Expert voice

Five top tips on transitioning from an early career researcher to a leader

There are many transitions in a researcher’s career. From transitioning from a first year PhD student to a final year able to suggest research questions and manage day-to-day lab life confidently. Then again to postdoctoral researcher taking on more supervisory roles and project management to establishing yourself as a dementia research leader. The transitions never stop!

A leadership session at our 2025 Early Career Researcher retreat piqued our interest; here we share what it takes to become an effective leader hearing from senior leaders in research, industry and Alzheimer’s Society. 

Here are the top five tips from our panel about becoming an effective leader:

1. Good leadership looks different at different organisations

There are many different training opportunities available and the exact skills you learn on these courses may be different depending on the organization you are working in. The skills you need to lead a team in industry will look different to the ones you need to lead a lab group at a university. 

Within academia, it is likely that PhD students, postdocs and technicians are working more individually towards their own goal as well as an overall goal, whereas in an industry sector it is more likely a team are all working towards achieving one goal. 

Get a sense of what good looks like in the role you’re performing at the organisation you’re undertaking it in.

2. Leadership isn’t a role; it’s a set of skills anyone can demonstrate

There can be a preconception about what a good leader looks like, their personality and the way they lead a team. And sometimes, that can prevent someone from seeking leadership opportunities. 

Every person’s strengths can be adapted to a leadership style.

By bringing your strengths to leadership, it can help to make you a more authentic leader and less like you’re pretending to fit yourself into a box that isn’t natural to you. 

– Dr Lucy Devendra, Head of Research, Alzheimer’s Society

And leadership isn’t one thing. If you’ve effectively communicated to achieve something, or delivered an outcome with finite resources, or had to rely on someone and have them rely on you, then you’ve demonstrated leadership skills. 

If you’re looking to expand on demonstrating leadership skills, getting involved with activities not necessarily directly linked to your research can help. This is a way of increasing your network, and meeting people in a new context. 

3. Control what you can control, let go of what you cannot

You cannot pour from an empty cup.

This sentiment resonated with our panel. Establishing boundaries and building tools for resilience is important for anybody pursuing leadership. 

Make sure to criticise your own criticisms. It’s very easy sometimes to watch a leader in your field effortlessly present their story and compare this to your own journey. 

– Professor Dave Cash, Dementia Research Leader Fellow at University College London

When presenting everyone will present their best story, often without the challenges and roadblocks that we all face. You’re comparing their external, with your internal. Challenge this imposter syndrome by seeking thoughts from your colleagues , if they value your opinion and say you’re doing a good job, that should soothe that inner critic.

There is little point in spending stress, energy and anxiety on things outside your control such as changes in organisational strategy, research focus or institutional policies.  Instead refocus that energy into establishing what is in your control and influence and target those challenges. Or if it’s possible, find ways to bring things that are outside your control, into your control and then spend energy on them.

4. Empower to deliver and be open for the upcoming roadblocks

If you’re taking on leadership activities, chances are you’re pretty good at what you do. One of the hardest mental blocks is to then give up that control to enable someone else to deliver a project to your standards. This is a shift people can find difficult, from being functionally operational to providing the big picture and vision so that people are both intellectually and emotionally engaged. 

One of the ways you can slowly give over responsibility is by having a framework of what you expect a person to deliver. When they can successfully meet that framework, you expand it. Keep that process going until eventually you may be working in partnership with that person and then encouraging them to seek leadership opportunities.

It’s important to be open to people to bring challenges and roadblocks to you, something that can only happen if they feel comfortable doing so. Fostering this environment, where a team can have open and honest conversations about which direction to take is key to being a good leader and can often start from being open and honest about any challenges you are facing.

5. Never be afraid to be a magpie

One of the best ways you can learn to be a good leader is to learn from more experienced leaders. Working in different roles across different organisations will give you different experiences and exposure to different leaders which gives you the opportunity to collect different examples of leadership. 

By collecting different experiences, you build a toolkit that you can adapt and shape to the new context where you are working. 

– Simon Beacham, Senior Operations Leader, EDF Energy

Forming peer networks, established either during training opportunities or reaching out to others at the same stage as you, can be really valuable. This gives you space to share experiences and learn from others as you all progress to becoming the next dementia research leader.