Growing your own: Building research capability in higher education

There is increasing pressure on universities to perform equally well in teaching and research. In Australia there will be demand for research leaders over the next decade in what is already a highly competitive environment. Whilst existing research leaders can be ‘planted’, there is untold possibility for universities ‘growing their own’ research leaders. However, little is known about what a successful career path might look like, or how universities can develop their own, let alone what the situation is like for women. This study sought to answer these questions by examining how the careers of the current generation of research leaders have been shaped. The study involved semi-structured biographical interviews and content analysis of the track records of 30 senior research leaders and administrators from a range of organisations across Australia and identified seven factors that contributed to their success. Based on these findings, a comprehensive program was developed and implemented to assist early career researchers (ECRs) develop a focused research career plan and build their track records. This study also examined comparative staff data by gender in research positions in Australian universities. Women currently hold almost half of the academic research-only positions and a third of deputy vicechancellor (DVC) roles with responsibility for the research portfolio, while comprising less than a quarter of the professoriate, and appear to be clustered at the lower levels in research-only positions. For the majority of Australia’s academic staff, the key to a successful and ongoing career is to learn how to successfully balance teaching and research, and how to manage the expectations of both deans and students. Future career development programs for ECRs should therefore recognise that managing both of those roles is now the reality of the working lives of the majority of academic staff in Australian universities. That is, any focus on research or teaching development programs should not be at the expense of skills in the other sphere, especially when academics are subject to cycles of governmental and policy change. This study provides a fledgling, but solid, evidence base upon which universities can design strategies to attract, retain, develop, and promote researchers, a priority that universities wishing to remain competitive cannot afford to ignore. Despite identifying avenues for further research to evaluate and extend the research in this study, the findings suggest that ‘growing your own’ is a possibility. More importantly, the study identifies ways to make growing the best a probability.