Dr Nico Brando, member of the Faculty's Early Career Researchers' Network Steering Group, looks at the advantages of developing a leadership-focussed role to your career.
You can learn more about the HSS Early Career Researchers' Network here.
As Early Career Researchers, we often feel that we have to "keep our heads down" and focus on the immediate hurdle: the next article, the next small grant, our internal admin jobs, teaching and marking. While the job we do for our University and Department is the foundation for our career, I’ve found that some of the most transformative growth happens when we look at the academic opportunities outside of our university. Strengthening your leadership within these external networks can transform a lonely research project into a visible, impactful career.
'External leadership' can sound like a daunting term, something reserved for senior professors with decades of experience. But in reality, it is one of the most effective ways for an ECR to build a global profile, influence their field, and, crucially, bring fresh prestige and expertise back to their home institution. I’ve realised that the true value of external networking isn't just about finding the next role; it is about building the social capital that gets you a seat at the table where disciplinary agendas are actually set.
Why 'external' matters
Engaging with external networks isn’t just about "networking" (which can sometimes feel like a chore); it’s about academic citizenship. It might feel that leadership means being at the top, but it actually is a slow but steady process of embracing opportunities and responsibilities available and accessible, and acquiring larger roles and responsibilities later on.
Say yes to chairing panels at conferences, say yes to peer-reviewing for journals in your field, say yes to attending events and activities organised by funding bodies. It starts with engaging with particular organisations or bodies regularly, and becoming a visible presence in these spaces, opening doors to new networks, connections (and, I must note, more than your fair share of boring meetings). This will lead the way to being invited to help coordinate internal groups within the association, or support in reviewing research proposals for a funder.
When you take on a role in an academic association, a committee or funding body, you stop being only a consumer of your discipline, and start becoming an active developer of its priorities and directions. Even if it is only in minor ways, by contributing actively to associations or peer-reviewing for journals you are already taking some control over the future direction of research in your field.
These roles contribute to your academic career in various ways. They help with your visibility; your name becomes associated with the discipline and topic you are working on, even before you become a “research leader” in the field.
As a Thematic Group coordinator for the Human Development and Capabilities Association during my first years as a postdoc, I didn’t have groundbreaking publications in my field, but I was communicating regularly with the 200+ members of my thematic group (Childhood), reviewing submissions for the annual conference of the association, chairing panels, organising in-person and online events, all of which gave me a visibility as a “children’s rights capability research” which I wouldn’t have been able to garner at that stage of my career through my publications alone. This has put me in a position where I am invited to speak at different events, to contribute to edited volumes or special issues, and to support and mentor PhD students who are working in my field. I wasn’t (and still am not) THE expert in my field (far form it), but showing a good work ethic, ensuring that I do my work in a timely manner, and showing my capacity to administrate and coordinate groups of people bumps up your career in ways that publications by themselves wouldn’t have been able to.
Second, you gain influence, by brokering academic networking in conferences and fora, by arranging panels based on your own research priorities, and by becoming a point of contact for those who want to organise events, develop collaborations, and propose activities. You gain influence, moreover, by reviewing you are sitting on the table with those who decide what is valuable research in your field. Many journals and funders are regularly looking for a larger pool of reviewers, contact editors, or funder committees volunteering to review manuscripts, to review funding applications. The more you support the work of a journal or a funding body, the better chances you have if applying for board positions or for being invited to become an editor or a committee member.
Tips for building your external leadership
If you are looking to strengthen this aspect of your career, here is how I suggest you start:
- Start with peer networks: Join (or create) ECR-specific groups. Having close connection and contact with other ECRs and PhD students in your field can be an important stepping stone for external leadership. If there are ECR networks already in place, make sure to be an active part of them. If there isn’t one, talk to peers, create one! Getting responsibilities and roles in them is easier and quicker than in larger associations, and will position you and provide you with the skills to tackle larger roles later on. It can be a great way of kickstarting projects, events and research with peers. These are safer spaces to practice leadership before moving to larger, senior-led boards.
- Don’t wait for an invitation: Be proactive in your engagement in conferences, workshops, and networking activities. If you are in a panel at a conference, volunteer to chair; if there is a small work-in-progress or author-meets-critic workshop on your field, volunteer to be a commentator. Visible engagement with the academic community will make those “in power” notice you. Academic associations are almost always looking for energetic ECRs to serve as chairs, reviewers, representatives, stream leads, or coordinators. If you show your engagement and volunteer, larger opportunities will arise.
- Use your niche or expertise as a bridge: If you have a niche skill, approach methodology, for example, I am the “philosophy guy” in children’s rights, make sure you “sell” yourself through it, making you the go-to person when something like this is needed. Ensuring that you know what your niche expertise is, can help you situate yourself much better in the networks for your field.
Reality checks
- Time: External roles can consume a lot of your time, and this usually isn’t budgeted by your department as admin. When you gain larger roles at external organisations which might demand from you a hefty amount of time, talk to your HoD to negotiate reduction of internal admin. Otherwise, it can take over your time for research.
- Value: External leadership doesn’t tend to involve much fun deep research (at least not most parts of it). It tends to require attending a lot of meetings, doing a lot of admin work, paper work, doing communication, managing teams, organising activities and coordinating work streams. Is it something that you enjoy doing? (I personally do). Is this an aspect of academic life that excites you? Is it something that you might not enjoy too much, but don’t mind doing if it’s not too time consuming? If it doesn’t give value to you, or if you are not willing to sacrifice some research hours of work every month to potentially menial tasks, then better don’t go into them.
- Commitment: By taking on external roles you are exposing yourself in front of your peers and senior colleagues in your field and discipline, both for good and for bad. If you enjoy the roles, if do them well, and if you meet up to the standards and expectations, this can be highly beneficial to your career. If you don’t enjoy them, if you take these roles only to “add the title to your CV”, and if you don’t meet up to the expectations of what you are asked to do, this will be noted by those around you, and can have a negative impact on your status in the field later on.