Abstract

RMAs support academics and their research. But what is the actual connection between RMAs and research, and do they do research themselves?

During the day, I have a full time job as a Research Manager and Administrator (RMA). In my spare time, I am an external PhD researcher. For quite some time, I tried to separate the two roles, but the harder I tried, the more I saw that for me they were closely linked. Actually, I began to see they were two sides of the same medal. Looking at my colleagues, I started to notice that many have worked as researchers (PhD, postdocs) before ‘crossing over to the dark side’, as Olaf Svenningsen describes it.

However, the current academic system still has a clear separation between the academic and support staff (including RMAs). In a column in Nature (2022), Marta Teperek, Maria Cruz and Danny Kingsley call to close this gap between support and academic staff, and in the Netherlands, progress is made on developing a model in which the divide disappears. Considering the future of the RMA profession and its further professionalization in light of Action 17, this may be the moment to question this divide and ask ourselves what the connection of RMAs to research actually is.

My goal is to start the conversation, exploring and reflecting on this relationship between research and research support. Is it actually necessary for an RMA to have experience as a researcher? What are the benefits and what are the pitfalls? If you are both a RMA and a researcher, is it preferable to do research in the same field or department as you work in as a RMA? Is the RMA really the ‘Dark Side’ or is there rather a dyad in the Force, that the current system is not exploiting enough yet? And what role does research play in the professionalization of the RMA?