Opinion: Knowledge brokers need career paths too

Those who blur the lines between academic and professional staff are the connective tissue in the research ecosystem, says Sarah Chaytor (UCL Office of the Vice Provost: Research). One of the most impressive elements of Ottoline Leyser's approach to running UK Research and Innovation has been her emphasis on a particularly inclusive version of "team science". It's not just the mixture of academics - different disciplines, career stages and so on - that matters, it's the broader support team too. It's the administrators and accountants, the web designers and data specialists, the cleaners, porters and receptionists who all form critical components of a flourishing research ecosystem. Within this ecosystem approach the concept of the "third space" has been receiving increasing attention. This recognises the manner in which the traditional distinction between academic and administrative staff in universities (two professional spaces, in other words) no longer captures the growing number of staff who operate at the intersection of both research and management - a third space. There is a melding of roles occurring in which professional services staff are increasingly acquiring academic credentials and academic staff are moving in a more project-oriented direction, leading to what has been dubbed the "blended professional".