Article by Shihab Jamal: “…Hemmings is part of a vast number of research-support specialists working at scientific institutions around the world, often in the shadows. As the ‘stagehands’ of science, they are mostly invisible to the audience but essential to the show. Even though their fingerprints are all over many data sets, they’re rarely recognized as full contributors on projects, as co-authors and in other ways that are formally rewarded by the scientific establishment. In publications, they often appear only in a short phrase in the acknowledgements section. Their hidden labour and expertise can be difficult to measure.
Simon Hettrick, the chair of the Hidden REF initiative, a campaign launched at the University of Southampton, UK, in 2020 to highlight and celebrate these crucial roles, says that “this lack of recognition translates into significant difficulties for people in these roles: in getting support, finding positions and progressing their careers”.
Nature’s careers team interviewed research-support professionals to hear how their work helps to shape the course of modern science, and how recognition — or the lack of it — has influenced their careers…(More)”.
