Early Career Researcher Support

A platform for all your Early Career Research needs.

The brand called "YOU"

Do you see yourself as a brand or just an academic/scholar busy with research, writing, publishing and teaching?

Your personal brand is vital for career progression.
Your personal brand is happening with or without your input

Selling yourself as an academic may run counter to certain long held ideals about academia and even your own personal feelings. It is not vain or narcissistic to be intentional about your personal brand.

Author John Tregoning in the Times Higher Ed article "Being brilliant doesn’t cut it anymore" opens in a new window outlines “we have two things to sell, our ideas and ourselves … the main product we sell is ourselves. This product is defined by our CV: where we have worked, on what and with whom. But these strands need to be pulled together into a single memorable “personal brand” … This brand comes into play when meeting potential collaborators, conference organisers and funders.”

Developing a brand strategy

Sitting down and developing a strategy to boost your research brand is important.
At a basic level you can see it as a statement of intent, developing measurable objectives using your brand, from which you can target the outcomes you hope to achieve.

Ask yourself the following:

Is it clear what you stand for as an academic?
How consistent do you want your brand to be?
How do you want people to interact/comment upon your research?
How are you going to target audiences (colleagues, students, employers, funders, etc.)?
How sustainable is your "brand”?

How to boost your academic brand

How to boost your academic brand? Consider the following approaches

Personal contact	Develop a 2-minute elevator pitch to present face to face (or via video conferencing) at conferences.
Be discovered online	Keep your profiles and persistent identifiers (especially your ORCiD) updated and linked correctly. Add your publication’s DOI to your email signature. Use search engine optimization which helps your article appear at the top of the list by using keywords in the title, abstract and headings and by using captions for images. List your articles on your website or blog.
Social media	Post regularly and at accessible times. Engage in discussions with others. Find out who is influential in your field and learn from their social media strategies. Share the links (DOI) to your article or pre-print.
Media relations	Monitor if your research has been picked up by the media so you can have a media release statement prepared. Set up a Google alert on yourself. Make use of the media channels already established at CQU such as Faculty and University newsletters.