Unconventional skills are needed to achieve research infrastructures’ potential, say Katharina Cramer and Nicholas Rüffin
Europe’s research infra-structures are unmatched in their diversity, density and interconnectedness. These facilities offer several tens of thousands of external scientists access to unique instruments and experimental resources.
Research infrastructures are vital components in political strategising and public dialogue, serving as catalysts for societal welfare and economic progress through innovation and frontier research. But increased political attention and new objectives that come with the expansion of roles pose challenges.
First, mission-oriented funding increasingly nudges research infrastructures to prioritise topics high on the political agenda. Two recent examples are materials research for the circular economy, and structural biology for public health and the pharmaceutical industry. Second, the European Commission, the OECD and national funding bodies have called for strengthened support and service frameworks aimed at user communities, which are expected to leverage the innovation potential of costly research infrastructures and deliver socioeconomic impact.
Lacking the experience of established users, these groups require assistance and support to use instruments efficiently. In response, infrastructures have brought in adjustments such as automation, remote access and mail-in services tailored to these communities’ needs.
Shift in mindset
Growing demands create new tasks for research infrastructures’ in-house scientists, technicians and scientific support staff. Added to this, research infrastructures are struggling to compete for staff with the skills demanded by the growth of experimental data and the emergence of AI.
These dynamics require a cultural shift to support diverse career trajectories, fostering an environment that enables the innovations that politics and society demand. This creates a need for people with a unique blend of technical, scientific and organisational expertise. Such roles require formal education, such as PhDs. But just as important are skills acquired through learning on the job and intimate knowledge of machines, instruments and techniques. These individuals are knowledge brokers, adept at translating information between different realms, bridging the gap between technical and scientific domains, or between in-house staff and external users.
The emergence of such roles brings a need to reconceptualise professional identities and challenge conventional notions of what it means to work at research infrastructures. Funding bodies and scientific associations, including the EU, are opening up to this discussion. Several years ago, both the German Leibniz Association and the Swedish Science Council recognised the need for addressing the evolving challenges within research infrastructures. One notable response came from the Karolinska Institute, a world-renowned medical university in Stockholm, which in 2023 created a new career path for research infrastructure specialists.
In 2021, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory launched the Career Accelerator for Research Infrastructure Scientists, a €13.6 million, six-year fellowship programme. Another initiative called RItrainPlus is offering training to build managerial expertise at research infrastructures. The initiative plans to run a European School for Management of Research Infrastructures. Similar programmes are emerging globally—in the US and Japan.
These recent developments underscore the increasingly blurred boundary between positions in research and those job profiles traditionally viewed as administrative.
Staff at research infrastructures may need to take a leap of faith, trusting that their academic communities will not see these new roles as less prestigious than traditional research posts.
Recognising contributions
Research infrastructures must acknowledge the importance of offering opportunities to researchers whose expertise and inclinations lie towards bridge-building rather than the traditional pathways that culminate in a professorship. This in turn ties in with a larger discussion on frameworks for tracking career progression, evaluation standards and the recognition of alternative metrics beyond citations, grants and authorship. Recognising contributions to specialist databases, community engagement or the development of software and code as markers of professional achievement will be crucial.
Ultimately, the effectiveness of research infrastructures hinges upon embracing the multifaceted talents of professionals. Fostering a culture that values diverse expertise fortifies infrastructures, empowering them to meet today’s challenges head-on.
Katharina Cramer and Nicolas Rüffin are at the Center for Advanced Security, Strategic and Integration Studies, University of Bonn, Germany
This article also appeared in Research Europe