One of the things that I get asked to talk to PhD students about is how to leverage their PhD beyond the academy on the basis that I have had a career as an expert advisor to European institutions. We all know the academic job market is thin and precarious, and it is necessary to think about where you might want to go beyond your PhD if the academy does not work out (or indeed you have already decided it is not) for you.
I recently had the opportunity to give a short interview on the wonderful podcast The PhD Life Raft to talk about this topic, so I thought an accompanying blog might help PhD students to think through this too. Many of you will disbelieve your own expertise, and many of you might think this cannot possibly be a career option for you, but hear me out! I had no connections. I was first in my family to go to University, I was from a working class background with the wrong accent. I did not in short look like the type of person a European institution might use as an expert advisor, so before you count yourself out, please take a minute to consider this as a possible opportunity for you.
Why become an expert advisor?
In or out of the academy, it is important to move your research into the real world where it can make some sort of difference - to influence how policy makers or industry acts, and if you remain in the academy, this is also good for things like proving the impact of your work or engagement with relevant stakeholders. If you are looking for an academic job, these industry/outside links are becoming prioritised as Universities seek to prove their worth to the ‘real’ world. It is a competitive advantage to have these links. Good old fashioned money is also a good reason - depending who you eventually work with, these companies can provide an excellent income stream for you personally. If for no other reason, cultivating these contacts is a good way to future proof your career - who knows where you will one day end up looking to work and building strong relationships over time with industry partners can only be a good thing.
What does expert consultancy look like?
This obviously depends on your subject area but usually you are holding an expert advisory role in one way or another, for example:
Advising professional regulatory bodies
Advising legislators, governments and international organizations
Advising industry (private companies or individuals)
TV / Radio – become a ’talking head’ for media
TV / Radio – make research programs / content
When can / should you do this?
You can do this as soon as you have your PhD, but it is important to start making relationships as early as you can. I made my relationships whilst still doing my PhD because I went to the institutions in question to conduct research and talk to as many people as I could, but not to make connections; simply to gather the information I needed for my PhD. I had no agenda, and that is probably a good thing. It is important to think early and make a conscious decision that this is going to be part of your research career, and that it is an important part. I was only ever interested in getting my research into the institutions to convince them my approach was the right one and influence them to make decisions about policy and legal change. You must, in the early stages of any relationship formation, be generous with your time. It is part and parcel of the give and take.
Be flexible in what you consider your expertise
Sometimes, in our insecurity, we can draw our expertise quite narrowly, and usually, when industry approaches you for advice, that advice is often rather wide-ranging, coalescing around the kernel of your expertise but perhaps not only on that ONE thing you consider yourself to be an expert in. Here is where we need to demonstrate a bit of confidence in our research skills and know we can get to grips with lots of things in a relatively small space of time. You need to be flexible and a little bit brave.
How does it happen?
It happens though two things: establishing your expertise in ways that matter and building relationships with those you want to work with. Traditional academic publications are obviously one way to demonstrate your academic expertise, and they are the baseline, but not the only way. You need to reach the audience you want to work with. If you are working for an institution like I was, they are reading academic publications because they are staffed by researchers. But if you are working with industry, they are more likely to be reading practitioner led / industry led journals, so you need a good publication strategy to reach these audiences. This is a different kind of writing too, so this requires some learning and flexibility on your part. You can also showcase your expertise by building a convincing brand online (where you can also showcase your research) but can demonstrate your expertise in any number of formats.
In terms of building relationships, you can network through professional organisations, conferences and workshops (you can organise a workshop and invite these people to speak!). Make these opportunities happen for yourself - don’t be passive, hoping the right one will come along. Maintaining a public profile (webpage, Twitter, LinkedIn) is pretty important and following the industry people where they interact - on LinkedIn for example. Once you make contact through research activities, maintain these contacts, and be helpful when you can. Sometimes this does mean providing a little free advice now and again, but beware of exploitation and ‘exposure’ payments.
If you want to hear more about this, please check out The PhD Life Raft for this and lots of other PhD related advice!
