QERCs during lockdown: Turning obstacles into opportunities

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

The QuakeCoRE Emerging Researchers Chapter (QERC) is a network of students and emerging researchers composed of three chapters: Auckland, Canterbury, and Wellington. Our aim is to promote networking, collaboration, and knowledge sharing among emerging researchers in the earthquake resilience community. QERC does this by organising technical, social, and outreach events. As with everyone else during the pandemic crisis, QERC had to change its approach in organising events. However, instead of treating it as an obstacle, QERC utilised the lockdown period as an opportunity to connect the three chapters and organised more events than they usually would during normal times. In the 11 weeks that universities were closed and New Zealand was under Alert Levels 2, 3 and 4, QERC organised 15 various events such as research presentations, well-being workshops, a women's catch-up, and a trivia night. However, as the weeks went by, the novelty of online meetings faded and fewer people came to the virtual events. Therefore as soon as the country moved to Alert Level 1, the Chapters started organising in-person events, which members were eager to attend. Nonetheless, the option to join events remotely still remains and the three chapters continue to collaborate for various events.