Early Career Researcher (ECR) Mentoring
DR Diana Newport-Peace | February 2022
One of Outside Opinion’s strengths is our ability to offer mentoring opportunities to our clients across a range of disciplines and career stages. This piece focuses on the challenges facing early/mid career researchers, who are navigating the perils and pitfalls of establishing a research profile in an increasingly stressed and time-poor academic environment.
Photo by Eliott Reyna on Unsplash
Early and mid career academics frequently have large teaching loads (up to 80% in some cases) and can prevent them from putting together a coherent research plan and generating publications. Outside Opinion can help individuals or cohorts of researchers to develop overarching, realistic research plans with timelines for specific outcomes such journal articles and research grant applications.
Early career researchers with industry experience have different needs to those coming up through the traditional academic route. Where we typically need to ECR’s to work with industry and explain how to do it, researchers who have spent time in industry may have limited awareness of the academic research landscape. Advice about conferences, ARC funding opportunities, preparing journal articles for publication and choosing a journal can help to identify the bones of an effective research plan.
Building and maintaining academic/industry networks is critical to ECR success. Strategies include co-authoring and working on projects with academics from other disciplines, sharing ideas and involving partners in projects from concept development onwards. Early career researchers with industry experience need to maintain the links they have with their industry, including peak bodies and service users. This keeps their industry knowledge current and may open the way to future research grant partnerships. For those who have come through a traditional academic route, establishing contacts with relevant industry networks is essential. Industry focused conferences and workshops provide excellent opportunities for this. Partnerships can also be fostered through industry guest lectures, and through alumni networks.
Outside Opinion can provide tailored support, workshops and mentoring on developing effective research plans for early and mid career researchers.
Contact us to discuss your needs.
