Research independence can create career uncertainty.Credit: molchanovdmitry/iStock via Getty
Academic careers are often expected to follow a familiar path from a PhD to a postdoctoral position, research independence and eventually a permanent post. But a study of established researchers by the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York suggests that progression is rarely linear. The researchers described a mid-career stage marked by competing responsibilities, shifting definitions of success and the need to continually reassess professional priorities.
Early-career researchers are well aware of the uncertainty that academic work can bring. Even so, many expect that remaining in academia will lead to a relatively predictable progression: after completing a PhD, they will take a postdoctoral position, establish an independent research programme, obtain a permanent post and eventually enter a more stable phase of academic life.
Conversations with prominent researchers conducted as part of the White Rose Establishment Researcher Project suggest that this model is too simple. The project is a joint study by the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York in the UK that aims to support career development.
Research independence is generally understood as the ability to lead and sustain an independent research programme, and is typically associated with the middle stages of an academic career. It brings a new set of challenges, including coaching others, managing competing responsibilities and continuing to conduct research while prioritizing the tasks likely to have the greatest impact.
The researchers interviewed rarely focused on what it means to be “successful”. Instead, they emphasized that during periods of heightened uncertainty, academics should regularly revisit and reassess how they understand their careers.
Relatively little attention has been paid to the period between establishing research independence and reaching the later stages of an academic career. Universities invest heavily in supporting early-career researchers and have developed sophisticated programmes for senior leaders, but they have devoted less attention to the distinctive experiences of academics in between those stages.
Resources for mid-career scientists
The collaboration investigated how established researchers experience mid-career. Over four months, the researchers interviewed 27 prominent researchers, held two focus groups, sent follow-up surveys to validate their findings and mapped institutional resources across the three universities.
Because there is no universally accepted definition of an established researcher, the team defined established researchers as “scholars who have achieved functional independence and institutional recognition in their research capacity while continuing to develop their professional identity and navigating complex career transitions.”
This career stage is characterized by a clear research agenda, the ability to secure and manage funding, a strong record of scholarly output, recognition within the relevant research community and the capacity to make a substantial intellectual contribution to a field.
Managing complexity
Across disciplines, prominent researchers described the shared experience of balancing competing responsibilities in research, teaching, leadership, management and collaboration. Their work was rarely confined to a single role. Instead, they were continually negotiating priorities among these different demands.
Analysis of the interviews revealed that researchers understood this complexity in different ways. To identify recurring patterns, the team developed four personas that illustrate different approaches to navigating established academic careers.
No researcher fits perfectly into one persona. Many identified with several aspects of the profiles and moved between them over time. The personas are intended to help explain how researchers think about success, make decisions and respond to the continuing complexity of academic life.
Laboratory builder
For some prominent researchers, academic life revolves as much around people as it does around projects. As they develop their own research programmes, they also recruit and train staff, secure funding and create opportunities for others. Many described a major transition from primarily conducting research themselves to mobilizing collaborative teams to bring research to fruition.
Career planning strategies for scientists
For researchers hoping to lead a group, this persona highlights the importance of leadership, delegation and the development of a research culture. It also underscores the need to balance investment in other people with maintaining one’s own scientific expertise.
Many researchers described the difficulty of redefining success as their role shifted from carrying out their own research to supporting the work of others. The skills and priorities that brought them to this point were not necessarily the ones they needed to succeed at the next stage. Although this work is not routinely celebrated, it is fundamental to the long-term success of many research environments.
Independent scholar
Many early-career researchers assume that becoming established means leading increasingly large groups. Independent scholars, however, organize their careers around lasting intellectual contributions. Their influence comes from the ideas they develop and the scholarship they produce, which advance thinking in their disciplines.
Although they may collaborate extensively, their work is defined by continuity of intellectual purpose rather than organizational expansion.
One of their biggest challenges is managing the pressure of an increasingly fragmented academic role while protecting the sustained thinking time needed for continued scholarly work. Many also described the difficulty of gaining recognition for contributions that do not depend on large grants, including editorial work, intellectual leadership and the development of scholarly communities that stimulate new debates and research directions.
Project architect
Some prominent researchers described careers built around leading large-scale research collaborations. They may coordinate interdisciplinary teams, cross-institutional partnerships or highly funded programmes, connecting talent, expertise and opportunities across multiple projects that do not necessarily form one coherent research programme.
Rather than building a single permanent team, these researchers create continuing collaborations that evolve as ideas, funding opportunities and partnerships emerge.
Their central challenge is maintaining a consistent sense of purpose while managing numerous projects, partnerships and opportunities at the same time. As a researcher’s portfolio expands, deciding which opportunities to pursue and which to decline becomes an increasingly important part of professional development.
Source: www.nature.com
