The conference was a fantastic opportunity to meet fellow researchers in a similar position to me at the start of their careers and hear more about the research being conducted. I had had to spend a few weeks away from academia due to personal reasons and this was a brilliant want to get back involved. The social opportunities provided really interesting insights into the depth and breadth of research currently occurring in the Upper Palaeolithic. I was really pleased that the hybrid nature of the conference meant we could hear from a wide range of speakers, and enjoyed the pre-recorded talks, online presentations and in person talks equally. Hearing about the work going on in stone tools currently was particularly interesting to me, and I appreciated the Achulean discussion as well. My personal highlight though was the poster on hominin hibernation - which I found incredibly interesting having always felt slightly resentful when I need to wake up in winter!
Overall, the ability to realise that many of us early career researchers have the same worries and barriers was reassuring, and the conference has made me enthusiastic to keep my eye out for future conferences, and feel more confident in academic circles.
