11/01/2022 – The Early Career Researcher

Is this you? You’re fresh, new and excited to be in your new postdoc or Assistant Professor position. You’re ready to accept any responsibility, handle any task and fill any role that comes your way. After all, you want to contribute to your department, make your family proud and maybe even impress your superiors. You work long hours; sit-in at numerous meetings, some of which you chair yourself, and you get excellent feedback from colleagues and students alike about your teaching.

Many early-career researchers tend to approach their first academic appointment in this way. Sounds like a great start, right? Here’s the catch though, out of these well-intentioned group of newcomers, unfortunately, many come to realize at their end-of-contract review that they’d fallen short of meeting the expectations of their university. They learn, that their publication output is unsatisfactory. Has that happened to you? Or maybe, you were more fortunate to get the ‘Remember-to-publish’ advice from a well-meaning colleague or had one of those ultimatum-type warnings from a superior that basically sums up to the message of ‘publish or perish’. Yet, you probably ended up being so consumed by the weight of your other job-related responsibilities that you felt that you didn’t have the time to focus on academic research, let alone publishing.

Now, you could look to blame somebody for not letting you know or for having so much to do that you couldn’t breathe, but what sense would that make!!! Below are a few things that you would want to practice so that you’re in a better position by the time your next review rolls around. If, however, you’ve just joined your faculty and haven’t experienced the distress outlined above, well good for you – Enlightenment is here!

Find out about your responsibilities and terms of employment

To meet those requirements that speak to not only your specific departmental responsibilities but also the more general terms of your employment as an academic staff, you’ve got to find out what they are. These are usually found in your university’s staff guides and staff intranet. When you get your hands on all necessary and relevant information, create a repository (I have a “Know my Job” e-folder), read it all carefully and ask questions on anything for which you need clarification.

For faculty, the number of publications (and research impact – in another post) is important. The acceptable number tends to vary from discipline to discipline and university to university but they may be stated as, for example, a minimum of 2 or 3 academic papers in a high-tiered journal per calendar year. So, get in the know!

Begin from your PhD thesis

If you don’t know where to start, begin with your PhD thesis – you know, that big book that seemed to have consumed your life for at least three years. Look through your findings and decide on an article or chapter that could be developed and published from it. Many early-career researchers do this. Publishing papers from your thesis makes your work more accessible to a wider audience than those that may read your thesis; thus making it more likely to be cited.

Set aside time to do research

Now that you know what is required and you know where to start, you need to get to work. You may ask, “But how?” I know, with all that you already have to do, this may seem impossible. Just remember that a little goes a long way. It is likely that you were hoping for a huge block of time to sit and focus on research activities. I have news for you: Wake-up! That was your PhD! For those of you who didn’t enjoy that luxury, you should know better – that block of time may never come or if it does come, it still may not be sufficient to get enough done to satisfy your university’s requirements. As a busy faculty member, you now need to purposefully block time to get your research done. Yes, you heard right. At least one day per week to do research-related activities MUST be protected on your schedule. Of course, you can do what works for you but be practical. I’ve advised colleagues and PhD students to block as little as an hour and half first thing each morning before they get into their day. Those who’ve taken the advice have praised how well it works, allowing them to be productive and to prioritize before the busyness of the day overwhelms them. The wisdom in choosing the mornings is that if you block a few hours in the evening after a long day having come from work or having put your 2-yr old to bed, you’d likely be too tired to read that 40-page book chapter, analyze a 15-page interview transcript or write a comprehensible section of a journal article. But ‘you do you’. If you can manage to put in some time after work, that’s great. The aim is to remain consistent and keep at those research activities, so that you can see the ‘publishing fruits’ of your labour.

Dr. Rinnelle Lee-Piggott is a Lecturer at the University of the West Indies (St. Augustine). Her research interests include school & principal leadership, school & system improvement & education privatization.

To Collaborate or Not to Collaborate!

Leave a Comment / Networking / 11/01/2022

As an early career researcher, you recognize the importance of keeping up with your research agenda. Initially, that research agenda may consist of solely personal research projects and papers for publication but there comes a time when the prospect of collaborative research work arises. Maybe you’re one who has always been excited about such prospects or maybe you fall into the group who’d rather work alone. But the old African proverb rings true: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” In essence, this is saying that research collaborations may offer a number of benefits over remaining a lone researcher.

Benefits of research collaborations

While some research collaborations may focus on small-scale projects, others can afford you opportunities to work on larger-scale projects – the type that is commissioned or sponsored by governments, NGOs or professional bodies (oooh!) and which may focus on much larger data sets across nations, for instance. Such collaborations may also bring in larger sums of money through sponsorship grants for your university. Moreover, because in higher education publications from research, collaborations tend to be viewed more highly than single-authored works, you would likely earn higher points towards promotion.

Another benefit is that collaborative research work provides opportunities to work with researchers who are most likely better well known than you are in professional circles and research communities and thus has the pleasant effect of significantly boosting your own reputation as a researcher because you would be recognized as having worked with that well-reputed researcher. The add-on is that your own professional and research networks begin to grow, which is important in academia.

Thirdly, as your name and work become more recognized, they open up for you more and more professional opportunities, such as more research collaborations, which then increases the number of publications that you have and the impact that you can make. Invitations to review journal articles and to speak at conferences may also increase as you become more well known as an authority on certain topics.

Nightmare research collaborations

Yet, despite the great benefits research collaborations can yield, they’re not always easy to manage in the long run and yes, they tend to run longer than the average personal project. Some may end prematurely, leaving you upset and feeling that you’ve wasted valuable time. There may be personality clashes (people will be people), cross-cultural misunderstandings especially with international collaborations, unresolvable differences in requirements and operations between collaborators’ universities or even significant delays caused by a collaborator who doesn’t do his/her part. Before you lose heart, most of these can be prevented or managed or, at the very least, they may teach you meaningful lessons for future collaborations.

Fruitful research collaborations: How?

Invite persons to collaborate; you don’t have to wait for an invitation
If you are invited on a collaborative project, however, check out your collaborators’ research profile, speak to one or two persons who may know your potential collaborators so that you can make an informed decision. You also need to weigh carefully if the proposed work fits in with your research agenda and if not, consider if it is one that you really want to branch out into. It is not useful to you or the research team if you are not particularly interested in the work. They will and should expect you to contribute meaningfully, respectfully and on time.
Ensure that you are clear about your role and those of others. Early on, collaborators should decide (and put in writing) the order of authors on publications because this usually determines the extent of each person’s contribution to the work. As the project progresses, collaborators will also need to be clear about their part(s) in the work and what they are expected to do. Clarity is also particularly needed on such matters related to data ownership, data storage, research budgets, etc. Also, in such a spirit of openness and collegiality, researchers all need to have the opportunity to share their thoughts, ideas and suggestions at every stage of the research process.
Demonstrate consideration. Let’s face it: we’re all very busy and that means someone may forget a deadline or be unable to complete an assigned task, but it is usually more helpful to be forgiving, readjust and move on rather than to embarrass or insult persons by laying down ‘rules of engagement’. However, if the collaborator’s behaviour has shown to be a habit, then a respectful discussion around how their non-action affects the team and project progress becomes necessary.

Generally, research collaborations are fun and you may emerge having gained long-term partnerships. While there may be some pitfalls, the benefits far outweigh them. Remember, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together” (African proverb).

To Collaborate or Not to Collaborate! Read More »

January 11, 2022

Publish; don’t perish!

To Collaborate or Not to Collaborate!