This portal seeks to respond to a need expressed by individuals, policy makers and researchers, to give an overview of different organisations that represent early stage researchers in Europe and to explain their role in policy making. It presents:

• grass-roots organisations in the sense of bodies that represent researchers rather than institutions and that are, in most cases, governed by active researchers. Therefore, we do not present university associations, funding agencies, research institutes, etc.
• organisations at European level. At this stage, we do not cover regional or national associations, or organisations that cover only part of Europe (e.g. Nordic countries or Central Europe) or operate at a global level.

The order of the listings does not imply any judgment on contribution or importance of the different organisations. Content and presentation, as it is at present, should be considered as work in progress. We welcome your ideas for improvement and further development.