Newsletter
The Communication Working Group has been an integral part of my recent life. I joined it as soon as I started my PhD, almost 5 years ago. Started as an active member, I then became the vice-chair, and for the last two years I had the privilege to be the Chair. In this piece, I want to reflect on my role within this working group.
This is a very difficult text to write… I knew that my mandate as Chair of the Communication Working Group (CommWG) would have come to an end, but I didn't expect to be invited to write a farewell letter on this issue of the Newsletter.
Since the moment I saw the invitation, I tried to think on what I should say in this piece, and trust me, it was not easy. The CommWG has been part of my life since 2018; I literally asked to join this WG one month after I started my PhD. From that moment, my life has changed, and all I can say is that the last 5 years have been incredible. But let me try to put some order and go through the most important moments.
The beginnings
Five years ago I started a PhD, no idea of what to expect from the project, but apart from the scientific challenge, I took on another role: Scientific copywriter. So I decided to step in and manage the communications of the ITN I was working on, even though I had no clear idea of what the role entailed. I knew I needed support, I wanted to learn more about it, so a few weeks later I joined the MCAA and decided to join the CommWG. At the time, Valerie Bentivegna, Valentina Ferro and Gian Maria Greco were the members of the group's board. They were managing everything, and all I can remember is the great support and ideas that this team had. Needless to say, it was very easy to adapt and learn from them. Soon I became an active member, reviewing virtually every article we received, be it for the Newsletter, for the Blog, or for the IRRADIUM magazine, and I began supporting Valerie in creating interesting events and drafting sessions for the Annual Conference.
The highlight I really want to mention from that time is all the energy and dedication that this team has put into improving the workflow of the Newsletter, and all the work that has been done to make it into an official publication.
Being the Vice-Chair
After my first year, it became clear that my involvement in the group was growing, as well as my involvement within the association. I was a trusted member, and soon enough, Valerie, the Chair at the time, officially asked me to become the Vice-Chair of the CommWG. This was the moment in which I started to be more and more comfortable in managing projects and attending Board meetings on behalf of the chair, especially due to her difficulties in joining some of the meetings – she was living in the US, and time zones were making it difficult for her. After all this experience, in 2021, Valerie took the decision to step down as Chair, and I decided to submit my candidacy as the next CommWG chair.
2021: I was elected as the new Chair
It was August 2021 when I received the email mentioning that I was the new Chair. I was very happy to have received the news, however, I knew that I would have had a hard time keeping up the good work Valerie and her team has done. I very quickly set up a new Board for the WG: Gian Maria was still there, we worked really well together, so, why should we change that? Then I made an open call to find a Vice-Chair: Nicoleta Spînu replied, and from that moment she became the most precious support that I could have ever imagined during my mandate. With this team, we were able to tackle all the projects that we had in our minds. We developed a new structure of the WG, and our work-relationship became a proper friendship, even though we didn’t really get to see each other very often in real life – I actually never met Nicoleta in real life, but this is on my to-do list.
Many things have been made during my two-year tenure, and I don't want to list them all, but I'd like to highlight the things I'm probably most proud of:
• Complete restructuring of the Newsletter and IRRADIUM magazine: Gian Maria and I were respectively the Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor, we thought that it was time to give the space to someone else, and to bring in some fresh brains into the game with new ideas. Needless to say that Sasha, Eliška, and the whole team are doing a fantastic job and have increased the level of these publications even further.
• Creation of a team of active members: I would have never been able to manage all the tasks of the CommWG alone. So, a big “Thank You” goes to all the active members that have supported me during the last two years.
• Creation of the MCAA Training program: together with Gian Maria and Nicoleta, we created a training program that is now helping Early Stage Researchers in developing relevant skills for their career.
• Creation of the MCAA Podcast: together with Priya, the CommWG is now running a podcast! I never thought we would have been able to run such a big project.
• Creation of the MCAA Around the World Webinar series: I've coordinated probably a hundred events with my team in the past two years, but I'm especially proud of being able to connect all the MCAA WG and chapters to create webinars every month (without skipping a single event during my tenure), which are of great value to all MCAA members and non-members alike.
My farewell
There would be so many other things to say, but being aware of the rules of the Newsletter (Editorial board: please allow the past CommWG Chair to run a bit longer than 750 words, I hope I deserve it), I would simply like to close my piece by saying that being the Chair of this WG has been an incredible part of my career that I will never forget. I learnt so much from it and I hope to have been able to give something back to the Association – actually, I think I did, as I’ve been awarded the MCAA Outstanding Contributor in 2022, but really, I can’t be my own judge!
As for the future, I will still be involved in the MCAA as the new Communication Manager. I will be there to support the new Chair, Ashish, to whom I am wishing the best of luck. I know that he will bring so many new ideas that will make this WG even better than what I have been able to do.
I want to really conclude this article by saying a big THANK YOU to all the Chapter and WG chairs with whom I had the honour to work with, but I would like to specifically thank Valerie, Gian Maria, Valentina, and Nicoleta: amongst the many other people that supported me, you have always been there for supporting me, no matter what kind of support I needed.
Ruben Riosa
MCAA Communications Manager
ruben.riosa@mariecuriealumni.eu
Twitter: @Ruben_Riosa
