You may be considering starting a centre, or perhaps your head of school has tasked you with starting one. Forming and/or directing a research centre is a lot of work, might distract from your research focus, and isn’t likely to be in your job description. So the obvious question is… why do it?
Before asking why a centre is needed, it’s worth asking why you might want to start a centre. Why not leave it to someone else? Why not spend your time and energy elsewhere? The answer to these questions will motivate you through some of the challenges ahead, but also provide some guiding principles to make sure your work delivers on your goals.
Improve the research environment for yourself and others
As your FLF progresses you are likely increasingly aware of the strengths and weaknesses of your host institution’s structure and strategy. In the first year of your FLF the rose-coloured glasses may still be very much in place. Your research institution may feel like a well-oiled machine. But as time progresses you may start to see room for improvement.
As an FLF, you are on a rapid trajectory towards leadership in your institution, and leadership in the international research and innovation communities you belong to. You are also, by definition, building bridges across multiple disciplines and research groupings. As you progress in your FLF you are probably discovering how siloed research institutions can be. You might be becoming aware that people who should be talking to each other and working together are not. You might be realising that department structures, geographic separation across campuses, or administrative hurdles, are preventing cross-discipline working. You may see local businesses, charities, and communities, being neglected by research they should be key stakeholders in. As an FLF you might be more aware of this than others in your institution, because your work likely pushes at many of these boundaries.
For you as an FLF, creating a new research centre is not about having a new physical structure, in other words a building – although I would argue that that would be the icing on the cake and should be something to aim for! – but rather a new centre is a vehicle for you to overcome barriers and make your institution a better place for you to deliver your research agenda. In the process you will also make it a better place for your team and your colleagues to do their research. As an FLF you may be uniquely positioned to see the challenges and missed opportunities within your institution.
Increase the impact of your FLF
As a Future Leaders Fellow you have designed a project that could have real world impact, and shape the research and innovation field(s) you are part of. Founding and directing a research centre provides a unique opportunity to overcome institutional barriers and bring people together to enable the changes you’re trying to realise with your own research project. You likely proposed to bring people together across disciplines within your original proposal. You probably wrote about why your institution is uniquely positioned to cross the disciplinary boundaries required to bring about change. Uniting these people in a new research centre is a concrete way to deliver on that proposal.
Enhance your career development
It is common when applying for promotion to professor/reader to be given the task of leading a research/innovation centre as “part of the deal”. If not, this request may come soon after your promotion. This can often be decided for you, based on institutional needs as seen by head of school or vice chancellors. Why not get ahead of these requests and take the initiative? Why not identify a leadership role you are passionate about, that aligns with your research goals? This may be centre leadership. Leading a research centre will be a strong plus point in your next promotion application.
This may seem like a selfish motivator, and indeed if this is your only motivator there are probably more efficient ways to achieve this goal. However, if you want to bring to fruition your groundbreaking research agenda, you need to be a leader. You were funded to deliver a research agenda due to the potential benefit to society, and realising your leadership goals is part of that impact. To deliver change you need to have responsibilities, and you probably need to be promoted! Remember that the FLF is specifically designed to improve your career trajectory, and your funders want you to secure promotions. I find it helpful to think about promotion of myself as promotion of my research agenda, and all the real world impacts I was funded to deliver. You are an FLF because you have a plan and the skills to make a difference in the world, don’t be shy that you need to be promoted to do that.
Support the career of others
When starting a centre many supporting roles are created. The development of your team is a key goal of the FLF. The ability to create roles such as “Early Career Research Lead”, “Patient Engagement Lead”, “Outreach Lead”, enables you to assign supportive roles to members of your FLF team. These can be tailored to match the skills and career development needs of individual members of your team. As a leader of a centre you are uniquely positioned to match people with roles within your centre.
If your research/innovation goals would benefit from the creation of a centre it’s likely that there are PhD students, early career researchers, new group leaders, and many more who will also be very grateful that you’ve put in the work and launched a new centre. Bringing people together, and connecting them across disciplines will open up new job opportunities for trainees, new opportunities to gain skills, and enhance the profile of everyone involved. Your trainees will be grateful.
Still having doubts?
If you’re still wondering whether you should start a research centre, perhaps it’s not the right time. You could wait a year and reassess. Don’t feel like it’s something you have to do. It’s going to be hard work. Unless you’re convinced by the above motivations, and more than a little stubborn that change needs to happen in your institution, you won’t overcome the challenges ahead.