EVALUATE, REFLECT AND CHANGE - Consider team members’ trajectories
Our experience: our project had academics at varying stages in their careers from early career researchers in their first post doc position, to mid-career academics with research experience and good publication track records, to senior academics with very established research portfolios and reputations. Thus, we had to think carefully about how the project could meet everyone’s needs. We were very fortunate in that everyone involved in our project was committed to an ethos of generosity and reciprocity (see Personality and experience). In other words, we wanted to ensure that each of us, particularly those with the most to lose – the early career academics, got what they needed from the project. This spurred us on to remain loyal to the project and produce the required outputs.
Why?
As with most research projects, there will be team members at very different career stages – from research associates (and possibly PhD students) at the start of their academic careers, to mid-career academics, to much more senior and established scholars. Thus, there will be varying expectations on what the project should achieve and what each team member needs to get from it. This needs consideration.
Early career academics
Often it is the research associates and those at the start of their careers who spend most of their time on the project – in others words, their work is devoted to the project, whilst more experienced academics will be working on the project alongside having other responsibilities such as teaching, or other research projects. Therefore, the outputs (publications, presentations) and success of the project are particularly important for early career scholars as they will be their sole source of furthering their academic career. This needs consideration, particularly when thinking about establishing rules/terms of agreement for matters concerning publication. Early career academics will need to lead on papers to develop their academic reputation.
Mid-career and senior academics
Just as with early career academics, the trajectories of mid and senior career scholars also needs consideration. These academics are likely to only be able to devote a specific proportion of their time to the project, thus limiting how much they can be involved. It may be that they are involved in the project for a specific element of it which builds upon and enhances their existing work. They may wish to use this project as a springboard to other opportunities and research areas. All of this needs discussing and considering – what does each team member need to achieve from their involvement in the project?