Joy on the Job
Calling all research administrators!
Tell us about your joy at work: SRAI’s Shop Talk podcast wants your submissions so we can all be inspired by what brings you joy in your daily work in research administration.
As I am winding down my time as host of SRAI’s Shop Talk podcast, I am reflecting on all the wonderful conversations I have had the great fortune to experience with research administrators across the globe over the past two years.
One of the recurring themes that kept popping up was “joy:” the fulfillment that people in our field experience with their job and the truly satisfying takeaways from the work you do in your respective roles.
Joyful encounters can be far-ranging: from helping to balance a budget to navigating a PI’s first time applying for a grant; celebrating and highlighting that same researcher when they get funded; or bringing members of your research community up to speed on the latest compliance policies. But joy can also be found in overcoming a daunting obstacle, or even, as our last episode with Future of the Field award winner Katherine Bui touched on, learning from making a mistake and emerging as a better research administrator than before because of the experience, hopefully cultivating more self-compassion in the process. Members of SRAI have many different ways, some offbeat or unique, that make their hearts sing a bit, when they had a hand in their department or institutional success.
So, now we turn to you, the SRAI community: what brings you joy in your current job? But you don’t need to write down anything in this regard (if you don’t want to, that is). This is for the podcast, after all, and we are all ears! Think of it as a blog post in audio format. Your submission to the next season of the podcast can be as simple as recording a short voice memo on your smartphone and sending it in. The podcast production team, headed by Stefanie Keto, Assistant Director of Post Award at North Carolina State University, and Drew Hamilton, Research Information Systems Specialist at The University of Alabama in Huntsville, are looking for your highlights to include in upcoming episodes.
Share your joy and let’s lift each other up with our research administration-fuelled victories and spirited reflections.
Send your audio clip as an email attachment to communications@srainternational.org.
Authored by Carla DeMarco, Academic Communications & Outreach Manager
University of Toronto Mississauga
#Membership#December2022#shoptalk#Catalyst