The second of two articles about taking on responsibilities as an early career academic
Perhaps, if you work in the arts and humanities, you thought that you had escaped group work when you graduated high school. But as you gain seniority you are less and less likely to work alone. Science and engineering research is mostly less of a solitary endeavour, but there, too, as careers progress, responsibilities shift from carrying out individual components of collective projects to coordinating and eventually leading group work.
In all fields, evidence of scholarly collaboration, which includes research projects but also editing publications, is important to hiring and promotion decisions, and many funding streams are now directed toward research teams rather than individuals. This can be frustrating, especially if you just want to write in peace and quiet, but collaborative research and publishing do offer intellectual advantages as well as opportunities for professional development.