ICRS - SECC Committee Application 2025
The International Coral Reef Society (ICRS) Student & Early Career Chapter (SECC) is a community dedicated to providing support and resources for students and recent graduates in transitional roles within coral reef science. We are proud to be a diverse international network comprised of 51 Students & ECRs representing 25 countries! We are committed to continuing to expand the diversity of our chapter (and ICRS) through several avenues, including increasing awareness of issues surrounding equity, diversity, and inclusion, expanding our team of translators who translate our communications materials, and providing career development resources and opportunities.
We are currently seeking individuals to join various subcommittees within our chapter! We are looking for enthusiastic and diverse students, post-grads, post-docs, and other early career individuals who are involved in the coral reef community. We particularly encourage those from historically marginalized communities to apply.
To see more about what we do, check out our pages: https://linktr.ee/icrssecc
Deadline: Sept 24nd @ 11:59 PM UTC!
Applicants will be informed of decisions by late-October.
If you have any questions please write to us at icrs.students@gmail.com
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Here are descriptions of the *volunteer* positions we aim to fill, along with the number of vacancies for that position (for example: (1-10)). If you are interested in one of the leadership positions (i.e., any role on the Steering Committee) you are required to answer the final question in the application regarding leadership experience.
Please note that although these are volunteer positions, chapter members are expected to contribute equally to their subcommittee tasks and maintain their position for a minimum of 2 years. The time commitment required will vary depending on the current activities of each subcommittee throughout the year.
Steering Committee (considered *Leadership* positions):
The steering committee serves as the direct link between the ICRS Main Council and SECC members. The steering committee guides overall chapter organization, ensures activities align with chapter goals and mission, and manages resources. Steering Committee members are expected to attend monthly meetings, in addition to quarterly chapter meetings.
1. Secretary (1) - As secretary, the responsibilities include (but are not limited to) creating and maintaining agendas and minutes for monthly steering committee meetings and quarterly general chapter meetings, including scheduling. The secretary is also responsible for overseeing chapter communications, including managing the Slack, committee member contact information, and coordinating the onboarding process for new committee members. They are also expected to assist the chair and vice chair with steering committee responsibilities whenever necessary.
Team Leads (considered *Leadership* positions):
2. Reefbites Co-Chief Editor (1) - The co-chief editor would work alongside our current chief editor to oversee publication of articles on our Reefbites Blog. The mission of our Reefbites Blog (reefbites.com) is to share current research and information about coral reefs by engaging early career professionals, students, and the non-scientific community. You would be responsible for coordinating the writing and editing of blog articles, as well as coordinating the publication of Feature Fridays and Science Saturdays.
3. Reefbites Lead Content Creator (1) - As the lead content curator, you would collaborate with other content curators to create visually-stimulating content for Reefbites using graphic design skills. This is done in the form of memes, infographics, inspirational quotes, doodles, etc. You will also help with graphic design of other chapter media content such as flyers, brochures, and posters for events.
4. Skill & Professional Development Committee Co-Lead (1) - If you have a knack for identifying professional development needs in your coral reef community, experience in event planning, and enjoy meeting new people, this is the position for you! The Co-Lead position will delegate responsibilities and take point on live event preparation timelines, schedule and lead monthly team meetings, and coordinate decision-making with the SECC steering committee.
Committee Members:
5. Website Committee Member (1) - We are looking for individuals interested in maintaining our website (coralreefsecc.org). Main responsibilities include: curating resources (e.g., grants, science communication, coding, and more) for students & early career researchers, helping set up our pages to host multiple languages (with help from our translators), & any ideas you may have for additions/improvements! We use Squarespace which is fairly user friendly compared to some other website platforms, so all experience levels are welcome.
6. Reefbites Blog Writers (1-10) - As a permanent writer and editor, your commitment would be to submit/edit a post on a monthly or bi-monthly schedule based on current coral reef literature, your own research, or any related topics of discussion you are interested in. Posts should be written for a general audience and be between 800-1,000 words. If you canβt commit to a regular schedule but still want to write for us, we also welcome applications for Guest Writers. For further information on post details, see https://reefbites.com/get-involved/.
7. Early Career Research Committee Member (1-3) - We are looking for early career researchers/professionals to spearhead our committee dedicated to representing recent graduates (and other non-students early in their career) across the wider ICRS community. The responsibilities of this committee are expected to include the development of programs offering ECRs greater access to networking and mentorship opportunities within the ICRS, the design of a webinar series aimed at promoting the work of ICRS members at an early career stage, and guiding ICRS efforts to address the financial concerns of many ECRs and increase conference accessibility for ECRs. Members of the ECR committee will work closely with the ICRS SECC Steering and EDI committees to ensure that our representation of the ECR community aligns well with the SECC ethos and will regularly be expected to liaise with the SECC social media teams to share ECR-specific resources. As this is a new committee, there will be space and flexibility for new ideas and initiatives.
8. Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) Committee Member (2-3) - Our EDI team is committed to equipping student and early career researchers with the resources to understand, recognize, and mitigate bias and discrimination within ICRS and the local and global communities that are impacted by our work. We are looking for individuals to join our team who are driven to advocate, increase visibility of, and empower marginalized communities in coral reef sciences. In this position, you will contribute to EDI efforts of the chapter, which may broadly include facilitating discussions, distributing information and resources, designing workshops, and collaborating with the other committees in SECC. As a part of this role, you will attend monthly 1 hour EDI Committee meetings, and contribute to shared EDI tasks and initiatives.
9. Skill & Professional Development Committee Members (1-2)- We are looking for individuals to support the creation and maintenance of resources and live events/workshops for early career coral reef scientists and students, spanning a range of career settings. With your help, our committee will develop opportunities for professional development and skill-building, including workshops on inclusive fieldwork practices, scientific communication, job hunting, and more. The position will include proposing event content, maintaining and improving resources existing (like the ICRS-SECC Job Board), coordinating the advertisement of content with the Social and Website teams, and contacting potential presenters.
10. Instagram Committee Member (1)- Our Instagram team (@icrs.students) communicates science to a wide audience on the Instagram platform, creating accessible videos and multilingual posts. Currently our content includes fun facts on corals, as well as insights from different people involved in coral research and conservation through live Q&Aβs, "A Day in the Life" stories, and Instagram "takeovers". As a member of the Instagram Team, you would create content for posts, share chapter news, and recruit individuals for Instagram Takeovers, Q & A's, and more. Individuals are expected to post 1x each week. If you enjoy creating informational visual content and sharing people's stories and experiences, this would be a great fit for you.
11. BlueSky/X Committee Member (1) - Our main goals as the BlueSky/X (@ICRSreefstudent) subcommittee are to bring together our diverse backgrounds to 1) share information about opportunities in coral reef sciences, 2) disseminate and celebrate new publications by graduate students, post-docs, and other early career researchers, 3) highlight research by underrepresented groups, 4) provide motivational posts and resources for our followers, and 5) spark interest in coral reef science by posting facts that are easily accessible.
12. Translation Committee Member (1-10) - As a chapter, one of our aims is to promote ICRS chapter diversity and inclusion by providing content in multiple languages. Our Translation Team translates various chapter content including (but not limited to) Reefbites articles, social media posts, infographics, and webpage content. We currently have the capacity to translate content into Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian, and Arabic. We are always open to new languages, but we would need at least two translators to establish the team. As a translator, you would translate SECC content from English to another language that you are fluent in, review other individual's translations, and attend regular Translation Team meetings.
