07 October 2009
By Elizabeth Dodson
Earlier this year, I completed a batch of psychometric tests and during the feedback session the assessor said, “You value knowledge very highly and I suspect that you’re a bit of a course junkie”. The latter phrase was delivered in such a way as to make it sound undesirable, but training and development are vital if you want to have some control over your own career progression.
I was shocked to read in the CROS results (Careers in Research Online Survey 2009) that a quarter of researchers have not participated in any internal training activities in the past year and 50% have not participated in any external training activities. Of course these are only the people who found the time and had the inclination to respond to this survey.
I’m not advocating the idea that we should all become “course junkies”. We need to be selective about the training opportunities we pursue, ensuring that our choices each have a defined purpose. However, I would be surprised to find an effective career development plan in which there was no identifiable skills development.
Research careers are all about the pursuit of knowledge. So step back and consider what knowledge is important to you. There is most likely at least one skill that you could learn that would improve your ability to do your current job. There may be a qualification that you need to pursue a promotion or even a career change. Perhaps you could bring something new to your field if only you knew how to do “X”? Or are you simply curious to try something new? If so, then be proactive and make it happen. You’ve heard of the phrase “Publish or Perish”? Our new motto should be “Learn or Languish”.
Sarah Davies08 October 2009 at 03:30 PM
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Yes! I think this is completely right. But my problem has always been the minimal relevance of much of my university's training programme. I know how to use citation management systems, I have already been well and truly inducted into the university system, and I'm not sure that I need to be a better manager - given I don't manage any staff. What kind of stuff have you been on and found useful?
Elizabeth Dodson09 October 2009 at 11:43 AM
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We have some pretty good researcher specific training. We do all the standard stuff like stats training, applying for grants and fellowships, and software training like the citation management systems you mentioned. Additionally though, we are offered broader training like career planning influencing people and creative problem solving. Through our research staff development officer, we get offered a good selection of external training like the Broadening Horizons programme (http://www.vitae.ac.uk/policy-practice/40705-74531/Broadening-horizons-programme.html), PRINCE2 project management (http://www.prince2.com/), ILM leadership qualifications (http://www.i-l-m.com/learn-with-ilm/2317.aspx) and academic writing retreats. Some of these come with costs attached, but there are pots of funding that we can bid for and sometimes a department will pay. This year, the EPSRC funded a number of places on a distance learning course – the University Certificate in Exploring Online Research Methods (http://www.geog.le.ac.uk/ORM/), which I did and gained a lot from. I also wanted to get qualified in ability and aptitude testing, as people always assume that as a psychologist I must be able to do testing. This is very career specific to me, but I paid for it through some development funding that I won in a poster competition at our annual research staff conference. If you can identify training that will be useful to you, then it’s worth asking how you might get it funded. It has been something of a revelation to me that there is money available for personal career development. A lot of it is competitive, but it really is worth applying for if there is something that you aspire to learn.
Matthew Salois12 October 2009 at 02:55 PM
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This is great advice, Elizabeth. Staying current with the advances in your field is imperative to career success. I am an economist by education with a specialization in econometrics. The field (and statistics in general) finds new advances and techniques every year and I am just not able to assimilate all that new knowledge through reading peer-reviewed articles alone. I have found an organization in London that sponsors short courses in econometrics and have found myself a frequent attendee (The Centre for Micro-data Methods and Practice). Not being familiar with the physical science, I am quite curious to know how others have kept the learning process going.
Elizabeth Dodson12 October 2009 at 03:53 PM
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Thanks Matthew. Out of interest, how did you find out about the available sponsorship? I am wondering whether the main reason that some researchers do not pursue external training is the cost. I am lucky that there is now a research staff development officer at my university, who sends regular bulletins which highlight both training opportunities and potential funding sources. This includes links to specialist groups that provide bursaries such as the UKRC (http://www.ukrc4setwomen.org/html/services-for-women/bursaries/) and slightly more off the wall opportunites like FameLab (http://famelab.org/) where there are 10 cash prizes for demostrating the ability to communicate science in a way that will engage the general public (this competition is annual but has closed for this year - top prize £10,000). Getting pointers such as these that highlight potential funding makes me far more likely to investigate training opportunities. So in addition to your question Matthew, I would like to know whether other universities have coordinated staff development specifically for the research community - and whether individuals are getting appropriate funding alerts?