PhD Talk for AcademicTransfer: How to keep learning new things as an established academic

This post is part of the series PhD Talk for AcademicTransfer: posts written for the Dutch academic career network AcademicTransfer, your go-to resource for all research positions in the Netherlands.

These posts are sponsored by AcademicTransfer, and tailored to those of you interested in pursuing a research position in the Netherlands.

If these posts raise your interest in working as a researcher in the Netherlands, even better – and feel free to fire away any questions you might have on this topic!

When you are an early-career researcher, learning is built into almost everything you do. You learn new research methods, figure out how to teach, discover how publishing works, and develop your academic voice. As your career progresses, however, your work can become more repetitive and you can get more caught up in the continuous onslaught of project administration, student meetings, and emails.

You may teach the same courses, use familiar research methods, supervise students, attend meetings, and move from one funding deadline to the next. There is comfort and efficiency in knowing how to do your job well. At the same time, it can sometimes feel as if you are stuck in a rut. The pressure of ongoing responsibilities may leave little room for being a beginner again.

Yet, continuing to learn is important at every stage of an academic career. We need to keep up with developments in our fields, expand our methodological toolbox, respond to changes in higher education, and prepare for new responsibilities. Learning can also bring back some of the curiosity that drew us to research in the first place. As I have discussed before in my post on how to learn new skills as a researcher, learning something unfamiliar can be uncomfortable, but it can also open up new research questions and opportunities.

So, how can you keep learning once you are an established academic?

• Sign up for formal courses. Universities often offer courses and workshops for their employees, but we may overlook these opportunities because our calendars are already full. Consider signing up for a course that supports either your current work or the next stage of your career. You could learn a new research method, develop your teaching, improve your leadership skills, or study another language. A formal course gives you structure, a schedule, and access to an instructor. It also creates protected time for learning once it is on your agenda.
• Take online courses. Online learning can be easier to fit around teaching, research, supervision, and family responsibilities. You can work through a course at your own pace and select only the modules you need. Online courses can be especially useful for learning software, statistics, research methods, project management, or communication skills. Avoid signing up for too many courses at once. Select one topic that you can apply directly to your work, and reserve a recurring time slot for it. Applying a skill to a real project will usually help you learn more than simply watching a series of videos. M y university, for example, has Coursera licenses and I gladly make use of my license every semester.
• Include skill development in your annual review. Your annual review should not only look backwards at what you have achieved. Use it to identify what you want to learn during the coming year. Which parts of your work currently feel difficult? Which responsibilities are you likely to take on next? Which skill could make the greatest difference to your research, teaching, or leadership? You can also turn this reflection into a concrete development plan, as I suggest in my overall career planning think day. Select one or two skills, decide how you will develop them, and identify what support or funding you need from your institution.
• Look at which new methods are appearing in the literature. Reading the literature is not only about following new findings. Pay attention to the tools, methods, software, theories, and forms of analysis that researchers in your field are beginning to use. You do not need to become an expert in every new development. However, gaining a basic understanding will help you evaluate papers, identify opportunities for collaboration, and decide whether a new approach could benefit your work. Reading both broadly and deeply remains important throughout an academic career, not only while writing the literature review for a PhD.
• Develop the skills that amplify your growing responsibilities. The skills that helped you become a successful researcher may not be enough for every later career stage. As your research group and project portfolio grow, you may need to learn about conflict resolution, negotiation, financial management, recruitment, team development, strategy, and institutional decision-making. My list of skills to develop when moving from associate to full professor reflects this shift toward broader responsibilities. Similarly, developing leadership skills in a university may require training, coaching, reflection, and practice. These skills become even more important if you move into administration. You can begin preparing for such a transition before changing roles by identifying the necessary skills and seeking small opportunities to practise them in your current position, as discussed in my post on preparing for your next career step in your current job.

Continuing to learn does not mean collecting certificates or constantly adding more work to an already overflowing schedule. It means staying curious and making deliberate choices about where you want to grow. One carefully selected course, a new method explored through the literature, or a leadership skill practised in a current project can be enough to move you forward.

Being an established academic means that you have accumulated valuable experience and expertise. It does not mean that your learning is finished. Making room to be a beginner again can help you remain engaged in your work, prepare for future roles, and see your research and academic career from a fresh perspective.

How do you make time to keep learning new things in your academic career?