Tips for writing your research statement
Photo by Mathias Reding on Unsplash
It’s almost academic job season! Soon, job postings will come out, and you will consider, mindfully of course, which jobs would be the best fit for you (see here for some guidance). After that, it’s time to get your job applications in order, starting with the research statement.
In a previous blog post, I shared some reflection questions to help you get started on your application package. Two of these questions form the backbone of your research statement:
What big picture questions are you trying to answer and why should we care?
What will you have achieved in 10 years?
The answers to these questions are important to consider because the search committee won’t just want to know about your latest results. The search committee wants to know who you are, the broader issues you care about, where you are headed, and the impact you will have on the field and on your communities. They will be trying to form a vision of not only who you are now, but who you will become in the future.
Consequently, your research statement should begin with an overview of who you are, what you are interested in and why, and then segue into the body of the statement in which you describe the work you have done and why it is impactful. The statement then ends with your future directions, in which you discuss the kind of work you will do in the future and why this work is exciting and important.
As they read your research statement, the search committee will also be trying to get a sense of the answers to the following questions:
What funding agencies are likely to support your research?
Who, in the department and in the field, are your likely collaborators?
What kind of start-up package would you need?
How will students benefit from your presence?
Will you fill a strategic gap in the department?
Now, that doesn’t mean that you have to specifically signpost the answers to these questions (e.g., “I will be applying to CIHR to support my research program.”), but the search committee members should be able to readily infer the answers to these questions. For instance, if you first describe your past neuroimaging research, and then discuss how your future research program would continue to make use of fMRI to answer the questions you are interested in, the committee reviewing your statement will be able to understand that your start-up package may need scanning hours, a research assistant, server allocations, etc.
And because the search committee will be looking for answers like these, you must also be aware of whether or not the future research plans you describe are aligned with what the department and university can offer. If you are proposing to do fMRI research in the future, but there is no MRI scanner available nearby, you’re probably not going to get an interview. If you’re pivoting your research program to study topics that are quite far afield from what anyone in the department does, they may not see how they could support or connect with you. Remember that search committees are looking for candidates who can help them solve the problems they have, whether that’s a gap in conceptual or technical expertise in the department that occurred through retirements, or new expertise that is needed in an emerging area so that students can be trained properly and colleagues can level up their own research through collaborations with you. Your research statement should demonstrate why you are the right candidate to complete their department.
And one final tip: make sure to write about who you are, not what you think the committee wants to hear. You want to make sure that any job you take is a good fit for you long-term. If you have painted a picture of someone you are not, then you may eventually find yourself in a situation in which you are overwhelmed and unhappy. If you present yourself authentically and the committee doesn’t give you an interview, then perhaps that’s not a place where you would have thrived.
Writing a research statement is daunting but it doesn’t have to be complicated. If you need support, I offer coaching to postdoctoral fellows who are preparing their job applications. Click here for more details and to apply, or book a call with me here so we can chat.
Next week: Tips for writing your teaching statement
