I’ve been supporting researchers with career transitions for over 10 years now, but one thing that never gets old is learning about a career option that values PhDs/ postdocs, could be a solid use of academic research experience, but that few people realise is actually ‘a thing.’
So, when Sarah Allen, Career Pathways Lead and Technical Careers Manager for the UK Institute for Technical Skills and Strategy (ITSS), offered to talk to me about Research Technical Professions and why they could be a strong-but-often-under-appreciated career option for PhDs and postdocs, I pinged her a Teams meeting invite quicker than you can say ‘Research Technical Manager.’
Not that I’m a theatre nerd or anything (who am I kidding… I definitely am), but… in the academic research world, Research Technical Professionals (RTPs) are a bit like backstage crew: you don’t always notice they’re there, but the whole show would grind to a pretty spectacular halt without them. But… if I said to you ‘Research Technical Professional,’ would the phrase resonate with you at all? Would you recognise it as a potential next career step for someone with PhD/ postdoc or experience? I must admit, this one had flown quite low under my radar until Sarah reached out.
After working as a careers adviser for Science and Engineering students at the University of Nottingham for about 10 years, Sarah moved into a careers role on the Midlands Innovation TALENT Project: a regional Research England funded project focused on empowering and supporting technicians. The project worked closely alongside the nationwide Technician Commitment, which aims to ensure visibility, recognition, career development, and sustainability for technicians working across higher education and research.
So, what did I learn from my chat with Sarah, and what it could mean for you if you’re considering your next steps?
What/ where/who is a Research Technical Professional?
The most common job title I’ve come across that falls into the Research Technical Professional ballpark is ‘Technician.’ But, as Sarah explains, that word can hide a lot of varied and interesting work that plays a key role in academic inquiry. RTPs tend to be working very closely with academic researchers on research projects, Sarah explains. They often have research experience like a PhD or postdoc, and they’re the people in the team with specialist technical expertise around a certain technique or piece of kit.
To paint a clearer picture, I asked Sarah for an example.
One typical example would be microscopy, where a Research Technical Professional will be a technical expert in using microscopy equipment. That might include putting together the bid for kit that’s worth millions of pounds, looking after it, supporting researchers who need to use that kit, training them how to use it, and/or undertaking technical work on their behalf. Other examples might be flow cytometry, mass spectrometry, advanced manufacturing, X-ray, CT, other imaging, and so on… any area where specialist technical equipment is needed, even including arts-related fields like photography, AV work, and so on.
And of course, as we’re using AI more and more now, there’s also increased need for technical support working with things like manuscripts and archives, and with advanced computing to support research projects. Ultimately, wherever you’ve got any kind of technical equipment, you’ll probably find some technical staff. They might be called Research Technicians, or have more specific job titles, like a Research Software Engineer (RSE): an example of a digital Research Technical Professional, or dRTP. You also get technical specialist managers, often managing quite large teams around the workforce and infrastructure. Like many jobs in STEM fields though, to find roles like these you might have to use the relevant specialism or type of equipment as a search term rather than a specific job title.
This is the part where, hey presto, I realise there’s a whole section of jobs.ac.uk called ‘Laboratory, Clinical & Technician’ jobs, collecting together a range of these types of roles across different disciplines.
It makes sense then that the places you find RTPs tend to be anywhere with facilities in which these kinds of scientific/research-related technical equipment can be found. This isn’t just within universities, Sarah clarifies, but also research institutes and government facilities – for example the Francis Crick Institute, Sanger Institute STFC and MRC facilities, and even places like the Natural History Museum.
Why consider RTPs as a career option?
If you’re into the practical, technical side of things. As Sarah explains, if you’re somebody who loves fiddling with the bits of kit and making things work, then an RTP role might be for you.
That said, a Research Technician or similar RTP role doesn’t mean you’re stuck in a lab doing monotonous tasks or cleaning test tubes all day. In fact, Sarah outlined how an RTP role can actually be more varied than some postdocs, involving research activities, supporting student learning, training colleagues, purchasing equipment, organising and running a lab or technical team, liaising with people in industry who want to use your equipment/facilities, or even managing the business side of the facility you’re working in. Even though you’re likely to be based in higher education or in a research institute, Sarah describes, there may be an element of entrepreneurship involved as well, running your section of the facility almost like a small business.
Overall then, it could be worth considering RTPs if you want to stay close to research, working with academics on research projects and even contributing to papers, but want to explore alternatives to postdocs or other ‘traditional’ academic roles that don’t involve quite the same persistent pressures to publish, bring in grants, and relocate from city to city ad infinitum.
And, whilst the career progression pathway for technical staff might be less visible than that for academics, that doesn’t mean there aren’t possibilities to progress. Sarah described how a number of UK universities have been working to introduce a promotional pathway for RTPs: Many technical specialist staff are working at an equivalent to postdoc level. There are also entry level posts below postdoc level. However, many exist at this grade and above, including progression to the equivalent of professor becoming more common, to recognise world-class technical skills.
At the lower levels, people are probably doing mostly practical stuff, but certainly when you reach the specialist level, you’re working on world-leading research. In fact, UKRI have clarified that RTPs can be Project Leads or Co-Leads on grant bids; there are even a small number of people who have progressed to very senior roles, including professor and/or director of a facility, through the technical route. Here, Sarah gives the example of the outgoing Chair of the Royal Microscopical Society (RMS): the first of the Society’s chairs to come to such a role from a technical background.
Why don’t I already know all this about RTPs?
At this point in my conversation with Sarah, one thing really struck me: if RTP roles represent a profession with such significant presence within many UK universities (Sarah highlighted how the University of Nottingham alone currently has over 500 technical staff), then… why don’t more PhDs and postdocs recognise it as a viable career option?
I posed this question to Sarah, who explained why many technical staff may be hiding in plain sight. Part of the problem is that technical staff are often not very visible, she acknowledges. But, if reflect on who has helped to make your research happen beyond your academic supervisory team – for example, the person who’s trained you on a piece of kit, or who’s helped when something went wrong for the 15th time (!) – then depending on your discipline, you might realise that you’re surrounded by technical staff, but have just never thought of what they do as a job or career route. Some PhDs don’t consider the university as a potential employer for people beyond academic staff. Add to that the fact that many career advisers may not be too aware of RTPs, and you can see how the profession might lack visibility.
This explains how many people that Sarah has come across in her role have found their way to technical roles, be it through chance conversation with an RTP in their lab who says ‘hey, why not consider doing what I do?’, or applying initially as a ‘stepping stone’ to a postdoc/ academic role and finding that it’s actually something they’d like to pursue longer term.
However, it also clarifies some of the challenges Sarah finds in her role when it comes to supporting and advocating for Research Technical Professionals. I think it’s safe to say that many technical professionals probably feel less recognised than their academic counterparts, she admits. This more than rings true with a recent WONKHE article by Technical Team Leader Aaqib Ayub from the University of Hertfordshire, who asks: if technicians are so important to research, why has the profession remained undervalued for so long? Ayub makes a convincing point about the scope of technical roles, arguing that ‘if universities expect technicians to operate as research partners, they must involve them early enough to influence decisions. If they expect technical leaders to build strategic capability, they must provide meaningful leadership pathways. If they value technical knowledge, they must recognise it in career structures, progression and institutional decision-making.’
This made me think of my own work in the ‘professional services’ space of Higher Education: those of us who work in ‘academic adjacent’ roles, are involved in teaching and curriculum delivery, share practice at conferences, even publish in our fields, but often don’t have access to the same kinds of pathways for recognition and promotion as those on academic contracts.
That said, whilst research technical professions clearly sit at a complex intersection of sometimes competing demands, agendas, and workloads, as Sarah and her team advocate: whether you’ve noticed them or not on your academic travels so far, Research Technical Professionals play an indispensable role in making cutting-edge research happen, and such roles offer an often under-represented potential career option if that’s what you’re looking to do. So, the next time you’re in your lab (or equivalent), lift your head up, spot those who keep the technical cogs of research turning, and maybe consider having a chat with them about what life as an RTP could look like.