Katrina Roberts, Researcher Placement Manager (Episode 49) | Katrina is helping researchers inspire and educate the next generation
For this episode of the Research Adjacent podcast Sarah is talking to Katrina Roberts. Katrina is Head of Tutor Engagement at The Brilliant Club, a charity which places PhD students in schools to support less advantaged pupils.
From the research lab to the classroom
Katrina’s job involves recruiting researchers and then making sure they have a great experience with The Brilliant Club so that they want to stay. And that is a big job – they recruit about 500 new researchers each year and have a pool of around 1400 on their books. Katrina is particularly involved with The Scholars Programme which enables PhD students to teach topics directly related to their research.
“For a former researcher, it’s really exciting to see tutors take a really complex idea and break it down into these modules for young people to access. It’s amazing to see so many researchers each year do that and take on that challenge.”
Teaching complex topics to secondary school pupils can be challenging so there is a rigorous assessment process and comprehensive training. However, those who succeed develop skills which will serve them throughout their careers, whatever they decide to do.
“I always say that being able to articulate really clearly ‘this is what I did and this is what I got out of it and this is how I’m going to use it going forwards’ is invaluable experience. And I think there’s nothing like teaching young people about your research to equip you with the skills to think on the spot to be able to communicate an idea succinctly and in an accessible way.”
Tackling inequality through education
The Brilliant Club’s mission is to improve social mobility and help less advantaged pupils succeed. As well as developing valuable professional skills – as outlined by Katrina is this blog post – she hopes that it will help them understand the challenges some young people face
“Some might stay in academia. And if they’re laying the foundations early on in their career – knowing about the inequality we have in education in this country and learning the skills that are required to tackle it – they’ll take that forward in the academy and hopefully contribute to policy or culture changes in their universities around inclusivity.”
Indeed, these are challenges that Katrina has faced herself. She completed a PhD in reproductive biology but, from a working class background and the first in her family to go to university, the instability of early career academia was a risk she couldn’t take.
“The unstable nature of academia in terms of fixed-term contracts and moving from one position to another and there was also this idea that in order to have a successful academic career you had to go work abroad – it just didn’t appeal to me. I don’t deal well with instability because of my background. I want to know where my next pay cheque is coming from.”
Finding stability and room to grow
Katrina found the stability she was seeking at The Brilliant Club where she has worked for nearly 8 years now. She started as a Programme Officer with responsibility for one region and now oversees researcher recruitment for the whole of England and Wales. With promotion came the responsibility for line managing people – a responsibility she takes very seriously.
“I went away and did a lot of self-reflection on what it meant to be a manager of people and the impact that you can have on people. I think a lot of people become people managers with a promotion when they might not necessarily want to manage people or be very good at it. I wanted to be really aware of that.”
With The Brilliant Club’s allocated time and budget for professional development Katrina decided to do a Leadership and Management qualification and now can’t imagine not managing people.
Bringing people together
Her passion for supporting people extends not just to her team but also to the researchers she supports. If she had a magic wand she would create more opportunities to bring people together in person to learn from each other.
“I would love to offer a free day where everybody could get together and share best practices. To hear from some of our really successful tutors on what they get out the program, how they see it benefiting them.”
As someone who doesn’t shy away from a challenge no doubt Katrina will find a way to make it happen!
Find out more
- Connect with Katrina on LinkedIn or X (Twitter)
- Find out about The Brilliant Club on their website, LinkedIn or X/Twitter
Theme music by Lemon Music Studios from Pixabay
