Image: Rachel Magee for Research Professional News
Earma 2024: Avoid falling into “trap” of opposition with researchers, profession advised
Research managers and administrators have been warned not to fall into the “trap” of pitting themselves against academics.
RMAs at the European Association of Research Managers and Administrators annual conference in Odense, Denmark, were advised on 24 April to take a “team sport” approach to their jobs.
“Sometimes it is so easy to fall into that trap [of] us against them, or them against us. It is not. It is a team sport,” said Debra Schaller-Demers (pictured), senior director and research integrity officer at New York University in the US.
She urged RMAs to take a “researcher-centric” view in their jobs, adding that they should not focus on what they think researchers need but rather should listen to what researchers actually want.
In a similar vein, in a session on the same day, Erlend Aano, a senior adviser at the University of Stavanger in Norway, also called for better collaboration between academics and RMAs, saying that ideally the two professions would be regarded on an equal footing.
He said that “for too long, RMAs have been in the shadows” and “behind the scenes” of research. They have been “overlooked and underestimated”, whereas in an ideal world RMAs and researchers would be seen as “two equal captains”.
Aano added that the RMA profession should “stop talking about support [for researchers] and start talking about collaboration [with them]”.