The Eurodoc 2019 conference will take place in Brussels, Belgium, on April 01-02, 2019. The event is organised by Focus Research and Eurodoc, the European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers.

During the conference we will focus on career opportunities for PhD holders. The conference is therefore titled: “Employability of PhDs: Valorise Your Skills and Reach Your Full Potential!”

The vast majority of early-career researchers (ECRs) must continue their professional career outside of academia and therefore, governments and universities continue to invest in the development of high quality doctoral training and career development services. However, many ECRs continue to feel ill-prepared for this transition from academic to non-academic working environments. This year’s conference will focus on career development of young researchers and the role they can/should play in innovation and sustainable entrepreneurship within the wider society.

Our aim is to empower young researchers to actively develop their career perspectives, foster an entrepreneurial mindset and encourage them to focus on sustainable innovation. Our main objectives are:

• to give visibility to the efforts already made by all participating universities with regard to career development and doctoral training,
• to bring together the community of young researchers and encourage them to actively contribute to sustainable innovation,
• to create a platform that facilitates inter-university and inter-sectoral collaboration.

During the conference we will therefore:

• offer all universities and international actors the opportunity to showcase, share and compare good examples and best practices,
• encourage and offer tools to ECRs to proactively develop their own career paths in light of innovative contributions in the wider society,
• focus specifically on the role of profiles from social sciences and humanities.

Throughout the conference, we also pay special attention to the regional differences in Belgium (Wallonia — Flanders). Interestingly, doctoral training and career development services are organised somewhat differently within the Belgian landscape as a result of different funding strategies by the regional governments, despite a considerable overlap in vision and strategy. By bringing together universities, policy makers and young researchers, our conference aims to facilitate synergistic collaborations between all.

All attendants are therefore encouraged to act as ambassadors for their fellow colleagues in order to ensure that future actions will be developed between different universities, sectors and European member states with a considerable boost of peer-to-peer activities and grassroots initiatives.