Starting Out in Research Management: Reflections on ARMA’s Induction Course

On Tuesday 16^th June, I was fortunate enough to attend the ARMA Induction training course. For most of 2026, I had been attempting to transition from Postdoctoral Researcher to Research Management but hadn’t had any luck. I had joined ARMA earlier in the year, as recommended by a university careers advisor. I thought the Induction training day would be a good opportunity to learn some early skills, understand the landscape, and show a commitment to this line of work. Funding-wise this put me in a predicament; my Postdoc funding didn’t cover it because it was to do with my research career, but I didn’t have a Research Management job yet to claim it from either!

As a Postdoc, I was an active member of International Women in Biomechanics, a networking group for women and under-represented genders in biomechanics. They’d recently launched a $250 Career Development Award, so I applied for that hoping I could use it to cover the course fee. Amazingly, International Women in Biomechanics reached out to ARMA to request matched funding. ARMA agreed to waive the course fee, which meant the Career Development Funding could cover my hotel and travel from London. I felt so fortunate to be part of two welcoming communities who came together to give me the opportunity to attend the Induction training course.

As it happens, I secured a Research Programme Manager role starting on 1^st June, so the 16^th of June course was extremely well-timed. I thought I’d be the most recent starter there, but someone I sat next to had started her job just the day before! The course was split into pre- and post-award sections with impact introduced early on and sprinkled through the whole day. We used an example research project that we could use to apply the knowledge we learnt at every step. Overall, the course provided a brilliant introduction to research management, and I came away with lots of ideas to implement in my work and a better understand of the jobs other people do around me. Moreover, I put some names to faces in the ARMA group and met with some more senior research managers who I feel I could reach out to in the future. I would thoroughly recommend the course to anyone starting out in the industry.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t in a position to attend the ARMA conference running for a few days after the course, but I hope to add that to my calendar next year!

– Fraje Watson, Research Associate, Imperial College London

Register here for ARMA’s next Induction session taking place on the 8th December.

Find out more from the presenters what to expect from the Induction.