This Deloitte Insights article draws on survey research to identify what most strongly predicts team effectiveness in distributed, digitally-mediated working environments. Although written for a broad organisational audience, its findings translate directly to the research context: researchers leading time-limited, multi-site projects who need to assemble and sustain productive teams across institutional boundaries. The research is particularly valuable because it moves beyond assumptions about tools and technology to identify the relational factors that most reliably determine whether distributed teams succeed or struggle. The article’s central finding is striking – whether a team member has strong digital skills or access to good employer-provided tools matters less than whether they are part of a well-functioning team. For those leading complex, multi-institutional projects this reframes the challenge: the priority is building the conditions for team effectiveness, not just getting the logistics right. Three factors are identified as critical: What will you take forward? One thing to consider: In your current or next project team, what would need to be true for every member to feel safe raising a problem or admitting they don’t know how to do something — and how would you create that condition across institutional boundaries?
Leadership in a time of jeopardy: realism about promotion, leverage and the realities of academic middle management
Jamie Blaza Role: Research Fellow and ProfessorDiscipline: ChemistryInstitution: University of York 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 appointed to the University of York in 2018 to establish cryo-electron microscopy and launch my independent research career. In 2021, I was awarded a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship. I lead the York Bioenergetics Lab within the larger York Structural Biology Laboratory. My career path has moved through Leeds, Singapore and Cambridge before York. Along the way I have learned that academic careers are often framed in grand language, but the day-to-day reality can look quite different. One myth I have found helpful to challenge is the way academic careers are dressed up with elaborate titles. With my team, I often say that much of what I do would simply be called middle management in any other organisation! You look after your team, secure funding, and negotiate upwards. Framing it this way made the role clearer and more manageable for me. On leadership roles, in an ideal world you would apply when it suited your career stage. In practice, roles often need to be …
Leading an institutional move with a research team, navigating what cannot be controlled, and prioritising the success of others over my own agenda
Contributor role: Chair in Comparative Politics Discipline: Politics and International Relations 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 Whilst holding a Future Leaders Fellowship, I was contacted to apply for my current professorial position, was successful in my application and moved institutions with my research team and centre thereafter. Moving institutions is a complex process when it involves not only the Fellow but also their research team members. In my case, I discussed the opportunity with my team members before applying and only proceeded after serious consideration of their preferences and feedback. Not all team members physically moved to the new university, which created additional challenges in maintaining established ways of working across institutions. No matter how much you prepare and organise, not everything will be under your control. This applies to institutional processes as much as to interpersonal relations within research teams. For example, most of my team members required visas to continue working in the UK upon institutional transfer. I started discussions with HR teams at both universities well in advance and informed all relevant parties of the need …
Moving from the NHS into academia, building confidence, and learning that asking for help strengthens rather than weakens you
Saniya Rabbani Role: Lecturer and Talking Therapies Clinical Tutor Discipline: Psychology – Clinical and AppliedInstitution: 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 moved between sectors, from the NHS into academia. That transition required confidence and patience with myself. Looking back, I would tell myself to believe in my own abilities and reach. To grasp opportunities that are in alignment with myself, even if I feel hesitant about doing so. I would also say: don’t try to do everything alone. Consult friends, family or colleagues to talk about plans and thoughts if you’re feeling unsure. Be open, people are happy to help and support. I had doubts about performance and not being enough. I was keen to continue my independence within the workplace and to manage alone. In reality, the opposite has been true. Being open, honest and accepting my inner thoughts and feelings has been impactful. It allowed me to see that I was not alone and that others merging into academia experience similar doubts. It was all quite new to me. Opportunities can sometimes feel difficult to come across. However, many …
Avoid overload: use digital wellbeing strategies
Researchers often work in digitally dense environments, characterised by high email volumes, overlapping meetings, multiple platforms, and frequent interruptions. The Digital Wellbeing Booklet explores how everyday digital practices can shape attention, workload, and perceived pressure at work. It introduces a set of practical, research-informed strategies that encourage readers to reflect on and experiment with their own digital habits. These include approaches to: In particular, take a look at the ‘Email Charter’ on page 24, to improve the way emails are used and the impact they have. Taken together, the booklet offers a structured way for established researchers to think critically about how digital tools are used in practice, and how small, intentional changes might support more sustainable and manageable working patterns alongside existing academic demands. What will you take forward? One thing to try: What digital habit causes the most disruption in your workday, and what simple change will you try to reduce its impact?
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?
Reframe unhelpful beliefs about saying no
When new opportunities arise that you genuinely don’t have time or capacity for, they often trigger a familiar stream of shoulds and oughts. For many established researchers, this is accompanied by a strong inner critic warning that saying no makes you unhelpful, uncollegiate, or even professionally risky. You may notice worries about letting others down, damaging relationships, or missing out on future opportunities. It can be helpful to pause and notice these beliefs rather than taking them at face value. Guilt and fear of missing out are powerful signals, but they are not always reliable guides. In some situations, saying no may actually create space for others to step up, redistribute work more fairly, or protect the quality of the commitments you have already made. Try writing down the beliefs you hold about being someone who says no. Then gently test them. Are they always true? What evidence supports them, and what evidence contradicts them? What might be another, equally valid way of looking at the situation? Think of a role model or excellent mentor that you know well. How might they reframe it? “I’ll feel guilty when someone else has to take this on.” → Saying no allows work …
Learn from your career timeline
Effective self-leadership comes from taking time to review the factors that have contributed to your identity and your career highs and lows. Noticing and naming these factors helps you to be more intentional and assertive in making better-informed decisions, requests, and in prioritising for the future. Sketching out the highs and lows of your career journey can be a powerful exercise, particularly for those of you who are well established in your careers. Ask yourself: Use the template in page 36 of this leadership booklet for research leaders to sketch out your career timeline over the last five or ten years and then reflect on the circumstances that contributed to the highs and the lows. This reflective blog is one example of where the authors have considered how their multiple identities shape their leadership mindset and growth. What will you take forward? One thing to consider: Looking back at your career highs and lows, what one thing can you point to as an important condition in which you do your best work?
Connect to your strengths, meaning and purpose: not systems and metrics
Reflecting on what makes an academic career meaningful for you, and how this might have changed over the course of your career, can help you make more informed decisions about what next. This episode of the Changing Academic Life podcast includes a discussion with Prof. Lindsay Oades on academic wellbeing, connecting to strengths, meaning and purpose, and not taking the system too seriously. It takes a relatable and honest look at the realities of academic life, sharing practical insights from someone who has successfully navigated the promotion journey to Professor, drawing on tools and approaches from positive psychology, including strengths-reflection using the VIA survey, job crafting, annual development conversations and aligning your work with what energises you, instead of getting caught up in metrics and systems pressures. What will you take forward? One thing to consider: Which aspects of your work give you energy rather than drain it, and how present are they in how you currently spend your time?
Understand your group culture
As your responsibilities grow, it’s likely that you are spending less and less time ‘on the ground’ with your research group. A quick culture “temperature check” can help you to understand team dynamics, identify emerging issues, and ensure a positive, productive environment. Here are some quick ideas to help you get a sense of what the culture is like in your research group, lab or collaboration: What will you take forward? One thing to consider: If your team described the culture in one word today, would it match your intention, and what would you want to strengthen or shift?
Peer Discussion Guide: Putting your energy where it matters
This guide is designed for peer-facilitated discussion to help you get more from the established researcher resources. It curates a small selection of related resources and offers a light structure for reflection and conversation. They are not training sessions. They are structured opportunities to pause, think, and learn with others. There is no expert facilitator in the room. Everyone participates as an equal, taking shared responsibility for holding the structure, time, and quality of the conversation. Our Peer Discussion Guides Find out more about our Peer Discussion Guides and how you can use them to help you get more from our established researcher resources.
Finding and working with a mentor
Never is working with a good mentor more important than when you are an established researcher, jugging multiple demands and needing a trusted and knowledgeable sounding board. Don’t wait for an official mentoring scheme to find a mentor. Choosing, recruiting, and working with a mentor is a resource developed by Dr Kay Guccione. It explains how choosing and working with a mentor can give you structured time to think through your career, navigate your Institution, and make better‑informed decisions at any stage of your academic journey. It offers practical guidance on identifying the right mentor for you, setting expectations, and getting the most out of conversations so that they genuinely support your professional and career development. What will you take forward? One thing to try: What’s the one challenge where a mentor’s guidance would help you most right now? And who, someone you genuinely trust and find credible, will you reach out to for an informal discussion?
Know the landscape: concordats, charters and commitments that support you as a research leader
As an established researcher, you are no longer just navigating your own career. You are shaping the environment for others. That can feel daunting, particularly when people ask about their development entitlements, research integrity requirements, support for technical staff etc. Much of this is covered by various codes of practice and concordats. Your role is not to memorise every policy or personally implement every commitment. You are responsible for: Key UK Charters and Concordats Below is a summary of the main frameworks you are likely to encounter. You do not need to know every detail, but you should be aware of their purpose and relevance to your leadership role. For a brief explanation of each of the following and a link to further information, see the FLF Development Network’s Research Landscape Toolkit. Career Development and Research Culture. These influence how researchers are developed, assessed and supported across career stages. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion These frameworks shape institutional commitments to equity, representation and inclusive culture. Integrity and Responsibility These define expectations around ethical practice, transparency and environmental responsibility. Technical and Professional Roles: This commitment recognises the vital role of technical colleagues in research and promotes visibility, career development and sustainability of …
Learn from research exemplars: lab management practices
This PLOS One publication shares core lab management practices used by PIs to promote rigorous research and ensure a positive and proactive attitude towards health and safety and other compliance expectations. It’s useful for research leaders and academic administrators aiming to improve the quality and integrity of scientific work and address challenges such as inconsistent data quality across projects or confusion over responsibilities for different lab members. (Go direct to table of exemplars here). What will you take forward? One thing to try: Which one practice from these exemplars will you adopt straight away to improve clarity or consistency in your own lab?
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?