‘Academic-adjacent careers’: what are they, and how do I find them?

“It never sat very comfortably that during my PhD I became so specialised that only a handful of people really understood my work. I wanted to expand my mind, not focus it. So a research-adjacent career has fed my curiosity and my soul in a way I now see research never could.“

– Sarah McLusky, creator of ‘Research Adjacent’ blog and podcast

As a former English Literature PhD, I can’t deny that I love a good compound adjective. It’s just as well, as since I started my ‘career in careers’ nearly 10 years ago a whole host of compound adjectives have cropped up to describe different types of careers ‘on the cusp’ of academia:

• ‘Academic-adjacent’
• ‘Research-adjacent’ (related to, close to, or supporting research)
• ‘Alt-Ac’ (an abbreviation of ‘Alternative Academic’)
• ‘Prac-ademic’ (a practitioner with an academic slant)
• ‘Academic-related’
• And, because there has to be an exception to every rule, ‘Professional careers in higher education’

It’s no surprise that jobs in that ‘grey area’ between academia and not-academia attract attention. In September 2022, Sarah Simpson from the University of Nottingham undertook research of 191 Arts & Humanities PhD graduates from universities in the Midlands region of England, and what was the second most popular area in which they were working (behind ‘academia’…?) Sure enough, it was ‘HE Professional Services’ with nearly 15% of the sample working in this field.

However, I feel like it isn’t just ‘non-academic jobs in universities’ which come under this academic-adjacent category. There are lots of types of work that can see you stay connected to both research and the academic community. Some categories include:

• Jobs that involve connecting universities to the ‘outside world’ (whether that’s industry, schools, cultural partners… whatever)
• Jobs that include connecting organisations in the ‘outside world’ to universities (e.g. business development for companies who want to collaborate with academics)
• Jobs that involve supporting students or academic staff, beyond academic subject teaching
• Jobs with organisations who support research or researchers in some way (whether that’s funding their research, supplying equipment and materials, advocating for their professional field, and so-on)

Doctoral researchers regularly ask me about how to identify these ‘academic-adjacent’ or ‘other’ career routes in universities which aren’t ‘traditional’ academic research and teaching.

My initial response to this was something like ‘blimey, there are loads… where to even begin…?!’ But now, I use a more structured technique where I ask people ‘who makes your PhD?‘ or ‘who makes your postdoc?’ By this, what I really mean is what kinds of departments, individuals, and organisations support you, as a researcher, in some way? It’s not fool-proof, but it’s a good way of using your own experience to start to map what’s out there.

So, I thought I’d have a go at summarising this for any of you who are keen to explore these liminal professions. What I’m about to present is by no means an exhaustive list, but it might get you started with some ideas.

In the application stage

• Postgraduate Student Recruitment & Marketing. When you were ‘shopping around’ for PhD opportunities, did you visit postgraduate open days or study fairs? Or perhaps you used a PhD search website? If so, then you witnessed the work of professionals in the the field of Postgraduate Student Recruitment & Marketing. In this field, you might work for a university on things like:
  • Running open days
  • Generating and managing ‘leads’ (AKA people potentially interested in doing a PhD at your institution)
  • Compiling the postgrad prospectus
  • Or, you might work for an external organisation like FindAPhD or Study Portals, managing their relationships with university clients to help them recruit more postgrads.
    
    
• Research funding. You or some of your peers may have applied for funding from a Research Council like the AHRC or ESRC, a charity like Wellcome, or a similar funding body. Funding bodies employ all kinds of people to promote and administer research funding opportunities, manage relationships with current grant holders, and to undertake policy work compiling reports, statements and so-on. Doing a PhD gives you a great insight into how academic research works, which is highly valued by these employers.

Once you’re in

• Academic skills support. Perhaps you’ve accessed support for your own academic writing, or maybe even supported Undergrad or Masters students with theirs. As an area of work that combines pedagogy and teaching with supporting students 1:1, and even embedding academic skills into the curriculum of degree programmes, this could certainly resonate if you’re keen on a student-facing role. Positions may be Academic Writing/ Academic Skills Advisers or, in some universities, even Lecturers in Academic Writing, Academic Skills, or Academic Practice.
  
  
• Teaching skills support. If you’ve been involved in teaching at your PhD/ Postdoc institution, then you may have come across colleagues in the area of teaching and learning support. These are the pedagogical gurus who run teaching courses for PGTAs, who help academics to develop their teaching practice, and a host of other support and professional development for anyone in the university responsible for teaching. If you’re passionate about teaching and supporting others with their teaching practice, then working in a team like this could be worth exploring. Roles include Academic Developer, Educational Developer, Instructional Designer, or other roles focused on Digital Education.
  
  
• Research skills support (also ‘Researcher Development’). This may look like I’m playing a game of ‘how many kinds of skills support can I name’… but that’s not a bad way of mapping out a range of academic-adjacent types of jobs. Research skills support and Researcher Development usually involve offering professional development and other opportunities to researchers, be that doctoral researchers and/or research staff. If during your PhD you went to a workshop on how to structure your thesis, how to do a literature review, how to prepare for your viva, and so on, then these were probably led by research skills staff or researcher developers. In the past year in the UK we’ve seen a lot of funding made available (including cash from Research England and Wellcome) for initiatives and projects to ‘enhance research culture’ within universities. This, in turn, has meant new jobs have been created in the areas of Researcher Development and Research Culture in an attempt to implement something called the Researcher Development ‘Concordat‘: in other words, to better look after researchers’ professional development, progress, well-being, and next steps.
  
  
• Academic librarianship. In a way, staff in academic library services might cover aspects of all three areas outlined above: supporting with research skills training, academic writing, and a host of other things as well. Roles might involve being an Academic Liaison Librarian for a specific faculty or subject area, or general roles supporting researchers from many disciplines with their research needs. This article from Prospects outlines some of the key areas where academic librarians might work.
  
  
• Professional bodies and learned societies/ associations. Yep, you can uncover other academic-adjacent work and employers if you think about who supports your PhD/ postdoc beyond the university as well. As one example, perhaps you’re a member of a society or association which represents experts and practitioners in your field – the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Biochemical Society, The Egypt Exploration Society – whatever it is. These kinds of organisations employ a range of people to help them to promote the study of that particular discipline, to manage membership, to work in areas like policy, public engagement, and publishing… the list goes on. A real passion and interest in the relevant subject area can be important here: something for which a PhD in that subject area is strong evidence.

The final stages

• Careers support. As you come towards the end of your doctorate, perhaps you’re considering, or already have been, using your university’s careers service. Careers services aren’t just made up of careers advisers; there are whole hosts of people in there doing interesting work in roles like employer/ industry liaison, placements and work experience, enterprise and entrepreneurship… the list goes on. Plus, recent years have seen an increase in the number of career guidance roles focusing on supporting researchers, so there are opportunities to specialise if you really want to put your knowledge of the PhD experience to work.
  
  
• Research Support. If bidding for postdoc funding or a fellowship is on the horizon for you, then you might have dealt with Research Support Services: the magic elves of HE research who help academics to identify potential funding sources, to shape their project ideas into winning bids, and to manage their funded projects. If you fancy dabbling in a variety of disciplines and research ideas, if you can help people to formulate and express their ideas in a convincing way, or if you like keeping a tight ship when it comes to finances, this could be a career area to explore. Roles include Research Facilitator, Research Support Officer, Research Development Manager, and Research Impact Officer/ Manager.
  
  
• Research and Innovation Services, Tech Transfer, ‘Spin Out.’ Have you or any of your PhD peers (or indeed your supervisors) considered setting up a ‘spin out’ business based on your research? If so, then you might be aware that there are teams both within universities (and in places like research and science parks) who work in this ‘in-between’ space between academia and industry, helping researchers to commercialise their work and build links with industry. If you like to work at the cutting edge of research and like building connections, this could be one for you. Roles exist within universities (e.g. in Research and Innovation Services, Knowledge Exchange, or Tech Transfer), but also in private sector companies, where roles like Business Development Managers look for technologies coming out of universities that can be licensed.

As I said, this is definitely not a comprehensive list. In fact, I’m already thinking of loads I haven’t mentioned here (outreach, widening participation, admissions, project management, research communications and PR, exploring careers with the companies who supply your lab consumables/ research equipment etc…). But the idea is to get you thinking: who have you come into contact with? Who have you, or any of your peers, done bits of ‘side-work’ for during your PhDs? Who has supported your PhD or postdoc journey in some way? Because chances are, those people (and their colleagues) are in some kind of academic-adjacent career… which might value someone like you.