2. "The Academic Hierarchy"

Every industry has its quirks; a unique occurrence that relates to that industry. The academic hierarchy is one of the most pervasive quirks in research. In my post this week, I reflect on my experience of the research hierarchy as it relates to the Australian research context and how the hierarchy has continued to influence me outside of academia.

My Experience:

The academic hierarchy is pivotal to understanding and excelling in an academic research career. Progressing in an academic career is all about outputs (e.g. publications, presentations, grant/funding success). The more outputs you have, the quicker you progress through the hierarchy. The research title is like a sign, subliminally informing other academics of your skill level. Academics are judged only on their outputs. This judgement only ends when you leave academia or become a professor.

I wasn’t aware of how confusing research titles were until I was about 5 years into being an RA and I was searching for a job. I was immediately confronted by the number of research titles, and didn’t understand the difference between them.

I quickly came to realise that although every research institute adheres to and actively promotes the academic hierarchy, the terminology of each role and the experience required to obtain it vary considerably between institutions. It may even vary between research groups in the same institution.

Keeping this variability in mind, I will summarise each rung of the academic hierarchy and qualifications you need for each position. I have also added my experience and qualifications when I attained this job title for the first time.

'The Academic Hierarchy'

1. Research assistant / officer (RA/RO)

You do not need any formal qualifications to be an RA. It is common for students who are still studying to be employed as an RA. To be a paid, full-time RA, generally you will have completed an undergraduate degree with Honours.

The work you complete as an RA reflects your level of experience and any unique skills you have developed. At the beginning, we all start off doing data entry and data collection. As we become more familiar with the research process we may move onto reading the literature to complete a lit review or find evidence for or against a research question we want to pursue.

Depending on the research institute and your manager/supervisor, they may promote you to an RO position when you have the relevant experience, which is subjective and decided upon by the research institute/manager.

When I became a full-time RA, I had completed an undergraduate degree with Honours. I have never had the title of RO.

2. Senior research assistant / officer (SRA/SRO)

After a few years as an RA/RO, you may be promoted to an SRA/SRO. These years of experience may also include completing a Masters degree in a related field. But a Masters degree may not be required for this title.

I became an SRO after being an RA for 5 years and completing an undergraduate degree with Honours and a Masters in Criminology. However, I think my research experience was more influential in obtaining this job as I don’t think my Masters in Criminology helped me better understand prescribed medicine use (pharmacoepidemiology).

3. PhD candidate

This job title is more a degree title. A PhD candidate means you have enrolled in a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). To begin a PhD, you need an undergraduate degree. A Masters degree is optional. Once you complete a PhD you are now considered an academic.

I became a PhD candidate after 7 years of research experience and completing an undergraduate degree with Honours, and a Masters degree.

4. Post-doctoral Researcher / Research Fellow

To become a Post-doctoral Researcher (post-doc) or Research Fellow you require a PhD. You do not require any years of paid research experience.

When I became a post-doc I had 10 years of research experience, and completed an undergraduate degree with Honours, a Masters degree and a PhD.

5. Lecturer

6. Senior Lecturer

7. Associate Professor

8. Professor

I never collected any of the titles from Levels 5 to 8, I left academia at Level 4. However, from this point on in your career you need to master ‘The Academic Playbook’ skills. Stay tuned for next week’s blog to find out what they are!

Please note: this hierarchy is based on the Australian academic research setting. I believe the hierarchy is similar across countries but will happily amend this post if my assumption is incorrect.

How Does 'The Academic Hierarchy' Work?

You start at Level 1, and progress (mostly) sequentially through the levels as you obtain experience, skills and degrees. However, a career in research is not set in stone, you can create your own career path.

Nowadays, more and more students are progressing straight from their undergraduate degree through to Masters, and PhD, without having any paid research experience. In this case, they enter the hierarchy at Level 3. (In the future, I will write a post about the strategy of deciding when to do a PhD to have a long career in research).

Why Does 'The Academic Hierarchy' Exist?

The skills you acquire as a researcher varies depending on the discipline and your experience in research. Therefore, it is often difficult to compare researchers skill sets. However, as this hierarchy is universally adhered to, your title quickly signifies your place in the research world. Consequently, this hierarchy is internalised by every researcher.

The advantages of this system include:

• Seeking mentorship / guidance. A hierarchy allows you to approach more experienced researchers for mentorship or guidance.

• Finding a job. You can filter your search results by the appropriate job title.

• Instilling a sense of independence and career progression. As you progress through the hierarchy you become a more independent researcher, which is reflected in your salary and the range of research tasks you complete.

• Assisting collaborations. When you enter into a collaboration, the contribution of each researcher will largely be known based on job title. For example, the RA will complete the data collection / data entry. The post-doc will likely lead the study, oversee the RAs work and write up the results. The professor will provide the resources to complete the study, guide the post-doc and edit the final manuscript.

The Lessons:

• If you are an academic researcher you must understand this hierarchy to progress as quickly as you can in your career.

• For all other researchers, this hierarchy does not exist outside academia, as it does not make sense for non-researchers.

This may not appear to be an important lesson, but it is one that has taken me 3 years to understand enough to articulate. This hierarchy provides academic researchers with a clear path to career progression. You know exactly where you stand, and what you need to do to progress. Outputs are coveted as this is your path to a long career in academia.

I craved this structure. It made me feel safe. It gave me a purpose.

Then I left academia, and my structure disappeared.

I searched for my structure. And I tried to replicate it. First, I completed as many outputs as I could to demonstrate my value to the organisation, but the work just kept on accumulating with no clear plan for career progression. Second, I tried to work out the (obviously) clear path to career progress in an organisation, and felt disillusioned when I couldn’t find it. No wonder I felt lost, I missed my structure.

Now I have this insight I am developing strategies to give myself a sense of purpose, career progression and achievement outside of the academic hierarchy. I hope you find these lessons useful too.

• Work towards something. Choose a goal, or a skill set you want to acquire and make that the reward when you achieve it. There is no such thing as a useless skill.

• Ask to work on a big project. Researchers love long-term projects, or big problems to solve so we can throw all of our energy into answering a relevant question.

• Don’t let abandoned projects get you down. Projects may be abandoned due to an unforeseeable event, such as a client canceling a contract or the funding suddenly changing. This is not a reflection of you, your work or your work performance. If you are concerned, speak to your manager about why the project was abandoned.

• Seek feedback. Researchers are used to having our work critiqued by our colleagues. If you are not receiving feedback, ask for it from either your manager or work colleagues.

• Translate your skill set. Being a researcher means you have developed many valuable skills: you can evaluate information quickly, your thinking is logical, you are a good writer and communicator, and other skills specific to your field of expertise. Think critically about your role, what do you like doing? What skills can you further develop? Try to approach your tasks with these questions in mind. If you can think of a new task that adds value to your workplace and allows you to develop these skills, pitch it to your manager.

Do you have any tips on how to overcome or think outside the academic hierarchy? Please email me or leave a comment below.

BB

Related Posts

'The Academic Playbook'

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