Succeeding in
Academic Research
Contents
Dr Andrey Mokhov
2
Lecturer in Computer Engineering; Research Fellow in the School of Electrical
and Electronic Engineering
Dr Heath Murray
4
Royal Society University Research Fellow at the Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences
James Widmer
6
Principal Research Associate at the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Jill Clark
8
Senior Research Associate and Business Development Director at the Research Centre
for Learning and Teaching (CfLaT)
Dr Katarina Novakovic
10
EPSRC Career Acceleration Fellow in the School of Chemical Engineering and
Advanced Materials
Dr Ralf Kist
12
Lecturer in Oral Biology (School of Dental Sciences/Centre for Oral Health Research)
Professor Richard Dawson
15
Professor of Earth Systems Engineering and EPSRC Fellow; Director of the Centre
for Earth Systems Engineering Research
Dr Simon Lambert
18
Research Associate at the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Dr Lee Borthwick
20
University Research Fellow and Junior Principal Investigator with the Fibrosis Group
at the Institute of Cellular Medicine
Dr Carmen Hubbard
22
Lecturer in Rural Economy and Research Manager for the Centre for Rural Economy
Researcher Career Stories
Succeeding in Academic Research: Researcher Career Stories
Dr Andrey Mokhov
Job title: Lecturer in Computer Engineering; Research Fellow in
the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
‘Being good at research and publishing quality papers is often not
enough. You need to educate yourself in other areas to become a
successful academic. Not enough researchers, for example, take part in the training
workshops offered by the University.’
Your current role and main areas
of responsibility
a small mountainous country in
central Asia squeezed between China
and Kazakhstan. After graduating,
I came straight to Newcastle in 2005
to do a PhD, studying the design of
microprocessors as part of an EPSRC
project. For the first three years I was
supported by an Overseas Research
Scholarship, and in the fourth year I began
working part-time as a research associate.
After completing my PhD I moved to
the School of Computing Science to do
research in formal methods for system
design, from 2010 to 2012. Then I got
a Faculty Research Fellowship and
shortly afterwards I applied successfully
to become a lecturer in the School of
Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
My research is looking into how to
make electronic systems that are
smarter and work for longer. I lead a
small team designing microprocessors
to make new and more efficient brains
for intelligent electronics that surrounds
us. I have three responsibilities: to
do excellent research; educate new
specialists; and contribute to making the
University even better at what it does.
What aspects of your job do you
find the most enjoyable/rewarding?
All my work is rewarding because the
people here have an idealistic drive to
make the world a better place, rather
than being driven by making money.
Sometimes we work for up to 18 hours a
day because we feel what we are doing
is important for society. I feel to be part of
a team trying to move the world forward.
What were the most influential
factors to the success of your career
progression?
Among the factors was that I had quite
a good record of scientific publications.
Becoming a Faculty Research Fellow
indicated that I was considered a top
researcher and a valuable resource
to the faculty. I had already travelled
to conferences, but once I got the
What were the key stages in your
route to your current role?
My first degree was in software
engineering back home in Kyrgyzstan,
2
Succeeding in Academic Research: Researcher Career Stories
fellowship I had the opportunity and
funding available to visit some research
groups in which I was interested, to see
what kind of ideas were most relevant
in a fast-changing world. Some of my
most important research discoveries
have resulted from conversations with
people and seeing new connections
between things. During my PhD
Professor Alex Yakovlev was very
supportive as my supervisor and
mentor. Later I got a lot of support from
the faculty team who organised the
fellowship. I also participated in many of
the University’s Staff Development Unit
workshops, which were of considerable
help. These are a valuable resource,
which I now strongly encourage the
researchers in my own group to attend.
sometimes are enticing, but despite this
I stick to the path I have chosen. At the
current stage of my career this university
is the best place for me, as I believe
I still have a lot to learn.
With the benefit of hindsight, what
advice would you give to other
researchers when planning their
academic career?
Being good at research and publishing
quality papers is often not enough. You
need to educate yourself in other areas
to become a successful academic. Not
enough researchers, for example, take
part in the training workshops offered by
the University. For some reason many
people do not realise how valuable
these can be. Another thing is to attend
summer schools outside the University
and conferences, where you will have
the chance to meet leaders in your field
and gain inspiration. It can be difficult to
find the money to go to these events, so
fellowship schemes help. Visiting worldclass scientific events is very valuable
especially for early-career researchers.
Such events can be very inspiring and
fantastic for networking; they give an
opportunity to see and comment on
what the top people in the field are
currently doing, to understand what
the community challenges are, and to
cross-check the relevance of one’s own
work. The University provides support
towards attending such events, for
example, through the EU office’s H2020
Support Fund and through faculty
fellowship programmes.
What do you consider to have been the
greatest challenges to your progression
and how did you overcome them?
When I applied to become a lecturer
I knew little about what was required
to apply successfully for the role. It
turned out I did the right things, but I
didn’t know that at the time. So better
information from the University would
be of benefit to researchers planning
an academic career. Since then I find
there is never enough time to do all
the things that need to be done. So I
am trying to learn how to manage my
time better. Another challenge that I
often find distracting is that industry is
constantly hunting for good people, and
some colleagues have been attracted
by offers. I get offers from industry that
3
Succeeding in Academic Research: Researcher Career Stories
Dr Heath Murray
Job title: Royal Society University Research Fellow at the Institute
for Cell and Molecular Biosciences.
‘You need to be talented at bench work in the lab, you need
results, and then you need to publish as much as possible.
The more good things you have, the more competitive you appear, because
the competition is fierce.’
Your current role and main areas
of responsibility
to achieve that feeling of discovering
something new.
I do a lot of bench research in the
laboratory. And I have a postdoctoral
researcher and two PhD students
whose projects I supervise. My Royal
Society Fellowship excludes me from
too much teaching. I love doing my
research into DNA replication. This
studies how cells faithfully reproduce
themselves using a blueprint that
comes in the chemical form of DNA.
What were the key stages in
your route from being a research
associate to your current role?
Mine has been a very direct, traditional
route. I grew up in California and did
a science degree in microbiology
and molecular genetics at University
of California, Los Angeles. As an
undergraduate I was looking to be
a medical doctor, but was attracted
towards research. This set me up to do
a PhD in bacteriology at the University
of Wisconsin-Madison. I came over to
the UK to study a technique in bacterial
cell biology that was being pioneered
at Oxford by Professor Jeff Errington.
After he moved to Newcastle, to
the Institute for Cell and Molecular
Biosciences, I also came here and
following five years postdoctoral work
I became a Royal Society University
Research Fellow for a further five years.
What aspects of your job do you
find the most enjoyable/rewarding?
Discovering things that are new. Being
at the forefront of human knowledge,
learning things for the first time that
nobody else has ever understood
about the fundamental aspects of life
on our planet. I have also, as a PI,
enjoyed sharing with postdoctoral and
PhD students the technical skills that
enable them to run experiments and
interpret the results properly. Driving
them towards being able, on their own,
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Succeeding in Academic Research: Researcher Career Stories
What were the most influential
factors to the success of your career
progression?
be a long time in between, when you
have to spend a lot of evenings and
weekends – disappointing moments
when things don’t work. You need to
just pick yourself up and keep going.
Luck certainly can play a part in it.
I honestly think it’s that I have worked
for very talented and inspirational
mentors. At each stage in my career
they have demonstrated, rather than
simply told me, what was needed to
attain a level of achievement. As an
undergraduate I learned from what
my professor did. I would say the
learning curve was steepest during
my doctorate, because I was taught
how to design my own experiments,
and how to write research papers and
disseminate the findings in journals.
You need to be talented at bench
work in the lab, you need results, and
then you need to publish as much as
possible. The more good things you
have, the more competitive you appear,
because the competition is fierce.
With the benefit of hindsight, what
advice would you give to other
researchers when planning their
academic career?
Everyone I know who has been
successful has sacrificed a lot and
has worked really hard to get where
they are. It helps to be in a good
lab, because the best labs are often
where the most cutting-edge research
is done. I have always done work
I genuinely cared about, so I personally
advocate pursuing what you most
enjoy. And you need to be very honest
when you determine whether or not
you would be suited for a particular
kind of academic research. Do you
have a naturally competitive drive that
will keep you working? In my field
everyone is naturally competitive,
everyone is driven. So when you
look at your CV, if you don’t have
several research publications in topclass journals, you are not going to
be competitive. If you are not there,
or heading in that direction, you may
need to find something else.
What do you consider to have been the
greatest challenges to your progression
and how did you overcome them?
Research can be very difficult and
you often have to wait a long time for
success. You have to put in a lot of
time when you don’t see the immediate
result. It’s not until, sometimes years
later, when a number of experiments
start to fit together, where you think you
understand things. At that point you
do make a breakthrough. There can
5
Succeeding in Academic Research: Researcher Career Stories
James Widmer
Job title: Principal Research Associate at the School of Electrical
and Electronic Engineering.
‘Publish, publish, publish. Within a university you are measured
by the amount of research papers you produce, so write as many
as possible. The thing that has worked for me, too, is that I have been able to get
out, find opportunities and turn these into grants, which is another good thing to do.’
Your current role and main areas
of responsibility
does really well, which is to come up
with lots of new ideas, and demonstrate
how the fundamental research we do
can impact on the real world.
Informally, I head up the Centre for
Advanced Electrical Drives, which is
doing industry-focused research into
novel electrical machines (motors/
generators) and the electronics which
power them. I’m an independent PI
with several research grants and a
team of researchers working mostly
with the car industry. We are doing a
lot of work with Jaguar Land Rover;
two large Technology Strategy Board
(TSB)-funded projects are looking at
developing electric traction motors for
future vehicles. We work with other
companies on similar technologies as
well as in areas such as aerospace and
consumer goods industries.
What were the key stages in
your route from being a research
associate to your current role?
In 1998 I graduated from Bristol University
in electrical engineering. Before joining
Newcastle University in 2009 from the
aerospace industry, I worked in France for
BAE Systems, as an engineering director
of a joint venture company. I came to
Newcastle because I wanted to do more
ideas-based research. So I became
a research associate, to help fund
my PhD, which developed an Electric
Vehicle traction motor which does
not need a very expensive rare earth
magnetic material called neodymium. In
2011 I was promoted a couple of levels
to Principal Research Associate. This
coincided with TSB-funded projects
that were coming on stream looking
at developing traction technologies
following on from my PhD research.
What aspects of your job do you
find the most enjoyable/rewarding?
I’m very driven by trying to come up
with ideas that actually end up in
products – real things in the real world.
What I particularly enjoy is to act as
a bridge between what the University
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Succeeding in Academic Research: Researcher Career Stories
What were the most influential
factors to the success of your career
progression?
only skill the University needs. Barrie
Mecrow, however, is well aware how
much universities can learn from the
outside world. He was prepared to
take a risk and look at the other things
I could do. My plan is to stay with the
University and progress my career. The
foremost thing I need for this is lots of
good academic publications, which I
am working on. And I need to develop
an international reputation. So I am on
the speaking circuit, talking about our
research into the technology for motors
without rare earth magnets. This has
taken me to Japan and across Europe
as well as to conferences. My academic
Our current Head of School, Professor
Barrie Mecrow, acted as my PhD
supervisor and helped me, for example,
by making initial contacts with certain
companies. He also trained me up for
writing academic research papers and
in learning a lot about working in the
University. Two or three years ago we
were lucky enough to have a great deal
of press coverage on projects we were
doing. After this boost to our reputation
as a research group more companies
started to approach us to work with them.
In the team I now coordinate we have a
number of very specialised researchers
who tend to work across a range of
different projects. I have been left to get
on with running this. If we can eventually
get the motors on which we are working
into production cars, that could potentially
become a fantastic impact case study
for the Research Excellence Framework.
contacts are not quite as good as the
industrial ones I have built up, so that is
something I’m having to work on.
With the benefit of hindsight, what
advice would you give to other
researchers when planning their
academic career?
Publish, publish, publish. Within a
university you are measured by the
amount of research papers you
produce, so write as many as possible.
The thing that has worked for me, too,
is that I have been able to get out, find
opportunities and turn these into grants,
which is another good thing to do. I
certainly try to encourage the people in
my team to work out what they want to
do, and when to do it. Then we work
together to help them put into place the
things they need to achieve their aims.
What do you consider to have been the
greatest challenges to your progression
and how did you overcome them?
When I came to the University I had
never written any research papers.
There is a standard model for the
development of people through
university. When you come from outside
that mould it is more difficult and can
be a little frustrating. A lot of things are
measured on papers, but it is not the
7
Succeeding in Academic Research: Researcher Career Stories
Jill Clark
Job title: Senior Research Associate and Business Development
Director at the Research Centre for Learning and Teaching (CfLaT).
‘Get yourself a mentor; someone from outside your immediate
work environment, who will ask those awkward questions and
provide guidance.’
Your current role and main areas
of responsibility
raise the achievement and attainment
of schoolchildren across the eight
countries involved.
I’m employed by the School for
Education, Communication and
Language Sciences to encourage and
support research development across
the School. That involves helping
people get involved in, and becoming
better at, doing research; supporting
them individually, identifying areas of
funding and writing bids. I also do
some teaching and supervision.
What were the key stages in
your route from being a research
associate to your current role?
I started as a research associate in a
research centre in Social Policy in 1992,
on a one-year contract. Then I started
generating my own income, acting as
PI for additional research requested by
some of the original funding partners.
A pivotal move in 1996 was moving
to what was then the Department of
Education. A year later I was promoted
to senior research associate. The School
does not (yet) have an undergraduate
programme, its focus is on postgraduate
students. Over time I have contributed
to developing its culture of research,
eventually becoming Business
Development Director of CfLaT 2008.
What aspects of your job do you
find the most enjoyable/rewarding?
Doing actual research and research
development. This involves putting
together bids for funding in what has
become a very competitive environment.
I have done this for 22 years but it
remains a constant challenge and
learning experience. Each time a bid
is made or a project is put together
you learn something new and take that
forward into the next project. I have just
got a European project, worth 1.9m
euros, for which I am the coordinator
of an international team. Its aim is to
What were the most influential
factors to the success of your
career progression?
The training I received was vital.
8
Succeeding in Academic Research: Researcher Career Stories
A key course was the Springboard
programme for women from across
the University, in which I took part
when I was very low in confidence. The
course was exceptionally good and it
gave me a sharp wake-up call. It looked
at where you were, where you wanted
to be, what was lacking in your personal
and professional approach, what you
needed help with, and how you could
move yourself forward. Later, I argued
forcefully to get myself onto the Faculty
Future programme, because at the time
it did not take on research staff. This
course identifies and supports potential
future leaders, and it is full of challenging
things. Since then I have gained in
confidence, persistence, resilience and
enthusiasm. Another course I took part
in was Coaching for Commerce. This
linked me with an outside business
person, in a mentoring role. It coincided
with the role I was taking on as business
development director for CfLaT.
challenges lie within you. Try to avoid
treading water; being in an easy place.
This was something I had to overcome
when I had small children. Some major
difficulties I faced were actually with
other women, who did not understand
the challenges I was confronting. But
the Springboard course did as its name
implies, it helped me spring into action.
I became more self-reliant – something
I now encourage in all our researchers.
With the benefit of hindsight, what
advice would you give to other
researchers when planning their
academic career?
Always try to have a plan, and access
any training and support you can. A
plan will help you identify opportunities
and choose the right career pathway.
It is also important to be proactive,
in creating opportunities for yourself
and grasping them. And get yourself
a mentor; someone from outside your
immediate work environment, who
will ask those awkward questions and
provide guidance. Don’t just rely on
traditional areas of research council
funding, which are accessed through
PIs, or fellowships for which there is
huge competition. There are major
opportunities, for example, on European
collaborative projects, like the one on
which I am now the PI. Europe’s Horizon
2020 programme does not care about
the category of staff you are. It’s your
expertise they seek, and that is where
the future may lie for many researchers.
What do you consider to have been the
greatest challenges to your progression
and how did you overcome them?
Leaving the first research centre where
I worked was difficult because there
was reluctance for me to leave. If you
are a good researcher PIs may try to
hang on to you. My current post is quite
unusual – I do not fit the normal criteria
for promotion – so I have tried to make
myself invaluable to the School, to gain
recognition for the wide range of things I
can do. Sometimes, however, the greatest
9
Succeeding in Academic Research: Researcher Career Stories
Dr Katarina Novakovic
Job title: EPSRC Career Acceleration Fellow in the School of
Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials.
‘Obtaining funding is difficult, but that is part of the job. It is not an
issue to fail; the issue is not to try.’
Your current role and main areas
of responsibility
drugs reliably. We are also working
on a material which can pulse, which
could eventually be developed into an
artificial heart.
The group I lead is carrying out
research that combines the science
of unusual chemical reactions, which
oscillate repeatedly through peaks
and troughs, with ‘intelligent’ materials
– ones that ‘feel’ changes in such
things as temperature and acidity.
The materials react to these changes
by becoming bigger or smaller. This
research is my main activity, but within
the faculty and the School I have taken
on other teaching roles during the past
couple of years.
What were the key stages in
your route from being a research
associate to your current role?
My first chemical engineering degree
in Serbia, specialising in polymer
engineering, lasted five years, during
which my average mark was 94.5 out of
100. Among the awards I received was
one from the Serbian Chemical Society.
Afterwards I got industrial experience
for three years as a chemical engineer
in the pharmaceutical industry. Then
in 2000 I decided it was the right time
to do a PhD. An Overseas Research
Scholarship made it easier for me
to come to Newcastle, where my
supervisors Professor Elaine Martin
and Professor Julian Morris provided
a great deal of support. I graduated
in 2004 and in 2005 an opportunity
came up to stay on as a research
associate with Professor Allen Wright,
on a project involving what is known
as high-throughput technologies.
What aspects of your job do you
find the most enjoyable/rewarding?
My research is what really gets me
up in the morning. I am very excited
about what I am doing, as my group
is one of only two in the world doing
our type of work; the other is in Japan.
Future applications for the fascinating
materials we are investigating could
be in the diffusion of medications as
they respond to changes in the human
body. This could have enormous
benefits for people unable to take
10
Succeeding in Academic Research: Researcher Career Stories
In 2009 I applied for and won an
EPSRC Career Acceleration Fellowship
that has funded my research for five
years. I have now applied for an EU
Horizon 2020 consolidator grant of two
million euros to continue my research.
the evidence that I was worthy of the
funding. Publishing good quality research
papers was very important, as were
my achievements as an undergraduate
and during my work on the PhD.
I went to many conferences and made
presentations about the research I was
working on, so basically there were
people in my field who knew what
I was doing. So I think all this helped.
What were the most influential
factors to the success of your
career progression?
The EPSRC fellowship changed my life.
It gave me the opportunity to develop
my ideas, and I wouldn’t have been
able to build my research team without
it. The fellowship transformed my
career. Earlier, as an undergraduate,
I had been fortunate in having a
very supportive mentor at university,
Professor Ivanka Popovic. She played
an important role in encouraging me to
go abroad to do a PhD. More recently,
Professor Wright has been absolutely
supportive of my research, for example
by renting me essential equipment for a
small amount which I would otherwise
have been unable to afford.
With the benefit of hindsight, what
advice would you give to other
researchers when planning their
academic career?
Obtaining funding is difficult, but that is
part of the job. It is not an issue to fail; the
issue is not to try. If you want to go down
the fellowship route, plan well in advance.
If there are 10 elements required and
you don’t have one or two of them,
think carefully about what you can do
to acquire those. Where publication of
papers is concerned sometimes younger
researchers are impatient. Quality is
important, so it is better to do another
month’s work and publish in one of
the better journals, and preferably as
first author. It is vital to get the balance
right between quality and quantity. And
if there is one bit of advice I could give
female scientists, it is to choose wisely
who you are going to marry. As the
mother of two young girls my husband’s
support is extremely important.
What do you consider to have
been the greatest challenges to
your progression and how did you
overcome them?
Winning an EPSRC fellowship is
extremely competitive; the success rate
is only five per cent. But to achieve the
career independence it has given me,
I had to think hard about producing
11
Succeeding in Academic Research: Researcher Career Stories
Dr Ralf Kist
Job title: Lecturer in Oral Biology (School of Dental Sciences/
Centre for Oral Health Research).
‘I believe the key to my success was the development of a collaborative
research network and the focus on a research area that is clinically
relevant also in the North East of England. Plan your career actively
and early. Identify emerging research areas and think about how you can position
yourself. Don’t forget to make a “Plan B” and explore options outside academia.’
Your current role and your main
areas of responsibility
in finding good jobs is very rewarding
and also contributes to the development
of my reputation in the field.
My current role includes all aspects
of academia: teaching, research and
administration. I teach Year 1 and Year 2
undergraduate dental students and
I lead on two courses (cell biology and
craniofacial/tooth development) in each
year group. My research investigates the
genetic mechanisms of oral cancer and
aims to develop novel biomarkers for
oral cancer diagnosis. I supervise BSc,
MRes and PhD research students. I also
sit on various teaching and research
supervision committees.
I also enjoy teaching and the interaction
with undergraduate students, mainly
because my teaching is informed by
my research background. The students
appreciate the topicality of the subjects
and good student feedback motivates
me to continuously develop my
teaching practice.
What were the key stages in
your route from being a research
associate to your current role
(including timeframes involved)?
Which aspect(s) of your job do you
find the most enjoyable/rewarding?
After my second postdoctoral position, I
received a two-year research fellowship
from the Faculty of Medical Sciences
in 2007. During these two years, I was
able to become truly independent from
my previous supervisor and developed
my own research programme in
collaboration with an academic in
the School of Dental Sciences. This
I am passionate about my research;
tackling difficult research questions and
uncovering biological mechanisms excite
me! I still enjoy working in the laboratory
and take any opportunity to do so. I
feel proud if I can publish my work in
world-class research journals. Seeing my
research students develop and succeed
12
Succeeding in Academic Research: Researcher Career Stories
important factor for developing an
independent research programme and
crucial for my career progression. I am
very grateful for the generous financial
support by the Faculty of Medical
Sciences and the mentoring provided by
key senior academics in the Faculty and
the Institute of Genetic Medicine (IGM).
The support from my former supervisor
at the IGM was also critically important
and we are continuing with our strong
research links. Having established
research links with the School of Dental
Sciences and the Centre for Oral Health
Research at a time when a new job
opportunity arose was fortunate and
made me a strong candidate for the post.
represented a change in research field,
but as our research into oral cancer
progressed and I became aware of a
job opportunity in the School due to
retirement of a member of academic
staff. Establishment of the Centre
for Oral Health Research further
encouraged me to apply for this job,
which included teaching and research.
To bridge the gap between the end
of my fellowship (December 2009)
and my appointment as lecturer in the
School of Dental Sciences (June 2010),
I worked for six months as a scientific
officer for Northgene Ltd, a local
biomedical company. This short period
allowed me to gain valuable insight into
how biomedical companies work and
also resulted in a job offer from a large
biomedical company abroad, which
I declined to take up the lecturing post.
The courses and workshops offered
by the Staff Development Unit, such
as PI development programme, Bite
Size programme (CV and grant writing),
career management, are outstanding
and helped me to develop essential
skills required for making the transition
from laboratory researcher to research
leader and manager. I always tried to stay
informed by reading articles on career
development and research policy (mainly
published on the Nature and Science
career webpages but also other sources
such as Research Professional).
What were the most influential
factors to the success of your career
progression (including any support,
advice, development opportunities)?
I believe the key to my success was the
development of a collaborative research
network and the focus on a research
area that is highly clinically relevant also
in the North East of England.
As an outcome of my PhD project, I
had the opportunity to collaborate with
distinguished international research
groups, which resulted in several highimpact publications. The award of
the Faculty Fellowship was the most
What would you consider to have
been the greatest challenges to
your progression and how did you
overcome them?
The greatest challenge for making the
13
Succeeding in Academic Research: Researcher Career Stories
With the benefit of hindsight, what
advice would you give to other
researchers when planning their own
academic career?
transition from postdoctoral researcher
to academic is the development of
a competitive, independent research
programme and a good reputation in
that field. Evidence of previous research
success and demonstrating potential
to become a research leader is critically
important for obtaining funding, usually
an external research fellowship.
1. Work very hard, aim to publish in worldclass journals and develop a strong CV.
2. Plan your career actively and early.
Identify emerging research areas and
think about how you can position
yourself. Don’t forget to make a “Plan B”
and explore options outside academia.
3. Apply for external fellowships or other
sources of funding when the time is right.
4. Present your work at conferences
and network with key people in your
discipline.
5. Collaborate with strong (local and
international) partners and contribute
to bigger projects. Try to become a coinvestigator on their grant applications.
6. Attend workshops and courses to
develop skills required for an academic
job role. The Staff Development Unit
in Newcastle provides excellent
opportunities!
7. Gain at least some teaching
experience in higher education.
8. Get career advice from senior
academics and the University Careers
Service.
9. Keep informed about career and
funding opportunities, and research
policies.
10. Identify your strengths and
weaknesses and be realistic about
your chances of success in academia.
In my case, although the Faculty
Fellowship was a unique opportunity for
developing a novel research programme
into oral cancer, this would not have been
funded externally because my research
background was in developmental
genetics, so I had no preliminary data or
a publication record in this field. However,
the preliminary data generated during
the fellowship period was promising and
we received follow-up funding from the
local Newcastle Healthcare Charity, which
allowed us to expand our research and
become recognised in the field.
I chose not to apply for an external
fellowship because there were none
available for basic scientists with no
track record in clinical cancer research
and the fellowships offered by the
Research Councils, Wellcome Trust
or EU were either not applicable or
too competitive. Instead, I am now in
a position to publish our work in due
course and then apply for a research
grant to the MRC or CRUK.
14
Succeeding in Academic Research: Researcher Career Stories
Professor Richard Dawson
Job title: Professor of Earth Systems Engineering and EPSRC
(Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) Fellow;
Director of the Centre for Earth Systems Engineering Research.
‘To maximise your chances, take every opportunity to network,
travel, present your work and meet people. Relationships take
a while to build but it sometimes takes only one important meeting to potentially
change the direction and nature of your career!’
Your current role and main areas
of responsibility
agencies, nationally and internationally,
to ensure our work addresses realworld challenges.
Through earth systems engineering
we recognise that individual buildings,
motorways, railways, even cities, exist
in a much wider environment. Each
new thing becomes part of a complex
variety of networks that interact on a
very large scale. In many instances we
need to take a much broader look at
what is going on, and in some aspects
this might be branded as sustainable
engineering. It involves taking into
consideration the wider processes that
previously have not been factored into
the design of individual components
or objects. The bulk of my time is
spent on managing a number of
research projects I lead. As part of
that role I bring together people from
non-engineering backgrounds, such
as social scientists and economists, in
cross-disciplinary collaborations to try
to understand the complex pressures
on engineering systems. We also work
with consultants and government
What aspects of your job do you
find the most enjoyable/rewarding?
My favourite part is developing and
shaping ideas into good projects,
through engaging with a lot of other
people. Tackling a problem that you
feel no-one has thought through before
is always exciting. Three things bring
me the greatest satisfaction. One is
winning a new grant. Another is when
several bits and pieces of research
eventually fall into place. The third is
when presenting something you get
a kind of ‘Wow!’ feedback.
What were the key stages in
your route from being a research
associate to your current role?
I have enjoyed a rapid career rise.
In 2004 I came to Newcastle as a
research associate from Bristol and a
couple of years later became a senior
research associate. The big leap
15
Succeeding in Academic Research: Researcher Career Stories
was in 2009 when I got my EPSRC
Fellowship. In 2012 I was encouraged
to apply for, and got, the post of
Reader. Then in August 2013 I became
Professor, after applying for the position
vacated by my former boss when he
moved on. The freedom and space
a fellowship allows had enabled me
to rapidly develop my CV to submit
a credible application.
to give up their valuable time to provide
feedback on my proposal. Before I
was awarded my Fellowship, my boss
gave me the opportunity to write a
paper, as a single author, for a special
issue of the Philosophical Transactions
of the Royal Society. This was picked
up by at least one of the referees of
my Fellowship proposal, as being
an indicator of someone who was
developing his career independently.
When I became Professor I had to
convince the appointment panel that
I had shown even greater breadth of
managerial and leadership qualities.
What were the most influential
factors to the success of your career
progression?
There were opportunities that were
there to be snatched. I first applied
for a Fellowship in 2008 and didn’t
get it. A year later I applied again and
was successful, but during that time
I had grown my CV by publishing
more research papers and had won
my own funding from sources that
do not restrict research associates
from applying. There were a few other
measures of esteem, such as being
involved in the scientific committee for
a conference and being invited as a
speaker at a United Nations event on
climate change. These made me look
a more rounded academic. There was
(and continues to be) brilliant support
from lots of people in my School (Civil
Engineering and Geosciences) who
create a vibrant and dynamic research
environment, but were also prepared
What do you consider to have
been the greatest challenges to
your progression and how did you
overcome them?
Learning persistence after overcoming
the disappointment of missing out on
my first Fellowship application. You
have to develop an exciting idea for an
EPSRC Fellowship, which is one of the
few opportunities where researchers
can win five years of guaranteed
funding to actually lead a project
themselves. Moreover, fellowships are
about investing in individuals – the
process is very competitive and to
succeed I knew I also had to grow my
CV to help me stand out.
16
Succeeding in Academic Research: Researcher Career Stories
With the benefit of hindsight, what
advice would you give to other
researchers when planning their
academic career?
I always have an open-door policy
for people who want to come to talk
with me. And I encourage people,
when they get to a certain stage, to be
thinking and looking for opportunities
to develop their careers. One of the
things I encourage them to think
through, in their own minds, is the
kind of research/academic career
they want – and to discuss with them
what to be focusing on to help get
there. To maximise your chances, take
every opportunity to network, travel,
present your work and meet people.
Relationships take a while to build but
it sometimes takes only one important
meeting to potentially change the
direction and nature of your career! You
have to find the right balance. Don’t
just rely on good research papers. Take
on other roles and responsibilities; for
example, get involved in organising a
conference or join a journal editorial
board. Anything that shows you are
more than just someone else’s team
member can make a big difference.
17
Succeeding in Academic Research: Researcher Career Stories
Dr Simon Lambert
Job title: Research Associate at the School of Electrical and
Electronic Engineering.
‘Don’t sit in a corner, get involved…’
Your current role and main areas
of responsibility
What were the key stages in
your route from being a research
associate to your current role?
At the moment I am assigned to a large
multi-university collaborative project
on power electronics, funded by the
Engineering and Physical Sciences
Research Council (EPSRC). The
research programme I am fulfilling can
involve anything from modelling and
background reading, to designing and
constructing prototypes for testing.
After graduating here at Newcastle in
2008 I began work on a PhD that was
part of a collaborative project with a
UK-China consortium. This brought
together seven UK universities and
about six in China. I lived in China for
several months, receiving a monthly
stipend from the EPSRC, which also
funded the project and the student
fees. Whilst completing my PhD I ended
up on a research associate’s contract.
Between the end of my doctorate in
2011 and what I’m now doing, I was
involved in two EU-funded collaborative
projects, with around 15 partners in
one and 17 in the other. These were
mainly industrially focused, so among
those with whom I worked closely were
people from Renault, Daimler and Saft,
a large battery company.
What aspects of your job do you find
the most enjoyable/rewarding?
I like working with other people on
cross-cutting projects involving interinstitutional research and I also enjoy
the technical aspects of my role. This
is very challenging when you are doing
something which, by definition, has not
been done before, or it has not been
attempted in a particular way. The selfmanagement aspects of my role mean
I am encouraged to put forward my
own project proposals. There is a lot of
freedom and encouragement to take
some control over my own destiny.
What were the most influential
factors to the success of your career
progression?
I have good personal relationships with
the people I work for. My current line
18
Succeeding in Academic Research: Researcher Career Stories
manager, Professor Barrie Mecrow,
who is now our Head of School,
has been a mentor for many years.
Encouragement and support has also
been readily forthcoming from other
members of staff with whom I have
been connected. Equally, there are
people within my research group who
have been willing and able to provide
informal advice. There is a very strong
social atmosphere and we do a lot of
socialising. Another factor is, I believe,
that you should be proactive in finding
opportunities to make progress. If you
have a desire to do a particular type of
work, you should try to get out there
and do it. The environment of the
School allows us to do that. Throughout
my research career I have enjoyed the
opportunity to travel widely, both on
the European-funded projects and in
my current project. I regularly attend
meetings and am freely allowed to go
to conferences. Getting yourself known
in this industry has to be paramount.
hasn’t grown, so you find researchers
taking on more of the admin roles that
would normally be done by a PI.
With the benefit of hindsight, what
advice would you give to other
researchers when planning their
academic career?
Don’t sit in a corner, get involved, and
don’t be scared of your PIs as they
have been through the same thing as
you are going through. Have at least
some say in your own destiny. If you
are coming to the end of contract, think
ahead about how you are going to be
funded next year. You don’t necessarily
need to know what you are going to be
doing in perhaps 15 years’ time, but
you do need to know where the money
is going to come from in the immediate
future. And plan out the academic
work – scientific papers – you will need
to do, right from the start of a project.
This is something we have not been
particular good at as a group, which is
partly down to the nature of the work
we do. But academic output is very
important, so concentrate on getting
out a paper or two every year.
What do you consider to have
been the greatest challenges to
your progression and how did you
overcome them?
We have grown hugely as a
department over the last three years.
When I started as an RA there might
have been four researchers. I’m now
one of 25 or more. This means I’m
going to face stiff competition for my
next role. The number of academics
19
Succeeding in Academic Research: Researcher Career Stories
Dr Lee Borthwick
Job title: University Research Fellow and Junior Principal Investigator
with the Fibrosis Group at the Institute of Cellular Medicine.
‘Definitely the hardest thing is establishing your reputation with
funding bodies. And you certainly have to work harder at this stage
of your career than at any other time. So I think it is very important
for developing PIs to seek the guidance of their mentors and professors, who have
much greater knowledge of the funding streams available.’
Your current role and main areas
of responsibility
representative than animal models. It
allows us to feel closer to patients and
is a very rewarding aspect of our work
because we feel our approach will
enable quicker and more successful
drug treatments.
Following my experiences working at
the world-leading National Institute
of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, in
the United States for two years, I
have brought some new skills to my
research work as part of the Fibrosis
Group. My responsibility as a junior
PI primarily involves developing new
areas of research with the more
experienced members of the group. We
collaboratively write grant applications
and conduct research on scar tissue
formation in different organs of the body.
What were the key stages in
your route from being a research
associate to your current role?
After graduating in 2002 from Durham
University in cell biology, I did my PhD
jointly between Sheffield and Dundee
Universities. Then in 2005 I joined the
group in Newcastle doing research on
lung fibrosis. In 2011 I was awarded
an international outgoing Marie Curie
Fellowship enabling me to spend two
years working in Bethesda with Dr
Thomas Wynn, a leading world expert
on fibrosis. During this time I learned a lot
about the modelling of fibrosis and gained
a greater understanding on the role of the
immune system in disease. With Dr Wynn
I have produced five major research
papers, with several more to follow.
What aspects of your job do you
find the most enjoyable/rewarding?
One of our outstanding strengths,
through the Medical School’s links with
Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation
Trust, is we use primarily human tissue
for the majority of our research. This
enables us to collect much more data
on the efficacy of drug treatments on
human cells and tissue, and is far more
20
Succeeding in Academic Research: Researcher Career Stories
overcome them?
What were the most influential
factors to the success of your career
progression?
It is becoming increasingly difficult for
junior PIs to achieve funding. Definitely
the hardest thing is establishing your
reputation with funding bodies. And
you certainly have to work harder at
this stage of your career than at any
other time. So I think it is very important
for developing PIs to seek the guidance
of their mentors and professors, who
have much greater knowledge of the
funding streams available. They have
guided me towards specific funding
for which junior PIs can apply.
By establishing the link with Dr Wynn
we are now in a position to undertake
collaborative studies between Newcastle
and Bethesda. The experience has
brought a unique angle to my research.
There is a high level of prestige
associated with the award of a Marie
Curie Fellowship, which in my case
allowed me to work in a top worldclass laboratory outside Europe. It has
put me on a strong career trajectory,
with the potential to win further research
funding from the EU and other bodies.
Another important factor has been the
great mentoring scheme at Newcastle.
Along the way I have had two excellent
mentors in Professor Andrew Fisher,
who first employed me as a postdoc
researcher, and Professor Derek Mann,
who took me under his wing as a basic
science lead when he joined the group.
I have also received fantastic support
from our Dean of Research, Professor
David Jones, and from Professor John
Isaacs, Director of the Institute of Cellular
Medicine. And without the help of Deirdre
Dodds, EU Funding Manager at the
University’s Research and Enterprise
Services, I would have struggled to get
the Marie Curie Fellowship. She provided
me with funds to fly to the US to visit Dr
Wynn’s lab in advance of my application.
I am very grateful to them all.
With the benefit of hindsight, what
advice would you give to other
researchers when planning their
academic career?
One of the things I would always advise
researchers and developing PIs to look at
is mentoring. We like to think that at each
stage of our careers we become better
and know more. But a mentor will usually
have 20 or 30 years more experience
and they are far more established. Do not
be shy to approach them because they
are there to help you develop. Another
piece of good advice I received was
always to develop your own niche area.
It is vital, after a fellowship like the Marie
Curie, to return with new skills and be
able to demonstrate independence as a
researcher. In my case it was generating
a niche area looking at fibrosis in a
different form of the disease in joints,
particularly after knee replacement.
That has enabled me to develop
true independence for future funding
applications.
What do you consider to have
been the greatest challenges to
your progression and how did you
21
Succeeding in Academic Research: Researcher Career Stories
Dr Carmen Hubbard
Job title: Lecturer in Rural Economy and Research Manager for
the Centre for Rural Economy.
‘I think it is important to build relationships nationally and
internationally outside the University… This is crucial for
researchers because you learn from others about different ideas
and cultures and can get involved in collaborative studies.’
Your current role and main areas
of responsibility
competitiveness across the EU; the
second is a worldwide collaborative
project looking at food safety and risk;
the third called PROHEALTH, which
started in December last year, will
study animal production diseases and
aspects of competitiveness. Our Centre
for Rural Economy has very good links
with universities around the world, for
example with Cornell and Penn State in
the US, and we get a lot of Japanese
visitors. And I have established new
links with colleagues from a Brazilian
university in Porto Alegre.
My role as Research Manager of the
Centre for Rural Economy involved a lot
of financial work on the projects we are
doing. I have also helped to establish
links and partnerships with universities
overseas. This has enabled us to
strengthen collaborations with universities
across Europe and the world, including
involvement in large interdisciplinary
research projects. The main area of my
personal research looks at agricultural
and rural development policies and
farm animal welfare. I also teach at
postgraduate and undergraduate level.
What were the key stages in
your route from being a research
associate to your current role?
What aspects of your job do you
find the most enjoyable/rewarding?
After graduating in economic and
social studies in Romania, I became a
lecturer there for about eight years and
worked on international projects. Then
I got a scholarship from the European
Commission to do my PhD at Aberdeen
University. In 2004 I came to Newcastle
University as a research associate, where
my first work was in animal welfare.
The most enjoyable thing for me is
when my students are successful.
I found it very rewarding when my
first PhD student, from South Korea,
finished his doctorate within three years,
despite difficulties he faced working
in English. And I love doing good
research. At the moment I am involved
in three projects. One is on agricultural
22
Succeeding in Academic Research: Researcher Career Stories
What were the most influential
factors to the success of your career
progression?
into weekends. But I try not to do this
now because you need balance in
your life. I successfully applied to be
one of the 25 people chosen to take
part in a European initiative, Voice of
the Researchers (VoR). I feel we could
make a difference, at a policy level, to
the way research is perceived around
Europe, and promote the role of
researchers. A major conference was
held in Brussels in November 2013.
This discussed ways of encouraging
more research, and improving
conditions for researchers facing the
pressure of working from contract to
contract and securing funding.
While I have always received a lot of
support from my Newcastle colleagues,
I had no idea how I could be promoted
until about two or three years ago.
That was when one of my colleagues,
a principal research associate, who is
really like a mentor to me, asked me why
I was not applying to become a senior
RA. I was already doing many of the
required things such as supervising PhD
students and carrying out admin work.
When I did apply I was told the School
was delighted to support my application.
With the benefit of hindsight, what
advice would you give to other
researchers when planning their
academic career?
What do you consider to have been the
greatest challenges to your progression
and how did you overcome them?
I believe strongly that there should be
more guidance and advice from PIs
that will enable researchers to know
how to go about getting promotion.
I don’t believe it is necessary to wait
perhaps 10 years, working as an RA,
before becoming a lecturer. It should
be possible to become one after two or
three years, and there should be formal
and structured approaches for those
who want to be promoted. Maybe it
is more difficult if you are a woman;
I am emotional and sometimes the
emotion comes out first, which is not
good. You also need to be organised. I
have struggled with time management,
ending up working late at night and
Plan your career and set yourself targets.
If you know what you want to do next,
lay down some deadlines and if possible
get help from your PI about the things
you will need to achieve promotion.
Publishing research papers in good
journals is vital, of course, but I think it
is also important to build relationships
nationally and internationally outside
the university. It has become essential
for a University such as Newcastle to
develop its international profile. This is
crucial for researchers, too, because
you learn from others about different
ideas and cultures, and can get
involved in collaborative studies.
23
Staff Development
People, Performance, Potential
Details are correct at the time of publishing (September 2014).
This guide is for information and guidance purposes only.
Photography credits: J Donoghue; Dave Fairbairn;
Mike Urwin; S Veit-Wilson.
Designed by GDA, Northumberland.
© Newcastle University, 2014. The University of
Newcastle upon Tyne trading as Newcastle University.