Early Career Researchers
Early Career Researchers (ECRs) around the world face somewhat similar challenges when it comes to developing their research and administration skills, establishing collaborations and academic networks, teaching and competing for grants. The ECR Special Interest Group (SIG) is a platform for ECRs in health economics, enabling them to draw on the knowledge and experience of their peers from around the globe and providing access to information, advice and support from more experienced health economists through activities organized by the SIG. We hope that the ECR SIG will also help young researchers to make international connections with others who are focusing on similar topics.
- Activities
- Interview Series
- Past Webinars
- Database
Activities
The ECR SIG plans a variety of activities to provide insights, guidance, support and resources for early career researchers. The SIG organizes year-round programs including actively contributing to the IHEA Mentoring Program, interviews, and webinars. Details and resources for the Mentoring Program can be found here. Information regarding upcoming activities will be posted here.
The SIG also organizes a pre-congress session dedicated to ECRs. The aim of this session is to provide a forum for ECRs to have their research discussed and to receive detailed feedback from both their peers and senior researchers in their field. The session will be held on Saturday 19 July, 2025 (12:30 to 18:00) at the Bali International Convention Centre.
Call for abstracts for early career researcher (ECR) pre-congress session at 2025 Congress
ECRs are invited to submit an abstract by January 31, 2025, to be considered for participation in the session. Submitting an abstract for this session will not impact on your eligibility to participate in the main congress. Participating ECRs will be selected through a competitive review process. Those selected will be expected to submit a full draft of their paper by mid-June 2025. This should be unpublished advanced work in progress, including results and a discussion section.
Each accepted paper will be allocated a 45-minute slot, during which a senior health economist will provide detailed comments on the paper, particularly on how it can be improved. There will also be input from other ECRs and senior researchers attending the session.
The benefits of this session will not only accrue to the ECRs whose abstracts are selected. All ECR attendees will benefit from hearing the feedback provided by senior health economists, some of which will be specific to the submitted paper, and some of which will be more general. All ECR attendees will have access to senior health economists during the session and refreshment breaks.
This session presents a unique opportunity for ECRs to receive detailed feedback on their research and important guidance to improve the likelihood of their research being published. Interested ECRs should submit their 500 word abstracts, and complete the associated form, here by January 31st, 2025.
Interview Series
The Early Career Researcher (ECR) Interview Series is an initiative led by the IHEA ECR SIG. The aim of this interview series is to showcase the diversity of people in the ECR subgroup in IHEA. By interviewing a variety of ECRs, we hope to describe the many interesting and emerging career paths available to ECRs in health economics, highlight the choices that individuals have made to help them to reach this point in their career, and reveal how ECRs are navigating the various challenges that they face.
Dr. Jonathan Briody
Nuzulul Putri
Dr. Oliver Rivero-Arias
Dr. William Schpero
Dr. Joanne Maree Flavel
Véra Zabrodina
Monica Aswani
Michelle Tew
Jin Xu
Edwine Barasa
Paul Mitchell
Past Webinars
- How to Get Published with Elsevier– October 11, 2024
- Choosing a research question – October 5, 2022
- Interacting with journals as an early career health economist – May 3, 2021
- Shaping your career path as an early career health economist – February 10, 2021
- “If you don’t manage your time, someone else will”: Yes, but how? – March 15, 2019






ECR Database
Doctoral (PhD) work currently being undertaken by iHEA members: a database
The Early Career Researcher Special Interest Group (ECR-SIG) are pleased to present a new database that provides information about the research interests and thesis topics of current doctoral students.
We hope that this database will:
- Promote connections/networking amongst current students, especially for individuals working on the same topic areas;
- Increase awareness about ongoing research topics and research topics in the pipeline;
- Increase awareness of the next generation of health economists, raising their profiles and improving their visibility in the job market.
The database will be updated once a month, to include all researchers who have completed the intake form by the last working day of the previous month. To add your information to the database, please complete the intake form. Your information will be reviewed before it is posted.
Researchers will remain in the database until they have completed their doctoral work. Every six months we will email all researchers who have passed their expected year of completion to request an update on their status.
ECR SIG Convenors
The following convenors guide ECR SIG activities:
Clara Marquina (Australia)
Gopal Sekhar (India)
Ka Keat Lim (Malaysia / United Kingdom)
Tiara Marthias (Indonesia / Australia)