A selection of current news items for managers of Early Career Researchers.

Note: Access to some of the publications referenced here may be metered or involve a free registration of basic details, and we hope you find the material worth any inconvenience. We try our best not to include paywalled articles, but there are sometimes differences between jurisdictions and we hope that your institution’s subscriptions will allow you to see any pieces that do turn out to be restricted in your location.

Research matters

Foresight framework. The pace of societal change makes it important to test assumptions about the future need for the research we do.

Not walking the talk. Headline-grabbing declarations mean nothing if there’s no substantive change in academic assessment practice.

Shared service model. There is a wealth of potential benefits in driving cross-institutional collaboration on research services.

Enablers and partners. The state of relations between researchers and technical staff is pivotal to the quality of research output.

Magnificent misfit. Research doesn’t lend itself to a 9-to-5 regime but smarter policies are needed to support the ‘magnificent weirdness’ of academia.

Care-aware culture. Eight low-cost ways to make research life more accessible to those with carer responsibilities.

Seminar capture. Talks are a key channel for sharing research and deserve to be a bigger part of the searchable record.

Probity pilot. UK charity Sense about Science has co-authored a handy guide to research integrity for early career researchers.

Self-guided support. Ghent Uni’s Postdoc Career Hub has long been a benchmark for structured support for ECRs, including open-access career resources.

AI in HE

Horizon 2030+. Two senior faculty argue AI cannot replicate researchers’ contributions but there’s work ahead to make a watertight case for human research.

Grey-zone AI. A small but focused cross-border collaboration has uncovered the gamut of feelings about researchers’ (mis-)use of AI technology.

Strategy partner. Web of Science Research Intelligence uses verified data to help institutions spot opportunities in research, funding and collaborations, and track impact.

Slow AI. With careful management, AI offers both shortcuts to efficiency and new ways to ‘keep education human’.

Creative friction. Worries about things like the corporate capture of ideas and intellectual erosion are making students wary of AI.

All too easy. Over-using AI can mean missing out on the ‘hard yards’ it takes to develop deep understanding.

Adapting assessment. Responses to AI may be over-emphasising skills the labour market no longer wants to pay for.

Management matters

Professional prep. In today’s globalised research environment, universities should do more to help emerging researchers understand the profession they are aiming to enter.

Selling self-belief. Ideas for helping prepare post-graduate researchers for the ever-more-rapidly changing world of work.

Elevating supervision. The multiple benefits of investing in professional development support for graduate supervisors.

Marvellous mentorship. What PhD students say they value most about their supervisors.

M is for Metric. Given the critical role of research leaders in developing early-stagers, it’s a good idea to measure mentorship.

Back to the future. The potential benefits of recruiting senior academics into ‘reverse mentoring’ by ECRs.

Damaging dependence. A new study argues more must be done to prevent abuses by senior scholars of dependent early career researchers.

Presence is enough. Arguments for moving away from using the ‘early career researcher’ label.

Sustainable study. Ideas for managing the pressures of post-graduate study to fit a PhD into something close to a 40-hr work week.

Welcoming the pracademic. Universities seek lecturers with industry knowledge but entering academia in mid-career involves particular challenges.

Personal press

Out of whack. The term ‘work-life balance’ suggests oppositional forces, when what we need are boundaries that protect our own ideas of fulfilment.

Dally and delay. We procrastinate for different reasons and it helps to understand the fears that hold us back.

Reset and go better. Failure itself often hurts but it comes with lessons that empower and improve.

It’s not you… Why and how academia should start being more honest and pragmatic about rejection.

The toxic leader. What to do if you’re stuck with one of 16 different types of poisonous or inept boss.

Dogtorate in humanity. A research group leader’s pooch who took on the job of driving ‘Advanced Morale Management’.

Serious research

Unboil that egg… Whether it’s about potty-training cows, octopuses playing catch by themselves or adding poo to graphene, Scientafic has what you need!

We hope you find this Update for Research Managers helpful. 
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