Leading from the Middle: How Women and ECRs Shape Research Collaborations Without Titles
Traditional academic leadership was defined by titles – which was an indicator of the position one occupied within a hierarchical setup. However, today, leadership often happens from the middle – where the individuals know well what is happening at the grassroot level, yet have pivotal roles to play in shaping the vision of their field. Waiting to reach the “top” may in fact be too long and too far removed from ground realities in an increasingly collaborative research ecosystem. In fact, today, some of the most powerful leadership happens far from formal authority.
This is leading from the middle.
Collaboration as a Form of Leadership
A growing body of research shows that collaboration is not just a career accelerator: it is a leadership act in itself. Broader collaboration networks significantly enhance career progression in academic science Researchers with diverse co-authorship networks were more likely to advance to principal investigator roles.
Many researchers cultivate collaborative networks out of necessity. They learn to navigate systems that were never designed with them in mind, and in which traditional power structures may feel inaccessible. They consequently develop skills that define effective leadership: relationship-building, knowledge integration, coordination across boundaries, and intellectual diplomacy.
Collaboration becomes both strategy and signal. It signals credibility, reach, and the ability to convene.
The Middle Layer as a Strategic Position
Middle-level academics occupy a unique structural space. They are close enough to institutional decision-making to understand its mechanics, yet connected enough to junior researchers to influence emerging directions.
A 2025 study in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications explored how women in middle-level academic positions experience leadership enablers and barriers. The findings highlight that many women at this stage shape institutional culture and collaborative practice long before they hold senior titles.
They often:
- Mentor across career stages
- Coordinate multi-investigator initiatives
- Informally mediate interdisciplinary tensions
- Drive grant proposals from conceptualization to submission
Yet this labor frequently goes unrecognized as “leadership” because it lacks formal designation.
This is the paradox of middle leadership: high responsibility, low title visibility.
Early Career Researchers as Network Architects
For ECRs, leadership may feel premature… even presumptuous! But leadership in modern science is less about positional power and more about network centrality.
An editorial in ACS Central Science featuring early career scientists highlighted how impactful collaborations are often peer-initiated and sustained through intentional dialogue rather than hierarchy.
Many ECRs described building collaborations through:
- Conference interactions
- Method sharing across labs
- Collaborative reviews
- Academic communities
These are not top-down directives. They are bottom-up bridges.
ECRs are frequently the connectors between labs, disciplines, and geographies. They are digitally fluent, globally networked, and often more open to interdisciplinary risk-taking than established leaders constrained by legacy structures.
In this way, they shape the future of collaboration without waiting for permission.
Rethinking Academic Leadership Narratives
Traditional leadership narratives emphasize vertical ascent, however contemporary science increasingly depends on horizontal strength. Funding agencies also prioritize multi-institutional and cross-disciplinary collaboration.
In such environments, those who can convene, translate, and align become indispensable. They become the architects of the future!
References
- van der Wal, J. E. M., et al. (2021). Collaboration enhances career progression in academic science, especially for female researchers. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 288(1958), 20212025. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article/288/1958/20210219/86354/Collaboration-enhances-career-progression-in
- Thien, L. M., et al. (2025). Women leadership in higher education: exploring enablers and challenges from middle-level academics’ perspective. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 12, Article number pending. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-024-04278-6
- Early Career Researchers Editorial Collective. (2025). Global Voices, Shared Futures: Early-Career Scientists on the Power of Collaboration. ACS Central Science. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acscentsci.5c01854
