Research managers to the rescue

Why should academics involve research managers when preparing funding applications? Because they offer an invaluable alternative perspective, says Adam Golberg.

You are the academic expert, in the process of applying for funding to make a major advance in your field. I am not an academic expert at all. I am a research development manager. I might have a PhD or an MPhil in a related field or an entirely different one, or nothing postgraduate at all. How can I possibly help you?

The answer lies in this difference of experience and perspective. We may look at the same things, but our different levels of knowledge and understanding and our background assumptions mean we find very different meanings in them. We all look at the world through lenses tinted by our own experiences and expectations, and if we did not, we would struggle to make sense of it.