Developing Research-Based Work and Living for 2021

Earlier in the week, I found myself given the choice of accepting an appointment with Malaysia's Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation as probably one of the few humanists to be represented on their R&D grant programme. Although the my role has been listed out on the appointment letter, I wonder if there is much I could do to persuade my fellow colleagues there on the importance of always bringing in humanistic interventions to whatever scientific/technological programmes envisioned, to encourage cross-disciplinary conversations between scientists and humanists, with the social scientist sitting somewhere in the uncomfortable middle, as these are sorely lacking in the Malaysian context.

A few days before that happened, I found myself inducted into the Clubhouse scene and had since been exploring many of the technology/science/policy oriented rooms, with some occasional diversion into other areas of interest (such as rooms dedicated to issues that are hot in Malaysia) and the influencer culture (clubhouse being what it is, influencers of all kinds, with iPhones, gravitated towards it). I have yet to speak in any of the events, preferring to be a fly on the wall for now to learn from the others (and also because I usually come in part way and cannot stay until the end). However, I am interested in potentially hosting a discussion room there at some point.

Late this week, I decided that it is time to properly reorganize my research in light of my new academic position. Compared to the previous positions I have had, which gave me limited official freedom to choose the research I would like to do (what I do unofficially is a different story), this position, all things considered (the good and the not-so-good), does afford more freedom to pursue certain projects I had only been able to do pretty much 'under-the-table' previously, which also meant that I had become an expert in hacking and allocating resources within defined, and sometimes amorphous, constraints, in a process that some would refer to as project management. One of my previously 'under-the-table' project that I collaborated on with a colleague at another institution had since achieved traction, earning me a number of requests for reviewing articles on the topic, a speaking engagement, a publication venue with a policy-oriented audience, and finally, an offer to develop a project with an institution outside of Malaysia.

Organizing research is something which I have been doing on a regular basis, especially as my work over the past four years had been mostly research. I have mostly done what I'd set out to do, although there are still some pending various stages of preparation as certain amount of re-conceptualization is required after gaining increasing clarity on how I see everything as connecting. However, as the present role would straddle a more varied set of responsibilities than before, I will have to be more careful about expanding the resources required for the research to develop successfully without wastage of time and energy, something which I have been practising for over three years when I come to the realization that I always have to manage whatever projects I do for every contingency (including human-imposed ones), particularly when the project involves just as much the management of other people (such as managing upwards and horizontally, not just the team you lead) as it is about the management of  process and the attainment of outcomes. 

While I am happy to say that the foundation sowed have started blooming, there is still a constant need to pivot. The organization of research also involves considering all the tools I have been using thus far, to clean up documents connected to past/completed work, and to track work that is ongoing; all of these in preparation for newer work I may have to still take on. Additionally, this research house-cleaning and re-managing is also useful in giving me clarity over the vision and direction I would like to have for the classes I will teach, in order to achieve my goal of research-directed teaching, which would then feed back into my research work and other related projects. I also believe that the same level of planning, strategizing and management is also applicable at a personal level, while leaving some room for surprises and opportunities that might not have been anticipated during the planning process. So far, I have managed to practice this in some areas of my life (with varying degrees of success since there are still some habits I am working on cultivating that have not attained that level of habituation), and I look forward to bringing more of that into more areas of my life.

Except for a short, enforced break I took sometime in January,  I would say that the past few months in transition has involved a lot of planning and thinking, and re-evaluation of many things at a professional and personal level. That said, I look forward to the challenges and possibilities that this year would bring. I hope everyone would have a better year now than before, giving the hindsight gained from last year.

P/S Going forward, I would like to actually write dedicated articles specifically on the different types of research process I adapt in and out of the academic setting.