Ariel Swyer, Maria Amorim, Tom Jenkins & Leon Franzen

Introduction

The Early Career Hallucinations Research group, known as the ECHR, is an international group of early career researchers brought together by their shared interest in hallucinations research. 

We meet annually, at varying locations around the world, for two days of research talks and evening social events. All researchers have the chance to present their work orally, and the overall environment is friendly and respectful. This format and the small size of the group provide great practice for younger students and a supportive and constructive environment for everyone. All attendees have the opportunity to apply for a travel bursary with a high likelihood of receiving one, highlighting the supportive approach of the conference. The ECHR meetings also benefit from the diversity of its members and research topics, as we have researchers from clinical and research psychology, psychiatry, vision science, cognitive neuroscience, and anthropology among others!

We are writing this blog post as four colleagues from the ECHR to reflect on our experiences, offer insight and (hopefully!) to encourage others to join!

Who are we?

Maria Amorim is a PhD student from the University of Lisbon exploring how hallucination proneness affects voice perception and inhibitory control. Tom Jenkins is a PhD student from the University of Bath researching feelings of dehumanisation in people with psychosis. Ariel Swyer is a postdoc at the University of Copenhagen and is looking at the history of measurement of hallucination. Léon Franzen is a postdoc at the University of Lübeck and with the centre for integrative psychiatry. His research revolves around the computational mechanisms of visual and auditory hallucinations in real and virtual environments.

The unique ECHR experience

We all agree that we learn a lot whenever attending the ECHR meetings, which ultimately inspires our own work. The quality of the research content is fantastic, despite the early career stage of many researchers and we’ve found ourselves leaving every meeting with important new insights. A crucial part of this learning comes from the ECHR’s interdisciplinarity. 

The interdisciplinary nature of ECHR meetings allows for rich conversations across disciplines, backgrounds, and methodological approaches, fostering a broader understanding of our shared interests. For example, Tom has come to learn more about the psychosis continuum through Ariel’s work with non-clinical voice-hearers; Ariel, who does qualitative work, has gained insight through conversation with neuroscientists; Léon has learned much about all the pros and cons of different questionnaire instruments to measure broader and modality-specific aspects of hallucinations. Learning about the pros and cons of a research instrument sounds unspectacular, but it prevents using fruitless measures in a yearlong project just because several other researchers have used them previously. 

Due to the ECHR meeting’s interdisciplinary nature, we often have to describe our work to those with very different academic backgrounds and methodological approaches both in presentations and more casual conversations.  Being challenged to articulate our work in ways that make sense to people in very different disciplines and receiving feedback from those with expertise in different fields can provide new perspectives regarding one’s research. Important progress on various phenomena and patterns has been made this way. 

Another wonderful element of the ECHR is that the friendly, open-minded environment takes away some of the pressure that comes with academic presentation–the emphasis really is on finding a common language to understand and support each other’s research and scientific journeys. Instead of the “Reviewer 2” sort of experience, in which harsh criticism can discourage a younger researcher, the ECHR meeting provides a safe and constructive space to receive feedback from buddies and mentors. Funnily, this mechanism also comes with the benefit of potentially avoiding receiving harsh criticism from a real reviewer during paper submission.

The open and supportive mindset at these meetings is reflected in the diverse range of studies presented. At the same meeting, we can have the joy of hearing about both qualitative and quantitative research, findings obtained with different neuroimaging techniques (e.g., EEG, fMRI, etc.), and studies in which different analysis protocols were employed. For Maria, this seems particularly relevant, as it allows one to broaden one’s knowledge for future studies as well as potential collaborations. Also, due to the ECHR’s friendly and informal environment, one feels comfortable approaching someone more senior with questions and ideas– about how to adapt a specific paradigm, for instance. Attending an ECHR meeting can be like attending the first movie screening from a director whose work we love. Most of us have researchers or teams whose work we follow, and during the ECHR meeting, we can have a sneak peek at what these teams are currently doing. 

A special sense of community

Doing a PhD (and being an ECR in general) can be quite an isolating experience. There are often specific aspects of one’s research area (for example, the difficulty of finding participants with specific characteristics), that no one else around you can relate to. It can be hard for those in different areas and career stages to understand the intricacies of such challenges,  methodological choices, or even the impact that world events have on our work progress (hello there pandemic).

This is where a strong community is invaluable. Meeting people who are at a similar stage in their career instils a sense of comradery and is a source of support – along with enabling access to possible solutions for shared problems. To see others progress through their PhD, while staying grounded, is inspiring. For example, Tom is the only PhD student researching psychosis at his university, therefore he especially values being able to share insights with a community of peers. Simply knowing and being able to keep in touch with others who are going through similar things makes the journey a more positive experience.

Another benefit of a strong and supportive community is the quick and easy possibility of building international collaborations. Finding common interests and fleshing out the next study is much easier around a delicious dinner or a drink at a pub, than in formal attire and with a conference tag around your neck. Through direct contact at meetings and with the support of the ECHR organisers, the group is well set up to lead to fruitful collaborations. ECHR meetings alone already provide all these opportunities and social benefits. Importantly, the sense of community within the ECHR group lives beyond these yearly meetings, as seen at places like SIRS, where many of us from the ECHR meet up.

The ECHR offers various opportunities to help early researchers build up their networks. For instance, we recently held a joint meeting with the International Consortium for Hallucination Research (ICHR). This joint meeting provided young researchers with the chance to get to know more advanced researchers in the hallucination field and build community. The various levels of research experience merged well at both the scientific and social parts of this event.

Lastly, it’s fun to visit a new city, try local foods, spend time with international researchers, learn about different cultures and, of course, hear about new research! For example, Maria had a great time in the “Les Bulles” when she visited Grenoble for the ECHR 2022 meeting and now has several photos of the wonky Holsten Gate (almost like the tower of Pisa) from when she attended the ECHR 2023 meeting in Lübeck.

Join us!

Beginning something can be daunting, especially a career in research. For all the good things associated with working in research (e.g., the thrill of learning), there are also many downsides (e.g., the pressure to publish), and finding others going through a similar experience and who share the same research interests can truly make the difference.

Being part of the ECHR group and attending its yearly meeting ensures that you’ll hear about the latest progress in the field of hallucinations and have access to a vibrant research community–all whilst enjoying the thrill of visiting a new city. It is one of those times in which you can have the cake and eat it too: you’ll get to learn about brilliant new research, be able to present your work, and be part of a strong and accepting group of people that spend much of their time thinking about science.”

Sounds intriguing, doesn’t it? We are excited to meet you at our next meeting!