On the 11th March 2025, the Researcher Development team at the Institute for Academic Development (IAD) ran the annual Researcher Realities event.
Researcher Realities is an umbrella initiative that invites conversations among and across the researcher community about the hows of research: the lived realities and experiences of being a researcher. This includes conversations about the contexts and circumstances that inform decisions, what to do when things go wrong, how to navigate challenges, what success looks like, and much more.
The annual event included four online panel sessions with 12 speakers having candid and open discussions on the following:
- Navigating the arc of the academic research career – the realities of academic research careers, researchers shared how they’ve navigated the arc, what choices they’ve made, and how they have progressed
- Pitching Interdisciplinary Research Projects to Funders -Researchers shared their approaches to identifying suitable funding schemes and lessons learned from their application and/or peer reviewer experiences.
- The Many Faces of Postdoctoral Life: Identity, Transition, and Growth -Researchers discussed some of the transitions that take place in and out of postdoc study – understanding what it’s like to move into a fledgling independent research career; or establishing your identity in the postdoctoral role
- In Conversation with Prof Sue Fletcher-Watson: Managing Career and Work-Life Balance – Work-life balance is a common topic of conversation within Higher Education. Professor Sue Fletcher-Watson talked about managing career and, in particular, how to have an effective management of work-life balance
Video recordings from three of the panel events are now available: https://support-for-researchers.ed.ac.uk/getting-started/doing-research/researcher-realities, alongside recordings from previous years. [The recording from ‘Pitching Interdisciplinary Research Projects to Funders’ is still be finalised and will be added to the webpage in due course.]
Further information on the Researcher Realities initiative, the events that have ran, links to the curated blog series and a guide to running local Researcher Realities events can be found here: Researcher Realities
We are currently discussing our the next annual event, planned for March 2026, so watch this space!
