.g. a period of parental/adoption leave, family commitments, illness, or other exceptional circumstances.
What is Drug Discovery?
Drug Discovery is the process of identifying and developing new therapeutics to treat diseases.
This involves a wide range of scientific disciplines, including computational sciences, biology, chemistry, and pharmacology, and uses cutting-edge technologies to design these therapeutic molecules. Drug Discovery is often described in a series of stages which tend to be grouped together as a ‘pipeline’. The early stages will involve many potential drugs (often hundreds of thousands or millions) which are reduced to a handful of potential drugs by the end of the pipeline through scientific testing to make sure they are potent and safe. Once a drug has been through the pipeline it is called a ‘candidate’ and is ready to enter Drug Development to understand how the drug would behave in humans ahead of clinical trials.
Upcoming ECP Activities
The innovative contributions of the next generation of scientists enables our industry to keep advancing, which is why we created ECP awards for our events – to highlight the incredible and often under-recognised work of newer scientists.
Kirsty Smitten Award
Formerly known as the ECP Impact Award.
This award is named in honour of Kirsty Smitten, who’s pioneering work on antimicrobial compounds won many accolades and awards, including the ECP Impact Award in 2021. Kirsty co-founded MetalloBio in Sheffield with a passion to combat antimicrobial resistance. Kirsty sadly died of a rare form of heart cancer in October 2023. She was a strong proponent of self-improvement, and was keen to inspire others to seize opportunities for personal growth.
Early Career Professional applicants can demonstrate impact in the following ways:
- Through the delivery of impactful science, contributing to early, pre-clinical drug discovery
- By their science or technology development work
- Through their leadership or facilitation of collaborations within the drug-discovery space
- Through other philanthropic and volunteering contributions
This award is only available at ELRIG’s Drug Discovery conferences.
Poster Award
Display a poster at one of our conferences for a chance to win our ECP Poster Award.
All ECP posters will be judged during the event and the Best Early Career Professional Poster will be awarded with a glass trophy and £250, which can be accepted, donated to your lab or donated to a charity of your choice.
Posters will be judged based on:
- Relevance and innovation of the poster’s content.
- Potential impact of the science or technology described.
- Clarity and quality of the overall poster’s presentation.
Ways to get involved with ELRIG

Attend an event

Take part in Network Like a Boss
It can be daunting to build your network in a room full of strangers. So let us help you make those first introductions. Our unique Network Like a Boss event takes place at Research & Innovation conferences and Drug Discovery conferences.
During this buzzy event, you will pair up with one of our “Networking bosses” who will facilitate your conversations with a small group of ECPs. These industry professionals can break the ice, answer burning questions and provide practical advice. So you can focus on being yourself. Then, at the blow of a whistle, you and your group will rotate around the room and join a new industry professional.
Academic Advocate
Our Academic Advocates play a key role in connecting ELRIG with their university communities. This dedicated group of volunteers help spread the word about ELRIG events, share updates across their networks, and foster connections within the life sciences field.
Interested in joining? Email emily.norman@elrig.org to find out the benefits of being an Academic Advocate.

Red Shirt
We are often looking for Red Shirt volunteers to help us at our conferences and events. A Red Shirt could be involved in:
- Helping delegates print their badges
- Facilitating Q&A sessions in auditoriums
- Directing attendees during the event
In return, we’ll cover your travel to the conference & your hotel.

Meet & Greet
The ECP Meet & Greet runs at ELRIG’s Research & Innovation Conferences and Drug Discovery Conferences. It’s a chance to meet fellow ECP members and other delegates before all the science kicks off.

Resources for ECPs
FAQs
Who are ELRIG?
If you don’t already know: ELRIG is a UK-based not-for-profit organization. We bring together academic and biopharma industry experts to exchange ideas and information at our events for free!
Are ELRIG events really free?
Yes! We believe that everyone should have access to high-quality science. And that’s not all, we also provide complimentary refreshments and lunch!
What previous ECP participants have said…
" Everyone’s incredibly friendly. I could not recommend it enough. There’s so many different aspects to it. And so going to those events [Research & Innovation 2024 and Drug Discovery 2024] has been a really big eye opener. And I’ve learned about so many different regions within the industry that I had no idea about beforehand."
Alex Powel
" I've just loved helping out the conference today, seeing all of the amazing talks, getting to meet so many great people and really just talk science, which is what we're all passionate about in the end."
Ellie Watts
"My first time volunteering at Drug Discovery was a whirlwind, there was so much great science on show, some great vendors, it was really exciting to be part of it and to get involved [as a Red Shirt Volunteer]."

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