Guidelines ECFA Early-Career Researcher Panel

Approved by Plenary ECFA on 9 July 2026

  1. ECFA ECR panel members should maintain frequent and informative communication with ECRs in their country, providing advice when needed.
  1. ECFA ECR panel members should be actively engaged with at least one ECFA ECR WG. If no WG is aligned with their interests, they should propose the creation of a new one.
  1. Countries represented in ECFA should nominate new ECRs to the ECR Panel whenever their representation falls below three members. It is recommended that the nomination of new members to the ECFA ECR Panel result from an election among the country’s early-career researchers. 
  1. We recommend that the election be widely announced by the national ECFA ECR(s) in charge, well in advance, ensuring the relevant national ECR community is made aware. 
  2. We recommend that ECFA ECRs ensure a democratic election procedure.
  3. All ECRs in the country should have the right to a single anonymous vote.
  1. The delegation from each ECFA country should ideally strive for balance across the following areas: gender, career stage (doctorate degree, post-doctorate degree, …) and career domain (collider physics, beyond-collider physics, theory, …).
  1. For a nomination or extension to be admissible, the candidate should have a reasonable expectation to remain a valid representative for at least one more year after the corresponding election.
  1. Candidates who wish to run for the PECFA and RECFA observer positions should declare their candidacy to all ECFA ECR Panel members at least two weeks before the PECFA ECR and RECFA ECR election takes place.
  1. The tasks of the OC include:
  1. Organise at least two panel (remote) meetings per year among its members. Each meeting is to be split into two parts, one open to all interested parties, including non-ECRs, and a closed part for ECR panel members.
  2. Meet with the ECFA Chair and Scientific Secretary on a regular basis.
  3. Handle communication with the Particle Physics community, including a special focus on the ECR community, via public ECFA ECR mailing lists and the ECFA website.
  4. Handle public talk allocations when the panel is contacted to give a public presentation.
  5. Organise elections to the OC and PECFA/RECFA roles, and provide guidelines and/or advice for national ECFA ECR elections.
  6. Coordinate the writing of annual reports.
  1. Since the ECFA ECR Panel and the PECFA or RECFA ECR mandates are by construction not temporally aligned (their duration is two years, but one already has to be a member of the Panel to run for P/RECFA), we recommend that the Panel discusses, on a case-by-case basis, whether an election should be held whenever a P/RECFA ECR completes their country mandate. If it is decided that the P/RECFA should continue, the P/RECFA member should be considered “pro persona”, i.e., they do not represent any given country until the end of their P/RECFA mandate.