Contributor role: Professor Discipline: Law Please note: This story reflects the personal experience and perspective of its contributor. Academic careers vary widely, and others may experience different challenges and opportunities. Career Story I began my career training and working as a Solicitor in a Magic Circle law firm in London. During my training, I took a secondment that helped me realise that what I most enjoyed was legal research. I could see that as I became more senior in practice, I would do less of the work I loved because I would simply become too expensive for clients to use for detailed research. My role would have been to check what others had done. I tested the waters by teaching for the Open University while still in practice. I realised I loved both teaching and the sense that I was making a positive, direct difference to students. So I took what felt like a bold step and applied for a funded PhD. Many colleagues were bewildered that I would leave a lucrative and promising legal career to become a student again. But I wanted a career that felt intrinsically satisfying. My PhD was hard going. In my third year, I became …
Building a 40 year academic career on my own terms, leading authentically, and redefining what progression looks like across institutions
Contributor role: Lecturer in Marketing (Teaching and Scholarship) and Chair of Marketing Dept Advisory Board Discipline: Marketing Institution: University of Leeds Please note: This story reflects the personal experience and perspective of its contributor. Academic careers vary widely, and others may experience different challenges and opportunities. Career Story I have been a lecturer for 40 years and have worked at various Business Schools in the UK. I began as a Lecturer in Business Policy at Plymouth on a three year contract before relocating north via Leeds Beckett, Manchester Metropolitan and eventually settling at Leeds in 2006. The northern universities have looked after me well, with permanent contracts and better terms for promotion. At Leeds Beckett, my strengths in marketing rather than business strategy were recognised and I was promoted to Senior Lecturer in Marketing. I led on various projects, from Dissertation Co ordinator to assessor for undergraduate European marketing students. A highlight was assessing my students in French at our partner institution in Caen. I also joined a team of psychologists as a Marketing Consultant to study consumer behaviour for a major UK retailer. At Manchester Metropolitan, I continued as Senior Lecturer and became Programme Lead for undergraduate Marketing and Brand Management …
Becoming a Head of School and a father on the same day: rethinking research, leadership and asking for help.
Hugo Dobson Role: Professor and Faculty Director of One University Strategy Delivery (Arts and Humanities) Discipline: International Relations and East Asian StudiesInstitution: University of Sheffield Please note: This story reflects the personal experience and perspective of its contributor. Academic careers vary widely, and others may experience different challenges and opportunities. Career Story I was interviewed for and offered the position of Head of School on the same day I found out I was going to become a dad. Either of these events would have required me to rethink my approach to research. Both at once made this rethink an absolute necessity. Looking back, I would tell myself: ask others for help, at work and at home, and do not suffer in silence. I assumed at one point that leadership roles are lonely. They can feel that way, but they do not have to be. One of the practical changes I made was to stop trying to do everything alone in my research. I actively decided to seek out co-authors and invest more in collaborative projects rather than working in isolation. I also became much more intentional about quality. Instead of trying to produce as much as possible, I focused on producing fewer, higher-quality outputs. …
From flood engineer to boundary-spanning impact fellow: designing a career at the intersection of science, policy and lived experience.
Martina Egedusevic Role: Impact FellowDiscipline: Nature based solutionsInstitution: University of Exeter Please note: This story reflects the personal experience and perspective of its contributor. Academic careers vary widely, and others may experience different challenges and opportunities. Career Story My career sits at the intersection of engineering, environmental science and public decision-making. I trained as a hydraulic engineer in Serbia and spent seven years working on flood protection and river basin management across the Danube, Sava and Morava catchments. The 2014 Balkan floods were a turning point for me personally and professionally. My family home was affected, and I experienced first-hand the gap between emergency response and long-term risk reduction. That experience led me to pursue a PhD in Natural Flood Management in Scotland, focusing on how land use change and woodland creation influence flood risk. Since then, my work has increasingly moved across sectors: academia, consultancy, government, NGOs and communities. I have worked on nature-based solutions, disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation in the UK and internationally. I am currently an Impact Fellow at the University of Exeter, working closely with policymakers, practitioners and communities to translate research into real-world change. Looking back, I would tell myself that impact does not come from doing …
From over-extension to intentional focus: redefining progression while balancing leadership, maternity leave, and long-term impact.
Jiao Ji Role: Lecturer in FinanceDiscipline: Accounting and FinanceInstitution: University of Sheffield Please note: This story reflects the personal experience and perspective of its contributor. Academic careers vary widely, and others may experience different challenges and opportunities. Career Story Over the past several years, I have balanced a full academic workload with two periods of maternity leave, returning each time to a demanding teaching and leadership environment while maintaining an active research agenda. Alongside my role as Programme Director, I have taken on significant EDI and pastoral responsibilities, particularly supporting early-career colleagues and academic parents, while working toward long-term progression to Senior Lecturer and Professor. Earlier in my career, I equated visibility with progress. I said yes frequently, took on service roles, and absorbed expectations without always questioning whether they aligned with my longer-term goals. Over time, and particularly after maternity leave, I realised that sustainability and focus mattered more than constant availability. If I could advise my younger self, I would tell myself to be more selective earlier – about projects, service, and expectations – and to trust that focus matters more than visibility. I would advise myself not to internalise structural barriers as personal shortcomings, and to align effort with long-term goals rather than short-term reassurance. Most importantly, I would remind myself that sustainability is not a …
Carers and Careers in Academia: real life stories
A short (12 min), research-based film, based on research led by Professor Marie-Pierre Moreau, that surfaces the challenges faced by academics with caring responsibilities whilst trying to sustain their careers. It draws on lived experience to highlight enabling practices and common pitfalls. Topics include: This is not a “how-to” video, but it highlights what helps and what hinders academics with caring responsibilities, offering insight that can inform decisions, conversations, and leadership practice. What will you take forward? One thing to consider: What challenges were surfaced in this video that helped you to feel more seen or less isolated? Is there anyone you know that would benefit from learning about it?
Managing flexible working and caring responsibilities
At exactly the time in life that you are an established researcher, it is likely that you will also be juggling childcare, eldercare and other caring responsibilities, alongside one of the busiest periods in your professional life. You may also have many other reasons to want to work flexibly or part time. Even if you are not navigating these things yourself, it is possible that you will be managing people in your team who are. The Academic’s Success Guide has a section on managing flexible working and caring responsibilities that shares reflections from researchers on managing life and work, and advice from Kirstie Sneyd, an organisational psychologist and parent coach who specialises in supporting people to work flexibly and to manage work alongside family and caring responsibilities. In the guide you will find: What will you take forward? One thing to consider: How clearly are expectations about availability and priorities communicated in your team, including by you?
‘Carenting’ – tips for anyone juggling life with caring for their elderly parents
Carenting is a practical, judgement-free resource for professionals juggling demanding roles alongside caring for older relatives. If you’re short on time, it offers clear explanations of what support exists, how to navigate complex care systems, and what to think about before you reach crisis point. You’ll find straightforward guidance, lived experience, and signposting that can save hours of searching and second-guessing. It’s particularly valuable for senior academics who are managing invisible caring responsibilities alongside leadership, research, and institutional demands, and want reliable information they can dip into as needed rather than another thing to “keep up with”. What will you take forward? One thing to try: What support or information referenced on the Carents website was most helpful? Who else would benefit from hearing about it if you passed it on?
Returning Well – A guide for working parents and their managers
Book recommendation: Sneyd, K. (2024). Returning Well: How to Make the Most of Your Parental Leave and Return to Work. Berlin: De Gruyter. ISBN: 978-3-11-161827-2. Returning Well focuses on the often-overlooked transition back to work after parental leave. Whilst not written for academics, it is highly relevant to academic contexts where roles are complex, workloads are porous, and expectations are rarely reset automatically. For anyone taking parental leave, the book offers practical guidance on preparing for leave, managing identity shifts, and returning in a way that is sustainable rather than driven by guilt or unrealistic productivity expectations. For those managing or leading others, it provides a clear lens on what makes returns successful in practice, including pacing, expectation-setting, psychological safety, and the role of everyday managerial behaviours. Its strength lies in treating parental leave not as a disruption to be “managed around,” but as a normal career transition that benefits from thoughtful planning, compassionate leadership, and realistic reintegration. What will you take forward? One thing to consider: What would a sustainable return look like for you or someone you manage, rather than a fast one?
Explore tailored research leadership resources
Established researchers express a wide range of leadership and management needs such as recruitment, performance conversations, delegation, effective meetings, coaching and mentoring skills etc. There is an overwhelming amount of advice out there: some relevant to established researchers, some less so. Rather than re-create it all here, we recommend and connect you directly to open access resources that are tailored to research and academic leaders: What will you take forward? One thing to consider: What is one leadership challenge you’re dealing with at the moment? Which single external resource could you engage with this week to move forward?