Giving researchers choice

Earlier in July, one of our co-directors, Fran, presented at the Social Research Association (SRA) conference, on ‘Freelance Futures’, along with her good friend Rowena Hay, founder-director of Shortwork. These are her conference reflections.

Rowena and I jokily started our presentation wondering if there is a rise in independent researchers, or if it’s our linked-in algorithm trying to validate us. Two years ago, when we first met at a conference, we didn’t know other research consultants or micro agencies. Five years ago, I hadn’t even heard of it as a career – and that’s the point I want to share.

In the coffee queue, I had chatted with someone on the SRA Board. I told her our session was about the challenges facing independent social researchers and advocating for more support and recognition from the sector. I wondered aloud whether encouraging other researchers on this path was fair, given global financial uncertainty. The world right now feels so unstable, should we not shelter within the arms of an institution?

My new acquaintance (who has a rare permanent University contract) replied that what we were doing is giving people choice – by making visible a career option that many researchers genuinely don’t know exists, where they can be respected, valued, and paid for their time.

And I think that is something that I had forgotten. While we don’t have the numbers, there is a sense since the pandemic of more and more professionals choosing (or being pushed) to work for themselves. There was a lot of nodding in the conference room as we described feedback from the Mighty Mini Research Collective (our network of independents) on their push and pull factors to working independently. Wanting more agency at work was a big pull, as was wanting to be respected, valued, promoted, and to choose our own working conditions and collaborators. Yes, we have to secure contracts to pay the bills – but we pursue causes we care about and build strong, lasting collaborations with our largely public sector and charity clients.

It’s not easy. Like any small business, independents juggle business development, IT, legal, HR, and more. But it’s exhilarating. No employer would ever allow you to ‘learn’ (ahem make mistakes) as much as you do routinely while running your own business. As Kohlrabi has grown from a start-up to an employer, we’ve worked to build the kind of workplace we always wanted.

Some independent researchers we spoke to hadn’t thought about how good those factors would feel, instead being pushed away from traditional research employers by redundancy, fluctuating health, care-giving needs or the costs of even attending an office regularly. Ironically, while Rowena and I gained flexibility for our families, we were both missing sports day to speak at the conference. (Next year, avoid July 9th, SRA!)

There’s no perfect job. But the SRA conference was a great reminder of why I love working this way, and why so many others do too. At Kohlrabi, we’re here to give researchers choice. Our training tagline says it best: Explore research consultancy – ad hoc, full-time, or part of a blended career. You have the choice.